Markus 4:9

4:9 And he said, “Whoever has ears to hear had better listen!” ¹ 

Markus 4:23

4:23 If anyone has ears to hear, he had better listen!” ² 

Markus 7:16

7:16 [[EMPTY]] ³ 

Markus 8:18

8:18 Though you have eyes, don’t you see? And though you have ears, can’t you hear? ⁴  Don’t you remember?

[4:9]  ¹ tn The translation “had better listen!” captures the force of the third person imperative more effectively than the traditional “let him hear,” which sounds more like a permissive than an imperative to the modern English reader. This was Jesus’ common expression to listen and heed carefully (cf. Matt 11:15; 13:9, 43; Mark 4:23; Luke 8:8, 14:35).

[4:23]  ² tn The translation “had better listen!” captures the force of the third person imperative more effectively than the traditional “let him hear,” which sounds more like a permissive than an imperative to the modern English reader. This was Jesus’ common expression to listen and heed carefully (cf. Matt 11:15; 13:9, 43; Mark 4:9; Luke 8:8, 14:35).

[7:16]  ³ tc Most later mss add 7:16 “Let anyone with ears to hear, listen.” This verse is included in A D W Θ Ë^1,13 33 Ï latt sy, but is lacking in important Alexandrian mss and a few others (א B L Δ* 0274 28 2427). It appears to be a scribal gloss (see 4:9 and 4:23), perhaps introduced as a reiteration of the thought in 7:14, and is almost certainly not an original part of the Greek text of Mark. The present translation follows NA²⁷ in omitting the verse number, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations.

[8:18]  ⁴ tn Grk “do you not hear?”