Markus 2:19

2:19 Jesus ¹  said to them, “The wedding guests ²  cannot fast while the bridegroom ³  is with them, can they? ⁴  As long as they have the bridegroom with them they do not fast.

Markus 3:27

3:27 But no one is able to enter a strong man’s ⁵  house and steal his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can thoroughly plunder his house. ⁶ 

Markus 4:15

4:15 These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: Whenever they hear, immediately Satan ⁷  comes and snatches the word ⁸  that was sown in them.

Markus 4:17

4:17 But ⁹  they have no root in themselves and do not endure. ¹⁰  Then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.

Markus 4:21

The Parable of the Lamp

4:21 He also said to them, “A lamp ¹¹  isn’t brought to be put under a basket ¹²  or under a bed, is it? Isn’t it to be placed on a lampstand?

Markus 6:55

6:55 They ran through that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever he was rumored to be. ¹³ 

Markus 7:27

7:27 He said to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and to throw it to the dogs.” ¹⁴ 

Markus 9:43

9:43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter into life crippled than to have ¹⁵  two hands and go into hell, ¹⁶  to the unquenchable fire.

Markus 9:45

9:45 If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off! It is better to enter life lame than to have ¹⁷  two feet and be thrown into hell.

Markus 9:47

9:47 If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out! ¹⁸  It is better to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than to have ¹⁹  two eyes and be thrown into hell,

Markus 10:24

10:24 The disciples were astonished at these words. But again Jesus said to them, ²⁰  “Children, how hard it is ²¹  to enter the kingdom of God!

Markus 11:25

11:25 Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will ²²  also forgive you your sins.”

Markus 11:32

11:32 But if we say, ‘From people – ’” (they feared the crowd, for they all considered John to be truly a prophet).

Markus 12:19

12:19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us: ‘If a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man ²³  must marry ²⁴  the widow and father children ²⁵  for his brother.’ ²⁶ 

Markus 13:7

13:7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come. ²⁷ 

Markus 13:28

The Parable of the Fig Tree

13:28 “Learn this parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.

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! ²⁸ 

Markus 15:32

15:32 Let the Christ, ²⁹  the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, that we may see and believe!” Those who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him. ³⁰ 

Markus 15:34

15:34 Around three o’clock ³¹  Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ³² 

[2:19]  ¹ tn Grk “And Jesus.”

[2:19]  ² tn Grk “sons of the wedding hall,” an idiom referring to wedding guests, or more specifically, friends of the bridegroom present at the wedding celebration (L&N 11.7).

[2:19]  ³ sn The expression while the bridegroom is with them is an allusion to messianic times (John 3:29; Isa 54:5-6; 62:4-5; 4 Ezra 2:15, 38).

[2:19]  ⁴ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “can they?”).

[3:27]  ⁵ sn The strong man here pictures Satan.

[3:27]  ⁶ sn Some see the imagery here as similar to Eph 4:7-10, although no opponents are explicitly named in that passage. Jesus has the victory over Satan. Jesus’ acts of healing mean that the war is being won and the kingdom is coming.

[4:15]  ⁷ sn Interestingly, the synoptic parallels each use a different word for Satan here: Matt 13:19 has “the evil one,” while Luke 8:12 has “the devil.” This illustrates the fluidity of the gospel tradition in often using synonyms at the same point of the parallel tradition.

[4:15]  ⁸ sn The word of Jesus has the potential to save if it germinates in a person’s heart, something the devil is very much against.

[4:17]  ⁹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[4:17]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “are temporary.”

[4:21]  ¹¹ sn The lamp is probably an ancient oil burning lamp or perhaps a candlestick. Jesus is comparing revelation to light, particularly the revelation of his ministry.

[4:21]  ¹² tn Or “a bowl”; this refers to any container for dry material of about eight liters (two gallons) capacity. It could be translated “basket, box, bowl” (L&N 6.151).

[6:55]  ¹³ tn Grk “wherever they heard he was.”

[7:27]  ¹⁴ tn Or “lap dogs, house dogs,” as opposed to dogs on the street. The diminutive form originally referred to puppies or little dogs, then to house pets. In some Hellenistic uses κυνάριον (kunarion) simply means “dog.”

