Markus 1:7

1:7 He proclaimed, ¹  “One more powerful than I am is coming after me; I am not worthy ²  to bend down and untie the strap ³  of his sandals.

Markus 5:26

5:26 She had endured a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse.

Markus 7:4

7:4 And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. They hold fast to many other traditions: the washing of cups, pots, kettles, and dining couches. ⁴ ) ⁵ 

Markus 8:1

The Feeding of the Four Thousand

8:1 In those days there was another large crowd with nothing to eat. So ⁶  Jesus ⁷  called his disciples and said to them,

Markus 8:35

8:35 For whoever wants to save his life ⁸  will lose it, ⁹  but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.

Markus 12:20

12:20 There were seven brothers. The first one married, ¹⁰  and when he died he had no children.

Markus 13:34

13:34 It is like a man going on a journey. He left his house and put his slaves ¹¹  in charge, assigning ¹²  to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to stay alert.

Markus 14:7

14:7 For you will always have the poor with you, and you can do good for them whenever you want. But you will not always have me! ¹³ 

[1:7]  ¹ tn Grk “proclaimed, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[1:7]  ² tn Grk “of whom I am not worthy.”

[1:7]  sn The humility of John is evident in the statement I am not worthy. This was considered one of the least worthy tasks of a slave, and John did not consider himself worthy to do even that for the one to come, despite the fact he himself was a prophet.

[1:7]  ³ tn The term refers to the leather strap or thong used to bind a sandal. This is often viewed as a collective singular and translated as a plural, “the straps of his sandals,” but it may be more emphatic to retain the singular here.

[7:4]  ⁴ tc Several important witnesses (Ì^45vid א B L Δ 28* pc) lack “and dining couches” (καὶ κλινῶν, kai klinwn), while the majority of mss (A D W Θ Ë^1,13 33 Ï latt) have the reading. Although normally the shorter reading is to be preferred, especially when it is backed by excellent witnesses as in this case, there are some good reasons to consider καὶ κλινῶν as authentic: (1) Although the addition of κλινῶν could be seen as motivated by a general assimilation to the purity regulations in Lev 15 (as some have argued), there are three problems with such a supposition: (a) the word κλίνη (klinh) does not occur in the LXX of Lev 15; (b) nowhere in Lev 15 is the furniture washed or sprinkled; and (c) the context of Lev 15 is about sexual impurity, while the most recent evidence suggests that κλίνη in Mark 7:4, in keeping with the other terms used here, refers to a dining couch (cf. BDAG 549 s.v. κλίνη 2). Thus, it is difficult to see καὶ κλινῶν as a motivated reading. (2) κλίνη, though a relatively rare term in the NT, is in keeping with Markan usage (cf. Mark 4:21; 7:30). (3) The phrase could have been dropped accidentally, at least in some cases, via homoioteleuton. (4) The phrase may have been deliberately expunged by some scribes who thought the imagery of washing a dining couch quite odd. The longer reading, in this case, can thus be argued as the harder reading. On balance, even though a decision is difficult (especially because of the weighty external evidence for the shorter reading), it is preferable to retain καὶ κλινῶν in the text.

[7:4]  ⁵ sn Verses 3-4 represent parenthetical remarks by the author, giving background information.

[8:1]  ⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:1]  ⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:35]  ⁸ tn Or “soul” (throughout vv. 35-37).

[8:35]  ⁹ sn The point of the saying whoever wants to save his life will lose it is that if one comes to Jesus then rejection by many will certainly follow. If self-protection is a key motivation, then one will not respond to Jesus and will not be saved. One who is willing to risk rejection will respond and find true life.

[12:20]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “took a wife” (an idiom for marrying a woman).

[13:34]  ¹¹ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 10:44.

[13:34]  ¹² tn Grk “giving.”

[14:7]  ¹³ tn In the Greek text of this clause, “me” is in emphatic position (the first word in the clause). To convey some impression of the emphasis, an exclamation point is used in the translation.