Markus 1:9

The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus

1:9 Now ¹  in those days Jesus came from Nazareth ²  in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan River. ³ 

Markus 2:5

2:5 When Jesus saw their ⁴  faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” ⁵ 

Markus 3:2

3:2 They watched ⁶  Jesus ⁷  closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath, ⁸  so that they could accuse him.

Markus 3:10

3:10 For he had healed many, so that all who were afflicted with diseases pressed toward him in order to touch him.

Markus 3:21

3:21 When his family ⁹  heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

Markus 3:26

3:26 And if Satan rises against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand and his end has come.

Markus 4:2

4:2 He taught them many things in parables, ¹⁰  and in his teaching said to them:

Markus 4:26

The Parable of the Growing Seed

4:26 He also said, “The kingdom of God is like someone who spreads seed on the ground.

Markus 4:28

4:28 By itself the soil produces a crop, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.

Markus 4:31

4:31 It is like a mustard seed ¹¹  that when sown in the ground, even though it is the smallest of all the seeds in the ground –

Markus 4:37

4:37 Now ¹²  a great windstorm ¹³  developed and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was nearly swamped.

Markus 5:12

5:12 And the demonic spirits ¹⁴  begged him, “Send us into the pigs. Let us enter them.”

Markus 5:37

5:37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James, ¹⁵  and John, the brother of James.

Markus 6:29

6:29 When John’s ¹⁶  disciples heard this, they came and took his body and placed it in a tomb.

Markus 6:49

6:49 When they saw him walking on the water ¹⁷  they thought he was a ghost. They ¹⁸  cried out,

Markus 7:30

7:30 She went home and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Markus 8:4

8:4 His disciples answered him, “Where can someone get enough bread in this desolate place to satisfy these people?”

Markus 9:8

9:8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more except Jesus.

Markus 10:2

10:2 Then some Pharisees ¹⁹  came, and to test him ²⁰  they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his ²¹  wife?” ²² 

Markus 11:10

11:10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

Markus 12:20

12:20 There were seven brothers. The first one married, ²³  and when he died he had no children.

Markus 12:24

12:24 Jesus said to them, “Aren’t you deceived ²⁴  for this reason, because you don’t know the scriptures or the power of God?

Markus 13:15

13:15 The one on the roof ²⁵  must not come down or go inside to take anything out of his house. ²⁶ 

Markus 14:4

14:4 But some who were present indignantly said to one another, “Why this waste of expensive ²⁷  ointment?

Markus 14:8

14:8 She did what she could. She anointed my body beforehand for burial.

Markus 14:16

14:16 So ²⁸  the disciples left, went ²⁹  into the city, and found things just as he had told them, ³⁰  and they prepared the Passover.

Markus 16:13

16:13 They went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

[1:9]  ¹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[1:9]  ² map For location see Map1 D3; Map2 C2; Map3 D5; Map4 C1; Map5 G3.

[1:9]  ³ tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.

[2:5]  ⁴ sn The plural pronoun their makes it clear that Jesus was responding to the faith of the entire group, not just the paralyzed man.

[2:5]  ⁵ sn The passive voice here is a divine passive (ExSyn 437). It is clear that God does the forgiving.

[3:2]  ⁶ sn The term translated watched…closely is emotive, since it carries negative connotations. It means they were watching him out of the corner of their eye or spying on him.

[3:2]  ⁷ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ⁸ sn The background for this is the view that only if life was endangered should one attempt to heal on the Sabbath (see the Mishnah, m. Shabbat 6.3; 12.1; 18.3; 19.2; m. Yoma 8.6).

[3:21]  ⁹ tc Western witnesses D W it, instead of reading οἱ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ (Joi par’ aujtou, here translated “family”), have περὶ αὐτοῦ οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ λοιποί (peri autou Joi grammatei" kai Joi loipoi, “[when] the scribes and others [heard] about him”). But this reading is obviously motivated, for it removes the embarrassing statement about Jesus’ family’s opinion of him as “out of his mind” and transfers this view to the Lord’s opponents. The fact that virtually all other witnesses have οἱ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ here, coupled with the strong internal evidence for the shorter reading, shows this Western reading to be secondary.

[3:21]  tn On the meaning “family” for οἱ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ (Joi par’ autou), see BDAG 756-57 s.v. παρά A.3.b.β.ב.

[3:21]  sn The incident involving the religious leaders accusing Jesus of being in league with the devil (3:22-30) is sandwiched between Mark’s mention of Jesus’ family coming to restrain him (the Greek word for restrain here is also used to mean arrest; see Mark 6:17; 12:12; 14:1, 44, 46, 49, 51) because they thought he was out of his mind (3:21). It is probably Mark’s intention in this structure to show that Jesus’ family is to be regarded as not altogether unlike the experts in the law [scribes] in their perception of the true identity of Jesus; they are incorrect in their understanding of him as well. The tone is obviously one of sadness and the emphasis on Jesus’ true family in vv. 31-35 serves to underscore the comparison between his relatives and the scribes on the one hand, and those who truly obey God on the other.

[4:2]  ¹⁰ sn Though parables can contain a variety of figures of speech (cf. 2:19-22; 3:23-25; 4:3-9, 26-32; 7:15-17; 13:28), many times they are simply stories that attempt to teach spiritual truth (which is unknown to the hearers) by using a comparison with something known to the hearers. In general, parables usually advance a single idea, though there may be many parts and characters in a single parable and subordinate ideas may expand the main idea further. The beauty of using the parable as a teaching device is that it draws the listener into the story, elicits an evaluation, and demands a response.

