Markus 3:21

3:21 When his family ¹  heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

Markus 5:38

5:38 They came to the house of the synagogue ruler where ²  he saw noisy confusion and people weeping and wailing loudly. ³ 

Markus 5:42

5:42 The girl got up at once and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). They were completely astonished at this. ⁴ 

Markus 6:16

6:16 But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised!”

Markus 6:23

6:23 He swore to her, ⁵  “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.” ⁶ 

Markus 7:2

7:2 And they saw that some of Jesus’ disciples ate their bread with unclean hands, that is, unwashed.

Markus 7:10

7:10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ ⁷  and, ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’ ⁸ 

Markus 7:29

7:29 Then ⁹  he said to her, “Because you said this, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.”

Markus 7:35

7:35 And immediately the man’s ¹⁰  ears were opened, his tongue loosened, and he spoke plainly.

Markus 8:18

8:18 Though you have eyes, don’t you see? And though you have ears, can’t you hear? ¹¹  Don’t you remember?

Markus 9:36

9:36 He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them,

Markus 10:5

10:5 But Jesus said to them, “He wrote this commandment for you because of your hard hearts. ¹² 

Markus 10:12

10:12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” ¹³ 

Markus 10:48

10:48 Many scolded ¹⁴  him to get him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Markus 11:8

11:8 Many spread their cloaks on the road and others spread branches they had cut in the fields.

Markus 13:21

13:21 Then ¹⁵  if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ ¹⁶  or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe him.

[3:21]  ¹ tc Western witnesses D W it, instead of reading οἱ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ (Joi par’ aujtou, here translated “family”), have περὶ αὐτοῦ οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ λοιποί (peri autou Joi grammatei" kai Joi loipoi, “[when] the scribes and others [heard] about him”). But this reading is obviously motivated, for it removes the embarrassing statement about Jesus’ family’s opinion of him as “out of his mind” and transfers this view to the Lord’s opponents. The fact that virtually all other witnesses have οἱ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ here, coupled with the strong internal evidence for the shorter reading, shows this Western reading to be secondary.

[3:21]  tn On the meaning “family” for οἱ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ (Joi par’ autou), see BDAG 756-57 s.v. παρά A.3.b.β.ב.

[3:21]  sn The incident involving the religious leaders accusing Jesus of being in league with the devil (3:22-30) is sandwiched between Mark’s mention of Jesus’ family coming to restrain him (the Greek word for restrain here is also used to mean arrest; see Mark 6:17; 12:12; 14:1, 44, 46, 49, 51) because they thought he was out of his mind (3:21). It is probably Mark’s intention in this structure to show that Jesus’ family is to be regarded as not altogether unlike the experts in the law [scribes] in their perception of the true identity of Jesus; they are incorrect in their understanding of him as well. The tone is obviously one of sadness and the emphasis on Jesus’ true family in vv. 31-35 serves to underscore the comparison between his relatives and the scribes on the one hand, and those who truly obey God on the other.

[5:38]  ² tn Grk “and,” though such paratactic structure is rather awkward in English.

[5:38]  ³ sn This group probably includes outside or even professional mourners, not just family, because a large group seems to be present.

[5:42]  ⁴ tn The Greek word εὐθύς (euqus, often translated “immediately” or “right away”) has not been translated here. It sometimes occurs with a weakened, inferential use (BDAG 406 s.v. 2), not contributing significantly to the flow of the narrative. For further discussion, see R. J. Decker, Temporal Deixis of the Greek Verb in the Gospel of Mark with Reference to Verbal Aspect (SBG 10), 73-77.

[6:23]  ⁵ tc ‡ The witnesses here support several different readings: αὐτῇ πολλά (auth polla, “to her insistently”) is found in D Θ 565 700 it; πολλά is the reading of Ì^45vid 28; both words are lacking in L pc; and א A B C^2vid ˹³ 33 2427 Ï lat have just αὐτῇ. The best candidates for authenticity, on external grounds, are αὐτῇ πολλά and αὐτῇ. So the issue revolves around whether πολλά is part of the text. On the one hand, πολλά used adverbially is a distinctive Markanism (10 of the 16 NT instances are found in Mark; of the other Gospels, Matthew alone adds a single example [Matt 9:14]). It could be argued that such an unremarkable term would go unnoticed by the scribes, and consequently would not have been inserted in imitation of Mark’s style observed elsewhere. On the other hand, the largest cluster of instances of an adverbial πολλά are in Mark 5-6, with the most recent example coming just three verses earlier (Mark 5:23, 38, 43; 6:20). Scribes may well have imitated the usage so recently and so frequently seen. Further, the best Alexandrian witnesses, as well as good representatives of the Western and Byzantines texts, lack πολλά. On the whole, though a decision is difficult, it is probably best to read the text without πολλά. NA²⁷ places the word in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.

[6:23]  ⁶ sn The expression up to half my kingdom is a proverbial comment meaning “great wealth.”

[7:10]  ⁷ sn A quotation from Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16.

[7:10]  ⁸ sn A quotation from Exod 21:17; Lev 20:9.

[7:29]  ⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[7:35]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “his”; the referent (the man who had been a deaf mute) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:18]  ¹¹ tn Grk “do you not hear?”

[10:5]  ¹² tn Grk “heart” (a collective singular).

[10:12]  ¹³ sn It was not uncommon in Jesus’ day for a Jewish man to divorce his wife, but it was extremely rare for a wife to initiate such an action against her husband, since among many things it would have probably left her destitute and without financial support. Mark’s inclusion of the statement And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery (v. 12) reflects more the problem of the predominantly Gentile church in Rome to which he was writing. As such it may be an interpretive and parenthetical comment by the author rather than part of the saying by Jesus, which would stop at the end of v. 11. As such it should then be placed in parentheses. Further NT passages that deal with the issue of divorce and remarriage are Matt 5:31-32; 19:1-12; Luke 16:18; 1 Cor 7.

[10:48]  ¹⁴ tn Or “rebuked.” The crowd’s view was that surely Jesus would not be bothered with someone as unimportant as a blind beggar.

[13:21]  ¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[13:21]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[13:21]  sn See the note on Christ in 8:29.