Markus 6:20

6:20 because Herod stood in awe of ¹  John and protected him, since he knew that John ²  was a righteous and holy man. When Herod ³  heard him, he was thoroughly baffled, ⁴  and yet ⁵  he liked to listen to John. ⁶ 

Markus 14:43

Betrayal and Arrest

14:43 Right away, while Jesus ⁷  was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived. ⁸  With him came a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and experts in the law ⁹  and elders.

Markus 15:36

15:36 Then someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, ¹⁰  put it on a stick, ¹¹  and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Leave him alone! Let’s see if Elijah will come to take him down!”

[6:20]  ¹ tn Grk “was fearing,” “was respecting”; the imperfect tense connotes an ongoing fear or respect for John.

[6:20]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:20]  ³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:20]  ⁴ tc In place of ἠπόρει (hporei, “he was baffled”) the majority of mss (A C D ˹ 33 Ï lat sy) have ἐποίει (epoiei, “he did”; cf. KJV’s “he did many things.”) The best mss (א B L [W] Θ 2427 co) support the reading followed in the translation. The variation may be no more than a simple case of confusion of letters, since the two readings look very much alike. The verb ποιέω (poiew, “I do”) certainly occurs more frequently than ἀπορέω (aporew, “I am at a loss”), so a scribe would be more likely to write a more familiar word. Further, even though the reading ἐποίει is the harder reading in terms of the sense, it is virtually nonsensical here, rendering it most likely an unintentional corruption.

[6:20]  tn Or “terribly disturbed,” “rather perplexed.” The verb ἀπορέω (aporew) means “to be in perplexity, with the implication of serious anxiety” (L&N 32.9).

[6:20]  ⁵ tn Grk “and.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “and yet” to indicate the concessive nature of the final clause.

[6:20]  ⁶ tn Grk “him”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:43]  ⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:43]  ⁸ tn Or “approached.” This is a different verb than the one translated “arrived” in Matt 26:47 and below in v. 45, although in this context the meanings probably overlap.

[14:43]  ⁹ tn Or “from the chief priests, scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

[15:36]  ¹⁰ sn Sour wine refers to cheap wine that was called in Latin posca, a cheap vinegar wine diluted heavily with water. It was the drink of slaves and soldiers, and was probably there for the soldiers who had performed the crucifixion.

[15:36]  ¹¹ tn Grk “a reed.”