Mark 1:13

1:13 He was in the wilderness forty days, ¹  enduring temptations from Satan. He ²  was with wild animals, and angels were ministering to his needs. ³ 

Mark 4:15

4:15 These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: Whenever they hear, immediately Satan ⁴  comes and snatches the word ⁵  that was sown in them.

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¹ sn The forty days may allude to the experience of Moses (Exod 34:28), Elijah (1 Kgs 19:8, 15), or David and Goliath (1 Sam 17:16).

² tn Grk “And he.”

³ tn Grk “were serving him,” “were ministering to him.”

⁴ 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.

⁵ 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.