Mark 3:2-5

3:2 They watched 1  Jesus 2  closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath, 3  so that they could accuse him. 3:3 So he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Stand up among all these people.” 4  3:4 Then 5  he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath, or evil, to save a life or destroy it?” But they were silent. 3:5 After looking around 6  at them in anger, grieved by the hardness of their hearts, 7  he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 8 

1 sn The term translated watched…closely is emotive, since it carries negative connotations. It means they were watching him out of the corner of their eye or spying on him.

2 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

3 sn The background for this is the view that only if life was endangered should one attempt to heal on the Sabbath (see the Mishnah, m. Shabbat 6.3; 12.1; 18.3; 19.2; m. Yoma 8.6).

4 tn Grk “Stand up in the middle.”

sn Most likely synagogues were arranged with benches along the walls and open space in the center for seating on the floor.

5 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

6 tn The aorist participle περιβλεψάμενος (peribleyameno") has been translated as antecedent (prior) to the action of the main verb. It could also be translated as contemporaneous (“Looking around…he said”).

7 tn This term is a collective singular in the Greek text.

8 sn The passive was restored points to healing by God. Now the question became: Would God exercise his power through Jesus, if what Jesus was doing were wrong? Note also Jesus’ “labor.” He simply spoke and it was so.