Markus 1:4

1:4 In the wilderness ¹  John the baptizer ²  began preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ³ 

Markus 2:25

2:25 He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry –

Markus 3:22

3:22 The experts in the law ⁴  who came down from Jerusalem ⁵  said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” ⁶  and, “By the ruler ⁷  of demons he casts out demons.”

Markus 4:10

The Purpose of Parables

4:10 When he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.

Markus 4:12

4:12 so that although they look they may look but not see,

and although they hear they may hear but not understand,

so they may not repent and be forgiven.” ⁸ 

Markus 5:19

5:19 But ⁹  Jesus ¹⁰  did not permit him to do so. Instead, he said to him, “Go to your home and to your people and tell them what the Lord has done for you, ¹¹  that he had mercy on you.”

Markus 6:26

6:26 Although it grieved the king deeply, ¹²  he did not want to reject her request because of his oath and his guests.

Markus 8:3

8:3 If I send them home hungry, they will faint on the way, and some of them have come from a great distance.”

Markus 8:19-20

8:19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of pieces did you pick up?” They replied, “Twelve.” 8:20 “When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of pieces did you pick up?” They replied, ¹³  “Seven.”

Markus 8:34-35

Following Jesus

8:34 Then ¹⁴  Jesus ¹⁵  called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ¹⁶  he must deny ¹⁷  himself, take up his cross, ¹⁸  and follow me. 8:35 For whoever wants to save his life ¹⁹  will lose it, ²⁰  but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.

Markus 9:17

9:17 A member of the crowd said to him, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that makes him mute.

Markus 12:15

12:15 But he saw through their hypocrisy and said ²¹  to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius ²²  and let me look at it.”

Markus 12:41

The Widow’s Offering

12:41 Then ²³  he ²⁴  sat down opposite the offering box, ²⁵  and watched the crowd putting coins into it. Many rich people were throwing in large amounts.

Markus 13:28

The Parable of the Fig Tree

13:28 “Learn this parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.

Markus 14:40

14:40 When he came again he found them sleeping; they could not keep their eyes open. ²⁶  And they did not know what to tell him.

Markus 14:60-61

14:60 Then ²⁷  the high priest stood up before them ²⁸  and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer? What is this that they are testifying against you?” 14:61 But he was silent and did not answer. Again the high priest questioned him, ²⁹  “Are you the Christ, ³⁰  the Son of the Blessed One?”

Markus 15:12

15:12 So Pilate spoke to them again, ³¹  “Then what do you want me to do ³²  with the one you call king of the Jews?”

Markus 16:17

16:17 These signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages; ³³ 

Markus 16:20

16:20 They went out and proclaimed everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through the accompanying signs.]]

[1:4]  ¹ tn Or “desert.”

[1:4]  ² 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]).

[1:4]  ³ sn A baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins was a call for preparation for the arrival of the Lord’s salvation. To participate in this baptism was a recognition of the need for God’s forgiveness with a sense that one needed to live differently as a response to it.

[3:22]  ⁴ tn Or “The scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

[3:22]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:22]  ⁶ tn Grk “He has Beelzebul.”

[3:22]  sn Beelzebul is another name for Satan. So some people recognized Jesus’ work as supernatural, but called it diabolical.

[3:22]  ⁷ tn Or “prince.”

[4:12]  ⁸ sn A quotation from Isa 6:9-10. Thus parables both conceal or reveal depending on whether one is open to hearing what they teach.

[5:19]  ⁹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[5:19]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:19]  ¹¹ sn Jesus instructs the man to declare what the Lord has done for him, in contrast to the usual instructions (e.g., 1:44; 5:43) to remain silent. Here in Gentile territory Jesus allowed more open discussion of his ministry. D. L. Bock (Luke [BECNT], 1:781) suggests that with few Jewish religious representatives present, there would be less danger of misunderstanding Jesus’ ministry as political.

[6:26]  ¹² tn Grk “and being deeply grieved, the king did not want.”

