Markus 3:1-4

Healing a Withered Hand

3:1 Then ¹  Jesus ²  entered the synagogue ³  again, and a man was there who had a withered ⁴  hand. 3:2 They watched ⁵  Jesus ⁶  closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath, ⁷  so that they could accuse him. 3:3 So he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Stand up among all these people.” ⁸  3:4 Then ⁹  he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath, or evil, to save a life or destroy it?” But they were silent.

[3:1]  ¹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[3:1]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:1]  ³ sn See the note on synagogue in 1:21.

[3:1]  ⁴ sn Withered means the man’s hand was shrunken and paralyzed.

[3:2]  ⁵ sn The term translated watched…closely is emotive, since it carries negative connotations. It means they were watching him out of the corner of their eye or spying on him.

[3:2]  ⁶ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ⁷ sn The background for this is the view that only if life was endangered should one attempt to heal on the Sabbath (see the Mishnah, m. Shabbat 6.3; 12.1; 18.3; 19.2; m. Yoma 8.6).

[3:3]  ⁸ tn Grk “Stand up in the middle.”

[3:3]  sn Most likely synagogues were arranged with benches along the walls and open space in the center for seating on the floor.

[3:4]  ⁹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.