Markus 10:35

The Request of James and John

10:35 Then ¹  James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

Markus 10:51

10:51 Then ²  Jesus said to him, ³  “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied, “Rabbi, ⁴  let me see again.” ⁵ 

Markus 12:19

12:19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us: ‘If a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man ⁶  must marry ⁷  the widow and father children ⁸  for his brother.’ ⁹ 

[10:35]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[10:51]  ² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[10:51]  ³ tn Grk “And answering, Jesus said to him.” The participle ἀποκριθείς is redundant and has not been translated.

[10:51]  ⁴ tn Or “Master”; Grk ῥαββουνί (rabbouni).

[10:51]  ⁵ tn Grk “that I may see [again].” The phrase can be rendered as an imperative of request, “Please, give me sight.” Since the man is not noted as having been blind from birth (as the man in John 9 was) it is likely the request is to receive back the sight he once had.

[12:19]  ⁶ tn Grk “his brother”; but this would be redundant in English with the same phrase “his brother” at the end of the verse, so most modern translations render this phrase “the man” (so NIV, NRSV).

[12:19]  ⁷ tn The use of ἵνα (Jina) with imperatival force is unusual (BDF §470.1).

[12:19]  ⁸ tn Grk “raise up seed” (an idiom for fathering children).

[12:19]  ⁹ sn A quotation from Deut 25:5. This practice is called levirate marriage (see also Ruth 4:1-12; Mishnah, m. Yevamot; Josephus, Ant. 4.8.23 [4.254-256]). The levirate law is described in Deut 25:5-10. The brother of a man who died without a son had an obligation to marry his brother’s widow. This served several purposes: It provided for the widow in a society where a widow with no children to care for her would be reduced to begging, and it preserved the name of the deceased, who would be regarded as the legal father of the first son produced from that marriage.