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?”
6:14 Now 17 King Herod 18 heard this, for Jesus’ 19 name had become known. Some 20 were saying, “John the baptizer 21 has been raised from the dead, and because of this, miraculous powers are at work in him.”
9:9 As they were coming down from the mountain, he gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
10:46 They came to Jericho. 28 As Jesus 29 and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road.
14:1 Two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the chief priests and the experts in the law 31 were trying to find a way 32 to arrest Jesus 33 by stealth and kill him.
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 sn A house in 1st century Palestine would have had a flat roof with stairs or a ladder going up. This access was often from the outside of the house.
5 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
7 tn Grk “he”; the referent (the man who was healed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
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 Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 sn Many have discussed why Jesus gave them permission, since the animals were destroyed. However, this is another example of a miracle that is a visual lesson. The demons are destructive: They were destroying the man. They destroyed the pigs. They destroy whatever they touch. The point was to take demonic influence seriously, as well as Jesus’ power over it as a picture of the larger battle for human souls. There would be no doubt how the man’s transformation had taken place.
16 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate a conclusion and transition in the narrative.
17 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.
18 sn Herod was technically not a king, but a tetrarch, a ruler with rank and authority lower than a king. A tetrarch ruled only with the approval of the Roman authorities. This was roughly equivalent to being governor of a region. In the NT, Herod, who ruled over Galilee, is called a king (Matt 14:9, Mark 6:14-29), reflecting popular usage rather than an official title.
19 tn Grk “his”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
20 tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
21 tn While Matthew and Luke consistently use the noun βαπτίστης (baptisths, “the Baptist”) to refer to John, as a kind of a title, Mark prefers the substantival participle ὁ βαπτίζων (Jo baptizwn, “the one who baptizes, the baptizer”) to describe him (only twice does he use the noun [Mark 6:25; 8:28]).
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 “asked that they might touch.”
26 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
27 tn The words “to do so” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied for clarity and stylistic reasons.
28 map For location see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.
29 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
30 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.
31 tn Or “the chief priests and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.
32 tn Grk “were seeking how.”
33 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
34 tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
sn See the note on Christ in 8:29.
35 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).