4:21 He also said to them, “A lamp 1 isn’t brought to be put under a basket 2 or under a bed, is it? Isn’t it to be placed on a lampstand?
1 sn The lamp is probably an ancient oil burning lamp or perhaps a candlestick. Jesus is comparing revelation to light, particularly the revelation of his ministry.
2 tn Or “a bowl”; this refers to any container for dry material of about eight liters (two gallons) capacity. It could be translated “basket, box, bowl” (L&N 6.151).
3 tn Grk “They were laughing at him.” The imperfect verb has been taken ingressively.
4 tn Or “threw them all outside.” The verb used, ἐκβάλλω (ekballw), almost always has the connotation of force in Mark.
5 tn Grk “those with him.”
6 tn Grk “into where the child was.”
7 tn See the note on the word “slave” in 10:44.
8 tn Grk “giving.”
9 tn The aorist tense is taken consummatively here.
10 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
11 sn See the note on Crucify in 15:13.
12 sn Sour wine refers to cheap wine that was called in Latin posca, a cheap vinegar wine diluted heavily with water. It was the drink of slaves and soldiers, and was probably there for the soldiers who had performed the crucifixion.
13 tn Grk “a reed.”