Markus 8:37

8:37 What can a person give in exchange for his life?

Markus 9:50

9:50 Salt ¹  is good, but if it loses its saltiness, ²  how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

Markus 10:19

10:19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” ³ 

Markus 15:46

15:46 After Joseph ⁴  bought a linen cloth ⁵  and took down the body, he wrapped it in the linen and placed it in a tomb cut out of the rock. ⁶  Then ⁷  he rolled a stone across the entrance ⁸  of the tomb.

Markus 16:8

16:8 Then ⁹  they went out and ran from the tomb, for terror and bewilderment had seized them. ¹⁰  And they said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

Markus 16:18

16:18 they will pick up snakes with their hands, and whatever poison they drink will not harm them; ¹¹  they will place their hands on the sick and they will be well.”

¹ sn Salt was used as seasoning or fertilizer (BDAG 41 s.v. ἅλας a), or as a preservative. If salt ceased to be useful, it was thrown away. With this illustration Jesus warned about a disciple who ceased to follow him.

² sn The difficulty of this saying is understanding how salt could lose its saltiness since its chemical properties cannot change. It is thus often assumed that Jesus was referring to chemically impure salt, perhaps a natural salt which, when exposed to the elements, had all the genuine salt leached out, leaving only the sediment or impurities behind. Others have suggested the background of the saying is the use of salt blocks by Arab bakers to line the floor of their ovens: Under the intense heat these blocks would eventually crystallize and undergo a change in chemical composition, finally being thrown out as unserviceable. A saying in the Talmud (b. Bekhorot 8b) attributed to R. Joshua ben Chananja (ca. a.d. 90), when asked the question “When salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again?” is said to have replied, “By salting it with the afterbirth of a mule.” He was then asked, “Then does the mule (being sterile) bear young?” to which he replied: “Can salt lose its flavor?” The point appears to be both are impossible. The saying, while admittedly late, suggests that culturally the loss of flavor by salt was regarded as an impossibility. Genuine salt can never lose its flavor. In this case the saying by Jesus here may be similar to Matt 19:24, where it is likewise impossible for the camel to go through the eye of a sewing needle.

³ sn A quotation from Exod 20:12-16; Deut 5:16-20, except for do not defraud, which is an allusion to Deut 24:14.

⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Joseph of Arimathea) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn The term σινδών (sindwn) can refer to a linen cloth used either for clothing or for burial.

⁶ tn That is, cut or carved into an outcropping of natural rock, resulting in a cave-like structure (see L&N 19.25).

⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁸ tn Or “to the door,” “against the door.”

⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

¹⁰ tn Grk “they began to have trembling and bewilderment.”

¹¹ tn For further comment on the nature of this statement, whether it is a promise or prediction, see ExSyn 403-6.