Mark 6:25-26

6:25 Immediately she hurried back to the king and made her request:¹ “I want the head of John the Baptist on a platter immediately.” 6:26 Although it grieved the king deeply,² he did not want to reject her request because of his oath and his guests.

Mark 10:35

The Request of James and John

10:35 Then³ James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

Mark 10:51

10:51 Then⁴ Jesus said to him,⁵ “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied, “Rabbi,⁶ let me see again.”⁷

Mark 14:7

14:7 For you will always have the poor with you, and you can do good for them whenever you want. But you will not always have me!⁸

Mark 15:12

15:12 So Pilate spoke to them again,⁹ “Then what do you want me to do¹⁰ with the one you call king of the Jews?”

¹tn Grk “she asked, saying.” The participle λέγουσα (legousa) is redundant and has not been translated.

²tn Grk “and being deeply grieved, the king did not want.”

³tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁴tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁵tn Grk “And answering, Jesus said to him.” The participle ἀποκριθείς is redundant and has not been translated.

⁶tn Or “Master”; Grk ῥαββουνί (rabbouni).

⁷tn Grk “that I may see [again].” The phrase can be rendered as an imperative of request, “Please, give me sight.” Since the man is not noted as having been blind from birth (as the man in John 9 was) it is likely the request is to receive back the sight he once had.

⁸tn In the Greek text of this clause, “me” is in emphatic position (the first word in the clause). To convey some impression of the emphasis, an exclamation point is used in the translation.

⁹tn Grk “answering, Pilate spoke to them again.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant and has not been translated.

¹⁰tc Instead of “what do you want me to do” several witnesses, including the most important ones (א B C W Δ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 892 2427 pc), lack θέλετε (qelete, “you want”), turning the question into the more abrupt “what should I do?” Although the witnesses for the longer reading are not as significant (A D Θ 0250 Ï latt sy), the reading without θέλετε conforms to Matt 27:22 and thus is suspected of being a scribal emendation. The known scribal tendency to assimilate one synoptic passage to another parallel, coupled with the lack of such assimilation in mss that are otherwise known to do this most frequently (the Western and Byzantine texts), suggests that θέλετε is authentic. Further, Mark’s known style of being generally more verbose and redundant than Matthew’s argues that θέλετε is authentic here. That this is the longer reading, however, and that a good variety of witnesses omit the word, gives one pause. Perhaps the wording without θέλετε would have been perceived as having greater homiletical value, motivating scribes to move in this direction. A decision is difficult, but on the whole internal evidence leads toward regarding θέλετε as authentic.