Markus 4:21

The Parable of the Lamp

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?

Markus 4:31

4:31 It is like a mustard seed ³  that when sown in the ground, even though it is the smallest of all the seeds in the ground –

Markus 4:36

4:36 So ⁴  after leaving the crowd, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat, ⁵  and other boats were with him.

Markus 4:38

4:38 But ⁶  he was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to die?”

Markus 6:10

6:10 He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there ⁷  until you leave the area.

Markus 8:11

The Demand for a Sign

8:11 Then the Pharisees ⁸  came and began to argue with Jesus, asking for ⁹  a sign from heaven ¹⁰  to test him.

Markus 12:15

12:15 But he saw through their hypocrisy and said ¹¹  to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius ¹²  and let me look at it.”

Markus 16:12

16:12 After this he appeared in a different form to two of them while they were on their way to the country.

[4:21]  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.

[4:21]  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).

[4:31]  ³ sn Mustard seeds are known for their tiny size.

[4:36]  ⁴ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the response to Jesus’ request.

[4:36]  ⁵ tn It is possible that this prepositional phrase modifies “as he was,” not “they took him along.” The meaning would then be “they took him along in the boat in which he was already sitting” (see 4:1).

[4:36]  sn A boat that held all the disciples would be of significant size.

[4:38]  ⁶ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[6:10]  ⁷ sn Jesus telling his disciples to stay there in one house contrasts with the practice of religious philosophers in the ancient world who went from house to house begging.

[8:11]  ⁸ sn See the note on Pharisees in 2:16.

[8:11]  ⁹ tn Grk “seeking from him.” The participle ζητοῦντες (zhtountes) shows the means by which the Pharisees argued with Jesus.

[8:11]  ¹⁰ sn What exactly this sign would have been, given what Jesus was already doing, is not clear. But here is where the fence-sitters reside, refusing to commit to him.

[12:15]  ¹¹ tn Grk “Aware of their hypocrisy he said.”

[12:15]  ¹² 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.