[4:31]  ¹¹ sn Mustard seeds are known for their tiny size.

[4:37]  ¹² tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[4:37]  ¹³ tn Or “a squall.”

[4:37]  sn The Sea of Galilee is located in a depression some 700 ft (200 m) below sea level and is surrounded by hills. Frequently a rush of wind and the right mix of temperatures can cause a storm to come suddenly on the lake. Storms on the Sea of Galilee were known for their suddenness and violence.

[5:12]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the demonic spirits) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:37]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and James,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[6:29]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “his”; the referent (John the Baptist) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:49]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “on the sea,” “on the lake.” The translation “water” has been used here for stylistic reasons (cf. the same phrase in v. 48).

[6:49]  ¹⁸ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[10:2]  ¹⁹ tc The Western text (D it) and a few others have only καί (kai) here, rather than καὶ προσελθόντες Φαρισαῖοι (kai proselqonte" Farisaioi, here translated as “then some Pharisees came”). The longer reading, a specific identification of the subject, may have been prompted by the parallel in Matt 19:3. The fact that the mss vary in how they express this subject lends credence to this judgment: οἱ δὲ Φαρισαῖοι προσελθόντες (Joi de Farisaioi proselqonte", “now the Pharisees came”) in W Θ 565 2542 pc; καὶ προσελθόντες οἱ Φαρισαῖοι (kai proselqonte" Joi Farisaioi, “then the Pharisees came”) in א C N (˹: καὶ προσελθόντες ἐπηρώτησαν αὐτὸν οἱ Φαρισαῖοι) 579 1241 1424 pm; and καὶ προσελθόντες Φαρισαῖοι in A B K L Γ Δ Ψ Ë¹³ 28 700 892 2427 pm. Further, the use of an indefinite plural (a general “they”) is a Markan feature, occurring over twenty times. Thus, internally the evidence looks rather strong for the shorter reading, in spite of the minimal external support for it. However, if scribes assimilated this text to Matt 19:3, a more exact parallel might have been expected: Matthew has καὶ προσῆλθον αὐτῷ Φαρισαῖοι (kai proshlqon aujtw Farisaioi, “then Pharisees came to him”). Although the verb form needs to be different according to syntactical requirements of the respective sentences, the word order variety, as well as the presence or absence of the article and the alternation between δέ and καί as the introductory conjunction, all suggest that the variety of readings might not be due to scribal adjustments toward Matthew. At the same time, the article with Φαρισαῖοι is found in both Gospels in many of the same witnesses (א Ï in Matt; א pm in Mark), and the anarthrous Φαρισαῖοι is likewise parallel in many mss (B L ˹³ 700 892). Another consideration is the possibility that very early in the transmissional history, scribes naturally inserted the most obvious subject (the Pharisees would be the obvious candidates as the ones to test Jesus). This may account for the reading with δέ, since Mark nowhere else uses this conjunction to introduce the Pharisees into the narrative. As solid as the internal arguments against the longer reading seem to be, the greatest weakness is the witnesses that support it. The Western mss are prone to alter the text by adding, deleting, substituting, or rearranging large amounts of material. There are times when the rationale for this seems inexplicable. In light of the much stronger evidence for “the Pharisees came,” even though it occurs in various permutations, it is probably wisest to retain the words. This judgment, however, is hardly certain.

[10:2]  sn See the note on Pharisees in 2:16.

[10:2]  ²⁰ tn In Greek this phrase occurs at the end of the sentence. It has been brought forward to conform to English style.

[10:2]  ²¹ tn The personal pronoun “his” is not in the Greek text, but is certainly implied and has been supplied in the English translation to clarify the sense of the statement (cf. “his wife” in 10:7).

[10:2]  ²² tn The particle εἰ (ei) is often used to introduce both indirect and direct questions. Thus, another possible translation is to take this as an indirect question: “They asked him if it were lawful for a man to divorce his wife.” See BDF §440.3.

[10:2]  sn The question of the Pharisees was anything but sincere; they were asking it to test him. Jesus was now in the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas (i.e., Judea and beyond the Jordan) and it is likely that the Pharisees were hoping he might answer the question of divorce in a way similar to John the Baptist and so suffer the same fate as John, i.e., death at the hands of Herod (cf. 6:17-19). Jesus answered the question not on the basis of rabbinic custom and the debate over Deut 24:1, but rather from the account of creation and God’s original design.

[12:20]  ²³ tn Grk “took a wife” (an idiom for marrying a woman).

[12:24]  ²⁴ tn Or “mistaken” (cf. BDAG 822 s.v. πλανάω 2.c.γ).

[13:15]  ²⁵ sn Most of the roofs in the NT were flat roofs made of pounded dirt, sometimes mixed with lime or stones, supported by heavy wooden beams. They generally had an easy means of access, either a sturdy wooden ladder or stone stairway, sometimes on the outside of the house.

[13:15]  ²⁶ sn The nature of the judgment coming upon them will be so quick and devastating that one will not have time to come down or go inside to take anything out of his house. It is best just to escape as quickly as possible.

[14:4]  ²⁷ tn The word “expensive” is not in the Greek text but has been included to suggest a connection to the lengthy phrase “costly aromatic oil from pure nard” occurring earlier in v. 3. The author of Mark shortened this long phrase to just one word in Greek when repeated here, and the phrase “expensive ointment” used in the translation is intended as an abbreviated paraphrase.

[14:16]  ²⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the flow within the narrative.

[14:16]  ²⁹ tn Grk “and came.”

[14:16]  ³⁰ sn The author’s note that the disciples found things just as he had told them shows that Jesus’ word could be trusted.