2:18 Now 8 John’s 9 disciples and the Pharisees 10 were fasting. 11 So 12 they came to Jesus 13 and said, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast?”
10:46 They came to Jericho. 44 As Jesus 45 and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road.
1 tn Grk “And the whole Judean countryside.” Mark uses the Greek conjunction καί (kai) at numerous places in his Gospel to begin sentences and paragraphs. This practice is due to Semitic influence and reflects in many cases the use of the Hebrew ו (vav) which is used in OT narrative, much as it is here, to carry the narrative along. Because in contemporary English style it is not acceptable to begin every sentence with “and,” καί was often left untranslated or rendered as “now,” “so,” “then,” or “but” depending on the context. When left untranslated it has not been noted. When given an alternative translation, this is usually indicated by a note.
2 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
3 tn Grk “they were being baptized by him.” The passive construction has been rendered as active in the translation for the sake of English style.
4 tn Grk “he”; the referent (the man who was healed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Or “the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.
6 sn Pharisees were members of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.
7 sn The issue here is inappropriate associations. Jews were very careful about personal associations and contact as a matter of ritual cleanliness. Their question borders on an accusation that Jesus is ritually unclean.
8 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.
9 sn John refers to John the Baptist.
10 sn See the note on Pharisees in 2:16.
11 sn John’s disciples and the Pharisees followed typical practices with regard to fasting and prayer. Many Jews fasted regularly (Lev 16:29-34; 23:26-32; Num 29:7-11). The zealous fasted twice a week on Monday and Thursday.
12 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “So” to indicate that in the narrative this question happened as a result of the fasting of John’s disciples and the Pharisees.
13 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
14 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
15 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
16 tn Grk “They were laughing at him.” The imperfect verb has been taken ingressively.
17 tn Or “threw them all outside.” The verb used, ἐκβάλλω (ekballw), almost always has the connotation of force in Mark.
18 tn Grk “those with him.”
19 tn Grk “into where the child was.”
20 tc Evidently because of the possible offensiveness of designating Jesus a carpenter, several
21 sn The reference to Jesus as the carpenter is probably derogatory, indicating that they knew Jesus only as a common laborer like themselves. The reference to him as the son of Mary (even though Jesus’ father was probably dead by this point) appears to be somewhat derogatory, for a man was not regarded as his mother’s son in Jewish usage unless an insult was intended (cf. Judg 11:1-2; John 6:42; 8:41; 9:29).
22 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
23 tn Grk “came out [of the boat],” with the reference to the boat understood.
24 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “So” to indicate this action is the result of Jesus’ compassion on the crowd in the narrative.
25 tn Grk “answering, he said to them.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant, but the syntax of the sentence has been changed for clarity.
26 tn Here the pronoun ὑμεῖς (Jumeis) is used, making “you” in the translation emphatic.
27 sn The silver coin referred to here is the denarius. A denarius, inscribed with a picture of Tiberius Caesar, was worth approximately one day’s wage for a laborer. Two hundred denarii was thus approximately equal to eight months’ wages. The disciples did not have the resources in their possession to feed the large crowd, so Jesus’ request is his way of causing them to trust him as part of their growth in discipleship.
28 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
29 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.
30 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”
31 tn The Greek negative here (οὐ μή, ou mh) is the strongest possible.
32 tn Grk “will not taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).
33 sn Several suggestions have been made as to the referent for the phrase the kingdom of God come with power: (1) the transfiguration itself, which immediately follows in the narrative; (2) Jesus’ resurrection and ascension; (3) the coming of the Spirit; (4) Jesus’ second coming and the establishment of the kingdom. The reference to after six days in 9:2 seems to indicate that Mark had the transfiguration in mind insofar as it was a substantial prefiguring of the consummation of the kingdom (although this interpretation is not without its problems). As such, the transfiguration was a tremendous confirmation to the disciples that even though Jesus had just finished speaking of his death (8:31; 9:31; 10:33), he was nonetheless the promised Messiah and things were proceeding according to God’s plan.
34 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
35 tn The words “to do so” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied for clarity and stylistic reasons.
36 tn Grk “him.”
37 tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
38 tn The plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) is considered by some to be used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women (cf. NRSV, “into human hands”; CEV, “to people”). However, because this can be taken as a specific reference to the group responsible for Jesus’ arrest, where it is unlikely women were present (cf. Matt 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:2-12), the word “men” has been retained in the translation. There may also be a slight wordplay with “the Son of Man” earlier in the verse.
39 tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
40 tn Grk “They will kill him, and being killed, after…” The redundancy in the statement has been removed in the translation.
41 sn They will kill him and after three days he will rise. See the note at the end of Mark 8:30 regarding the passion predictions.
42 tn Or “chief priests and scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.
43 sn No more naïve words have ever been spoken as those found here coming from James and John, “We are able.” They said it with such confidence and ease, yet they had little clue as to what they were affirming. In the next sentence Jesus confirms that they will indeed suffer for his name.
44 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
45 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
46 sn Jesus’ answer to give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s was a both/and, not the questioners’ either/or. So he slipped out of their trap.
47 tn Grk “in that hour.”
48 sn See the note on Crucify in 15:13.
49 tn The verb here is passive (ἠγέρθη, hgerqh). This “divine passive” (see ExSyn 437-38) points to the fact that Jesus was raised by God.