¹ sn A house in 1st century Palestine would have had a flat roof with stairs or a ladder going up. This access was often from the outside of the house.

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

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

⁴ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

⁵ sn Herod was technically not a king, but a tetrarch, a ruler with rank and authority lower than a king. A tetrarch ruled only with the approval of the Roman authorities. This was roughly equivalent to being governor of a region. In the NT, Herod, who ruled over Galilee, is called a king (Matt 14:9, Mark 6:14-29), reflecting popular usage rather than an official title.

⁶ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

⁸ tn While Matthew and Luke consistently use the noun βαπτίστης (baptisths, “the Baptist”) to refer to John, as a kind of a title, Mark prefers the substantival participle ὁ βαπτίζων (Jo baptizwn, “the one who baptizes, the baptizer”) to describe him (only twice does he use the noun [Mark 6:25; 8:28]).

⁹ tn Grk “was fearing,” “was respecting”; the imperfect tense connotes an ongoing fear or respect for John.

¹⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹² tc In place of ἠπόρει (hporei, “he was baffled”) the majority of mss (A C D ˹ 33 Ï lat sy) have ἐποίει (epoiei, “he did”; cf. KJV’s “he did many things.”) The best mss (א B L [W] Θ 2427 co) support the reading followed in the translation. The variation may be no more than a simple case of confusion of letters, since the two readings look very much alike. The verb ποιέω (poiew, “I do”) certainly occurs more frequently than ἀπορέω (aporew, “I am at a loss”), so a scribe would be more likely to write a more familiar word. Further, even though the reading ἐποίει is the harder reading in terms of the sense, it is virtually nonsensical here, rendering it most likely an unintentional corruption.

tn Or “terribly disturbed,” “rather perplexed.” The verb ἀπορέω (aporew) means “to be in perplexity, with the implication of serious anxiety” (L&N 32.9).

¹³ tn Grk “and.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “and yet” to indicate the concessive nature of the final clause.

¹⁴ tn Grk “him”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁶ tn Grk “came out [of the boat],” with the reference to the boat understood.

¹⁷ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “So” to indicate this action is the result of Jesus’ compassion on the crowd in the narrative.

¹⁸ tn This verse is one complete sentence in the Greek text, but it has been broken into two sentences in English for clarity.

¹⁹ tn Grk “about the fourth watch of the night,” between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m.

²⁰ tn Or “on the lake.”

²¹ tn The καί (kai) was translated so as to introduce a subordinate clause, i.e., with the use of “for.” See BDF §442.9.

²² sn The statement he wanted to pass by them is somewhat difficult to understand. There are at least two common interpretations: (1) it refers to the perspective of the disciples, that is, from their point of view it seemed that Jesus wanted to pass by them; or (2) it refers to a theophany and uses the language of the Greek Old Testament (LXX) when God “passed by” Moses at Sinai (cf. Exod 33:19, 22). According to the latter alternative, Jesus is “passing by” the disciples during their struggle, in order to assure them of his presence with them. See W L. Lane, Mark (NICNT), 236.

²³ tn Or “The chief priests and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

²⁴ tn Grk “how they could destroy him.”

²⁵ tn Grk “They will hand you over.” “They” is an indefinite plural, referring to people in general. The parallel in Matt 10:17 makes this explicit.

²⁶ sn Councils in this context refers to local judicial bodies attached to the Jewish synagogue. This group would be responsible for meting out justice and discipline within the Jewish community.

²⁷ sn See the note on synagogue in 1:21.

²⁸ sn These statements look at persecution both from a Jewish context as the mention of councils and synagogues suggests, and from a Gentile one as the reference to governors and kings suggests. Some fulfillment of Jewish persecution can be seen in Acts.