1:40 Now 12 a leper 13 came to him and fell to his knees, asking for help. “If 14 you are willing, you can make me clean,” he said.
2:23 Jesus 18 was going through the grain fields on a Sabbath, and his disciples began to pick some heads of wheat 19 as they made their way.
3:7 Then 20 Jesus went away with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him. 21 And from Judea,
4:35 On that day, when evening came, Jesus 23 said to his disciples, “Let’s go across to the other side of the lake.” 24
6:35 When it was already late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is an isolated place 26 and it is already very late.
6:45 Immediately Jesus 27 made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dispersed the crowd.
8:1 In those days there was another large crowd with nothing to eat. So 32 Jesus 33 called his disciples and said to them,
10:23 Then 38 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
12:37 If David himself calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 41 And the large crowd was listening to him with delight.
12:38 In his teaching Jesus 42 also said, “Watch out for the experts in the law. 43 They like walking 44 around in long robes and elaborate greetings 45 in the marketplaces,
13:1 Now 49 as Jesus 50 was going out of the temple courts, one of his disciples said to him, “Teacher, look at these tremendous stones and buildings!” 51
15:21 The soldiers 55 forced 56 a passerby to carry his cross, 57 Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country 58 (he was the father of Alexander and Rufus).
1 sn John’s lifestyle was in stark contrast to many of the religious leaders of Jerusalem who lived in relative ease and luxury. While his clothing and diet were indicative of someone who lived in the desert, they also depicted him in his role as God’s prophet (cf. Zech 13:4); his appearance is similar to the Prophet Elijah (2 Kgs 1:8). Locusts and wild honey were a common diet in desert regions and locusts (dried insects) are listed in Lev 11:22 among the “clean” foods.
2 tn Grk “proclaimed, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
3 tn Grk “of whom I am not worthy.”
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.
4 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.
5 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).
6 tn Grk “And he.”
7 tn Grk “were serving him,” “were ministering to him.”
8 tn Or “a boat.” The phrase ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ (en tw ploiw) can either refer to a generic boat, some boat (as it seems to do in Matt 4:21); or it can refer to “their” boat, implying possession. Mark assumes a certain preunderstanding on the part of his readers about the first four disciples and hence the translation “their boat” is justified (cf. also v. 20 in which the “hired men” indicates that Zebedee’s family owned the boats).
9 tn Grk “They.”
10 sn Jesus’ teaching impressed the hearers with the directness of its claim; he taught with authority. A study of Jewish rabbinic interpretation shows that it was typical to cite a list of authorities to make one’s point. Apparently Jesus addressed the issues in terms of his own understanding.
11 tn Or “the scribes.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (grammateu") as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.
12 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.
13 sn The ancient term for leprosy covers a wider array of conditions than what we call leprosy today. A leper was totally ostracized from society until he was declared cured (Lev 13:45-46).
14 tn This is a third class condition. The report portrays the leper making no presumptions about whether Jesus will heal him or not.
15 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the shift from the thoughts of the experts in the law to Jesus’ response.
16 tn Grk “they were thus reasoning within themselves.”
17 tn Grk “Why are you reasoning these things in your hearts?”
18 tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
19 tn Or “heads of grain.” While the generic term στάχυς (stacus) can refer to the cluster of seeds at the top of grain such as barley or wheat, in the NT the term is restricted to wheat (L&N 3.40; BDAG 941 s.v. 1).
20 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
21 tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
22 tn Grk “they”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
23 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
24 tn The phrase “of the lake” is not in the Greek text but is clearly implied; it has been supplied here for clarity.
25 tn Grk “he”; here it is necessary to specify the referent as “Herod,” since the nearest previous antecedent in the translation is Philip.
26 tn Or “a desert” (meaning a deserted or desolate area with sparse vegetation).
27 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
28 sn A quotation from Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16.
29 sn A quotation from Exod 21:17; Lev 20:9.
30 sn Corban is a Hebrew loanword (transliterated in the Greek text and in most modern English translations) referring to something that has been set aside as a gift to be given to God at some later date, but which is still in the possession of the owner (L&N 53.22). According to contemporary Jewish tradition the person who made this claim was absolved from responsibility to support or assist his parents, a clear violation of the Mosaic law to honor one’s parents (v. 10).
31 sn Unclean spirit refers to an evil spirit.
32 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
33 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
34 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”
35 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”
36 tn Grk “in [the] name that of Christ you are.”
37 tn Or “bear the Messiah’s”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
sn See the note on Christ in 8:29.
38 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
39 sn The Greek word for ransom (λύτρον, lutron) is found here and in Matt 20:28 and refers to the payment of a price in order to purchase the freedom of a slave. The idea of Jesus as the “ransom” is that he paid the price with his own life by standing in humanity’s place as a substitute, enduring the judgment that was deserved for sin.
40 tn Or “received” (see the note on the phrase “let me see again” in v. 51).
41 tn Grk “David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ So how is he his son?” The conditional nuance, implicit in Greek, has been made explicit in the translation (cf. Matt 22:45).
42 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
43 tn Or “for the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.
44 tn In Greek this is the only infinitive in vv. 38-39. It would be awkward in English to join an infinitive to the following noun clauses, so this has been translated as a gerund.
45 sn There is later Jewish material in the Talmud that spells out such greetings in detail. See H. Windisch, TDNT 1:498.
46 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”
47 tn See the note on the term “offering box” in v. 41.
48 sn Has put more into the offering box than all the others. With God, giving is weighed evaluatively, not counted. The widow was praised because she gave sincerely and at some considerable cost to herself.
49 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.
50 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
51 sn The Jerusalem temple was widely admired around the world. See Josephus, Ant. 15.11 [15.380-425]; J. W. 5.5 [5.184-227] and Tacitus, History 5.8, who called it “immensely opulent.” Josephus compared it to a beautiful snowcapped mountain.
52 tn Or “will rebel against.”
53 tn Or “of the sky”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context.
54 sn Since women usually carried these jars, it would have been no problem for the two disciples (Luke 22:8 states that they were Peter and John) to recognize the man Jesus was referring to.
55 tn Grk “They”; the referent (the soldiers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
56 tn Or “conscripted”; or “pressed into service.”
57 sn Jesus was beaten severely with a whip before this (the prelude to crucifixion, known to the Romans as verberatio, mentioned in Matt 27:26; Mark 15:15; John 19:1), so he would have been weak from trauma and loss of blood. Apparently he was unable to bear the cross himself, so Simon was conscripted to help (in all probability this was only the crossbeam, called in Latin the patibulum, since the upright beam usually remained in the ground at the place of execution). Cyrene was located in North Africa where Tripoli is today. Nothing more is known about this Simon.
58 tn Or perhaps, “was coming in from his field” outside the city (BDAG 15-16 s.v. ἀγρός 1).