Markus 7:31--8:9

Healing a Deaf Mute

7:31 Then ¹  Jesus ²  went out again from the region of Tyre ³  and came through Sidon ⁴  to the Sea of Galilee in the region of the Decapolis. ⁵  7:32 They brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking, and they asked him to place his hands on him. 7:33 After Jesus ⁶  took him aside privately, away from the crowd, he put his fingers in the man’s ⁷  ears, and after spitting, he touched his tongue. ⁸  7:34 Then ⁹  he looked up to heaven and said with a sigh, “Ephphatha” (that is, “Be opened”). ¹⁰  7:35 And immediately the man’s ¹¹  ears were opened, his tongue loosened, and he spoke plainly. 7:36 Jesus ordered them not to tell anything. But as much as he ordered them not to do this, they proclaimed it all the more. ¹²  7:37 People were completely astounded and said, “He has done everything well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

The Feeding of the Four Thousand

8:1 In those days there was another large crowd with nothing to eat. So ¹³  Jesus ¹⁴  called his disciples and said to them, 8:2 “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have already been here with me three days, and they have nothing to eat. 8:3 If I send them home hungry, they will faint on the way, and some of them have come from a great distance.” 8:4 His disciples answered him, “Where can someone get enough bread in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” 8:5 He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They replied, “Seven.” 8:6 Then ¹⁵  he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. After he took the seven loaves and gave thanks, he broke them and began giving them to the disciples to serve. So ¹⁶  they served the crowd. 8:7 They also had a few small fish. After giving thanks for these, he told them to serve these as well. 8:8 Everyone ¹⁷  ate and was satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 8:9 There were about four thousand ¹⁸  who ate. ¹⁹  Then he dismissed them. ²⁰ 

[7:31]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[7:31]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:31]  ³ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[7:31]  ⁴ map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[7:31]  ⁵ sn The Decapolis refers to a league of towns (originally consisting of ten; the Greek name literally means “ten towns”) whose region (except for Scythopolis) lay across the Jordan River.

[7:33]  ⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:33]  ⁷ tn Grk “his”; the referent (the deaf man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:33]  ⁸ sn After spitting, he touched his tongue. It was not uncommon in Judaism of the day to associate curative powers with a person’s saliva. The scene as a whole reflects Jesus’ willingness to get close to people and have physical contact with them where appropriate. See W. L. Lane, Mark (NICNT), 267 n. 78.

[7:34]  ⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[7:34]  ¹⁰ sn The author’s parenthetical note gives the meaning of the Aramaic word Ephphatha.

[7:35]  ¹¹ tn Grk “his”; the referent (the man who had been a deaf mute) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:36]  ¹² tn Grk “but as much as he ordered them, these rather so much more proclaimed.” Greek tends to omit direct objects when they are clear from the context, but these usually need to be supplied for the modern English reader. Here what Jesus ordered has been clarified (“ordered them not to do this”), and the pronoun “it” has been supplied after “proclaimed.”

[8:1]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:6]  ¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:6]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

[8:8]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “They.”

[8:9]  ¹⁸ sn The parallel in Matt 15:32-39 notes that the four thousand were only men, a point not made explicit in Mark.

[8:9]  ¹⁹ tn The words “who ate” are not in the Greek text but have been supplied for clarity.

[8:9]  ²⁰ sn Mark 8:1-10. Many commentators, on the basis of similarities between this account of the feeding of the multitude (8:1-10) and that in 6:30-44, have argued that there is only one event referred to in both passages. While there are similarities in language and in the response of the disciples, there are also noticeable differences, including the different number present on each occasion (i.e., 5,000 in chap. 6 and 4,000 here). In the final analysis, the fact that Jesus refers to two distinct feedings in 8:18-20 settles the issue; this passage represents another very similar incident to that recorded in 6:30-44.