[7:27]  sn The term dogs does not refer to wild dogs (scavenging animals roaming around the countryside) in this context, but to small dogs taken in as house pets. It is thus not a derogatory term per se, but is instead intended by Jesus to indicate the privileged position of the Jews (especially his disciples) as the initial recipients of Jesus’ ministry. The woman’s response of faith and her willingness to accept whatever Jesus would offer pleased him to such an extent that he granted her request. This is the only miracle mentioned in Mark that Jesus performed at a distance without ever having seen the afflicted person, or issuing some sort of audible command.

[9:43]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “than having.”

[9:43]  ¹⁶ sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36). This Greek term also occurs in vv. 45, 47.

[9:45]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “than having.”

[9:47]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “throw it out.”

[9:47]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “than having.”

[10:24]  ²⁰ tn Grk “But answering, Jesus again said to them.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant and has not been translated.

[10:24]  ²¹ tc Most mss (A C D Θ Ë^1,13 28 565 2427 Ï lat sy) have here “for those who trust in riches” (τοὺς πεποιθότας ἐπὶ [τοῖς] χρήμασιν, tou" pepoiqota" epi [toi"] crhmasin); W has πλούσιον (plousion) later in the verse, producing the same general modification on the dominical saying (“how hard it is for the rich to enter…”). But such qualifications on the Lord’s otherwise harsh and absolute statements are natural scribal expansions, intended to soften the dictum. Further, the earliest and best witnesses, along with a few others (א B Δ Ψ sa), lack any such qualifications. That W lacks the longer expansion and only has πλούσιον suggests that its archetype agreed with א B here; its voice should be heard with theirs. Thus, both on external and internal grounds, the shorter reading is preferred.

[11:25]  ²² tn Although the Greek subjunctive mood, formally required in a subordinate clause introduced by ἵνα ({ina), is traditionally translated by an English subjunctive (e.g., “may,” so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV), changes in the use of the subjunctive in English now result in most readers understanding such a statement as indicating permission (“may” = “has permission to”) or as indicating uncertainty (“may” = “might” or “may or may not”). Thus a number of more recent translations render such instances by an English future tense (“will,” so TEV, CEV, NLT, NASB 1995 update). That approach has been followed here.

[12:19]  ²³ tn Grk “his brother”; but this would be redundant in English with the same phrase “his brother” at the end of the verse, so most modern translations render this phrase “the man” (so NIV, NRSV).

[12:19]  ²⁴ tn The use of ἵνα (Jina) with imperatival force is unusual (BDF §470.1).

[12:19]  ²⁵ tn Grk “raise up seed” (an idiom for fathering children).

[12:19]  ²⁶ sn A quotation from Deut 25:5. This practice is called levirate marriage (see also Ruth 4:1-12; Mishnah, m. Yevamot; Josephus, Ant. 4.8.23 [4.254-256]). The levirate law is described in Deut 25:5-10. The brother of a man who died without a son had an obligation to marry his brother’s widow. This served several purposes: It provided for the widow in a society where a widow with no children to care for her would be reduced to begging, and it preserved the name of the deceased, who would be regarded as the legal father of the first son produced from that marriage.

[13:7]  ²⁷ tn Grk “it is not yet the end.”

[14:7]  ²⁸ 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.

[15:32]  ²⁹ tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[15:32]  sn See the note on Christ in 8:29.

[15:32]  ³⁰ sn Mark’s wording suggests that both of the criminals spoke abusively to him. If so, one of them quickly changed his attitude toward Jesus (see Luke 23:40-43).

[15:34]  ³¹ tn The repetition of the phrase “three o’clock” preserves the author’s rougher, less elegant style (cf. Matt 27:45-46; Luke 23:44). Although such stylistic matters are frequently handled differently in the translation, because the issue of synoptic literary dependence is involved here, it was considered important to reflect some of the stylistic differences among the synoptics in the translation, so that the English reader can be aware of them.

[15:34]  ³² sn A quotation from Ps 22:1.