3:1 In those days John the Baptist came into the wilderness 1 of Judea proclaiming,
4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness 2 to be tempted by the devil.
4:12 Now when Jesus 3 heard that John had been imprisoned, 4 he went into Galilee.
6:13 And do not lead us into temptation, 6 but deliver us from the evil one. 7
26:32 But after I am raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
1 tn Or “desert.”
2 tn Or “desert.”
3 tn Grk “he.”
4 tn Or “arrested,” “taken into custody” (see L&N 37.12).
5 tn The Greek term ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpos) is used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women, thus “people.”
sn The kind of fishing envisioned was net – not line – fishing (cf. v. 18; cf. also BDAG 55 s.v. ἀμφιβάλλω, ἀμφίβληστρον) which involved a circular net that had heavy weights around its perimeter. The occupation of fisherman was labor-intensive. The imagery of using a lure and a line (and waiting for the fish to strike) is thus foreign to this text. Rather, the imagery of a fisherman involved much strain, long hours, and often little results. Jesus’ point may have been one or more of the following: the strenuousness of evangelism, the work ethic that it required, persistence and dedication to the task (often in spite of minimal results), the infinite value of the new “catch” (viz., people), and perhaps an eschatological theme of snatching people from judgment (cf. W. L. Lane, Mark [NICNT], 67). If this last motif is in view, then catching people is the opposite of catching fish: The fish would be caught, killed, cooked, and eaten; people would be caught so as to remove them from eternal destruction and to give them new life.
6 tn Or “into a time of testing.”
sn The request do not lead us into temptation is not to suggest God causes temptation, but is a rhetorical way to ask for his protection from sin.
7 tc Most
tn The term πονηροῦ (ponhrou) may be understood as specific and personified, referring to the devil, or possibly as a general reference to evil. It is most likely personified since it is articular (τοῦ πονηροῦ, tou ponhrou). Cf. also “the evildoer” in 5:39, which is the same construction.
8 sn The phrase Lord of the harvest recognizes God’s sovereignty over the harvest process.
9 tn Grk “to thrust out.”
10 sn An allusion to Dan 3:6.
11 tn Grk “agreeing with the workers for a denarius a day.”
sn The standard wage was a denarius a day. The denarius was a silver coin worth about a day’s wage for a laborer in Palestine in the 1st century.
12 tn Grk “was shaken.” The translation “thrown into an uproar” is given by L&N 25.233.