Markus 4:11

4:11 He said to them, “The secret ¹  of the kingdom of God has been given ²  to you. But to those outside, everything is in parables,

Markus 4:15

4:15 These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: Whenever they hear, immediately Satan ³  comes and snatches the word ⁴  that was sown in them.

Markus 4:31

4:31 It is like a mustard seed ⁵  that when sown in the ground, even though it is the smallest of all the seeds in the ground –

Markus 5:4

5:4 For his hands and feet had often been bound with chains and shackles, ⁶  but ⁷  he had torn the chains apart and broken the shackles in pieces. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

Markus 6:17

6:17 For Herod himself had sent men, arrested John, and bound him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod ⁸  had married her.

Markus 6:45

Walking on Water

6:45 Immediately Jesus ⁹  made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dispersed the crowd.

Markus 7:36

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. ¹⁰ 

Markus 9:1

9:1 And he said to them, “I tell you the truth, ¹¹  there are some standing here who will not ¹²  experience ¹³  death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.” ¹⁴ 

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 ¹⁵  must marry ¹⁶  the widow and father children ¹⁷  for his brother.’ ¹⁸ 

Markus 15:15

15:15 Because he wanted to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them. Then, ¹⁹  after he had Jesus flogged, ²⁰  he handed him over ²¹  to be crucified.

[4:11]  ¹ tn Grk “the mystery.”

[4:11]  sn The key term secret (μυστήριον, musthrion) can mean either (1) a new revelation or (2) a revealing interpretation of existing revelation as in Dan 2:17-23, 27-30. Jesus seems to be explaining how current events develop old promises, since the NT consistently links the events of Jesus’ ministry and message with old promises (Rom 1:1-4; Heb 1:1-2). The traditional translation of this word, “mystery,” is misleading to the modern English reader because it suggests a secret which people have tried to uncover but which they have failed to understand (L&N 28.77).

[4:11]  ² tn This is an example of a “divine passive,” with God understood to be the source of the revelation (see ExSyn 437-38).

[4:15]  ³ sn Interestingly, the synoptic parallels each use a different word for Satan here: Matt 13:19 has “the evil one,” while Luke 8:12 has “the devil.” This illustrates the fluidity of the gospel tradition in often using synonyms at the same point of the parallel tradition.

[4:15]  ⁴ sn The word of Jesus has the potential to save if it germinates in a person’s heart, something the devil is very much against.

[4:31]  ⁵ sn Mustard seeds are known for their tiny size.

[5:4]  ⁶ tn Grk “he had often been bound with chains and shackles.” “Shackles” could also be translated “fetters”; they were chains for the feet.

[5:4]  ⁷ tn Grk “and.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[6:17]  ⁸ tn Grk “he”; here it is necessary to specify the referent as “Herod,” since the nearest previous antecedent in the translation is Philip.

[6:45]  ⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:36]  ¹⁰ 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.”

[9:1]  ¹¹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[9:1]  ¹² tn The Greek negative here (οὐ μή, ou mh) is the strongest possible.

[9:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “will not taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).

[9:1]  ¹⁴ sn Several suggestions have been made as to the referent for the phrase the kingdom of God come with power: (1) the transfiguration itself, which immediately follows in the narrative; (2) Jesus’ resurrection and ascension; (3) the coming of the Spirit; (4) Jesus’ second coming and the establishment of the kingdom. The reference to after six days in 9:2 seems to indicate that Mark had the transfiguration in mind insofar as it was a substantial prefiguring of the consummation of the kingdom (although this interpretation is not without its problems). As such, the transfiguration was a tremendous confirmation to the disciples that even though Jesus had just finished speaking of his death (8:31; 9:31; 10:33), he was nonetheless the promised Messiah and things were proceeding according to God’s plan.

[12:19]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn The use of ἵνα (Jina) with imperatival force is unusual (BDF §470.1).

[12:19]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “raise up seed” (an idiom for fathering children).

[12:19]  ¹⁸ 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.

[15:15]  ¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[15:15]  ²⁰ tn The Greek term φραγελλόω (fragellow) refers to flogging. BDAG 1064 s.v. states, “flog, scourge, a punishment inflicted on slaves and provincials after a sentence of death had been pronounced on them. So in the case of Jesus before the crucifixion…Mt 27:26; Mk 15:15.”

[15:15]  sn A Roman flogging (traditionally, “scourging”) was an excruciating punishment. The victim was stripped of his clothes and bound to a post with his hands fastened above him (or sometimes he was thrown to the ground). Guards standing on either side of the victim would incessantly beat him with a whip (flagellum) made out of leather with pieces of lead and bone inserted into its ends. While the Jews only allowed 39 lashes, the Romans had no such limit; many people who received such a beating died as a result. See C. Schneider, TDNT, 4:515-19.

[15:15]  ²¹ tn Or “delivered him up.”