[8:20]  ¹³ tc ‡ A difficult textual problem is found here, involving three different variants: καὶ λέγουσιν (kai legousin) is found in א pc; οἱ δὲ εἶπον (Joi de eipon) is the reading of Ì⁴⁵ A D W Θ Ë^1,13 33 Ï it; and καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ (kai legousin autw) is supported by B C L (Δ 579 892) 2427 pc. The first two variants would not be translated differently; the third reading, however, would add “to him” after “they replied.” What complicates the issue is that the external evidence is fairly evenly split between the second and third readings, though the first reading is in agreement with the second reading in lacking the dative pronoun. Indeed, another layout of the problem here could treat this as two distinct problems: καὶ λέγουσιν vs. οἱ δὲ εἶπον and αὐτῷ vs. omission of the word. In this second arrangement of the problem, the reading without the pronoun has slightly stronger support (Ì⁴⁵ א A D W Θ Ë^1,13 33 Ï it). Internally, Mark never elsewhere uses the form εἶπον for the third person plural indicative form of this verb (it is always εἶπαν [eipan]). And although only one other time in Mark is the object lacking after λέγουσιν (6:38), it is a similar context (viz., the disciples’ response before Jesus feeds the 5000). Very tentatively, the reading that is followed here is καὶ λέγουσιν. NA²⁷ puts αὐτῷ in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.

[8:34]  ¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:34]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:34]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “to follow after me.”

[8:34]  ¹⁷ tn This translation better expresses the force of the Greek third person imperative than the traditional “let him deny,” which could be understood as merely permissive.

[8:34]  ¹⁸ sn To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following him. Discipleship involves a death that is like a crucifixion; see Gal 6:14.

[8:35]  ¹⁹ tn Or “soul” (throughout vv. 35-37).

[8:35]  ²⁰ sn The point of the saying whoever wants to save his life will lose it is that if one comes to Jesus then rejection by many will certainly follow. If self-protection is a key motivation, then one will not respond to Jesus and will not be saved. One who is willing to risk rejection will respond and find true life.

[12:15]  ²¹ tn Grk “Aware of their hypocrisy he said.”

[12:15]  ²² tn Here the specific name of the coin was retained in the translation, because not all coins in circulation in Palestine at the time carried the image of Caesar. In other places δηνάριον (dhnarion) has been translated simply as “silver coin” with an explanatory note.

[12:15]  sn A denarius was a silver coin stamped with the image of the emperor and worth approximately one day’s wage for a laborer.

[12:41]  ²³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[12:41]  ²⁴ tc Most mss, predominantly of the Western and Byzantine texts (A D W Θ Ë^1,13 33 2542 Ï lat), have ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς (Jo Ihsou", “Jesus”) as the explicit subject here, while א B L Δ Ψ 892 2427 pc lack the name. A natural scribal tendency is to expand the text, especially to add the Lord’s name as the explicit subject of a verb. Scribes much less frequently omitted the Lord’s name (cf. the readings of W Θ 565 1424 in Mark 12:17). The internal and external evidence support one another here in behalf of the shorter reading.

[12:41]  ²⁵ tn On the term γαζοφυλάκιον (gazofulakion), often translated “treasury,” see BDAG 186 s.v., which states, “For Mk 12:41, 43; Lk 21:1 the mng. contribution box or receptacle is attractive. Acc. to Mishnah, Shekalim 6, 5 there were in the temple 13 such receptacles in the form of trumpets. But even in these passages the general sense of ‘treasury’ is prob., for the contributions would go [into] the treasury via the receptacles.” Based upon the extra-biblical evidence (see sn following), however, the translation opts to refer to the actual receptacles and not the treasury itself.

[12:41]  sn The offering box probably refers to the receptacles in the temple forecourt by the Court of Women used to collect freewill offerings. These are mentioned by Josephus, J. W. 5.5.2 (5.200); 6.5.2 (6.282); Ant. 19.6.1 (19.294), and in 1 Macc 14:49 and 2 Macc 3:6, 24, 28, 40 (see also Luke 21:1; John 8:20).

[14:40]  ²⁶ tn Grk “because their eyes were weighed down,” an idiom for becoming extremely or excessively sleepy (L&N 23.69).

[14:60]  ²⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[14:60]  ²⁸ tn Grk “in the middle.”

[14:61]  ²⁹ tn Grk “questioned him and said to him.”

[14:61]  ³⁰ tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[14:61]  sn See the note on Christ in 8:29.

[15:12]  ³¹ tn Grk “answering, Pilate spoke to them again.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant and has not been translated.

[15:12]  ³² tc 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.

[16:17]  ³³ tn Grk “tongues,” though the word is used figuratively (perhaps as a metonymy of cause for effect). To “speak in tongues” meant to “speak in a foreign language,” though one that was new to the one speaking it and therefore due to supernatural causes. For a discussion concerning whether such was a human language, heavenly language, or merely ecstatic utterance, see BDAG 201-2 s.v. γλῶσσα 2, 3; BDAG 399 s.v. ἕτερος 2; L&N 33.2-4; ExSyn 698; C. M. Robeck Jr., “Tongues,” DPL, 939-43.