The Gospel According to Mark
Condensed prose edition with inline root excavation · Koine Greek, with the Aramaic and Latin retentions Mark preserves · sixteen chapters rendered as continuous narrative
The Beginning in the Wilderness
The gospel (euangelion; eu- "good" + angelia "announcement," from angelos, the mounted state courier, probably an Iranian loanword; the runner arriving from the field with the outcome of the battle → news of a decided event, not advice about one) of Jesus (AS) the Christ (Christos; √chri- "to rub, to smear"; oil poured and worked into the head → the smeared one; renders Hebrew māshîaḥ √m-sh-ḥ, Arabic al-Masīḥ; Symbolism: appointment) begins here. Some manuscripts add "Son of God ﷻ" to this opening line; the first hand of Codex Sinaiticus does not carry it.
It begins as the prophet wrote, in words Mark ascribes to Isaiah and draws from more than one place: God ﷻ sends his messenger ahead to prepare the way, a voice crying in the wilderness (erēmos; the unsettled place, ground emptied of houses → outside the city and outside its order), "Prepare the way of the Lord ﷻ, make his paths straight."
So John (Iōannēs ← Hebrew Yôḥānān, √ḥ-n-n "to show favour" + the divine name → "Yah has shown favour") (AS) appeared in the wilderness, baptizing (baptizō; √bapt- "to dip, plunge, dye"; cloth pushed under the surface until it takes the colour → immersion that alters what it touches) and preaching a baptism of repentance (metanoia; meta "after, beyond" + nous "mind"; the mind turned round after seeing → reversal of direction, not remorse) for the release (aphesis; apo "away" + hiēmi "to send"; the hand opening on what it held → the word used in the papyri for a cancelled debt and a freed slave) of sins (hamartia; hamartanō "to miss"; the spear falling short of its target → failure of aim). All the country of Judea and everyone from Jerusalem went out to him, confessing their sins and being baptized in the river Jordan.
John wore camel's hair with a leather belt at his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. He preached, "There comes one mightier than I after me, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit (pneuma; pneō "to blow, to breathe"; wind felt on the face and breath in the chest → the moving invisible; renders Hebrew rûaḥ √r-w-ḥ, Arabic rūḥ)."
In those days Jesus (AS) came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Coming up out of the water he saw the heavens torn open (schizō; PIE *skei- "to cut, split"; the hide slit and pulled apart → a rip that cannot be sewn shut; Insight: Mark uses this verb twice only, here and at the temple curtain) and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came out of the heavens: "Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased."
Immediately the Spirit drove him out (ekballō; ek "out" + ballō "to throw"; the object flung clear of the door → expulsion by force; Insight: the same verb Mark uses of casting out demons) into the wilderness. He was there forty days, tempted by Satan (satanas ← Hebrew and Aramaic śāṭān √s-ṭ-n "to oppose, to obstruct, to accuse"; the one who stands across the road → the adversary at law; Arabic shayṭān), and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him.
The Kingdom at Hand and the First Called
After John was handed over, Jesus (AS) came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God ﷻ: "The time (kairos; the ripe instant, the decisive opening, as against chronos, mere elapsed duration) is fulfilled, and the kingdom (basileia; from basileus "king"; kingship in exercise → the reign, not the realm; Symbolism: rule-in-action) of God ﷻ has come near. Repent, and believe (pisteuō; from peithō "to persuade," PIE *bheidh- "to trust"; cognate with Latin fides; the binding of trust → to be persuaded and held) in the gospel."
Passing along the Sea of Galilee he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. He said, "Come after me, and I will make you become fishers of men," and at once they left the nets and followed him. Going on a little further he saw James the son of Zebedee and his brother John mending nets in the boat; he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and went after him.
A Day of Authority in Capernaum
They entered Capernaum (Kapharnaoum ← Hebrew Kəphar Naḥûm, "village of Nahum," √n-ḥ-m "to comfort") and on the sabbath he went into the synagogue (synagōgē; syn "together" + agō "to lead"; the leading-together → the assembly and its building) and taught. They were astonished at his teaching, because he taught them as one having authority (exousia; from exestin, "it is permitted," ek "out of" + eimi "to be"; the right that proceeds from what one is → power that needs no citation) and not as the scribes.
In their synagogue was a man with an unclean (akathartos; a- "not" + katharos "clean"; grain still full of chaff → not sorted, not fit to approach) spirit, who cried out, "What have we to do with thee, Jesus (AS) of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God ﷻ." Jesus (AS) rebuked (epitimaō; epi "upon" + timē "price, value"; to lay a penalty upon → to censure with force enough to silence) him: "Be silent, and come out of him." The unclean spirit convulsed the man, cried with a loud voice, and came out, and they all questioned one another, saying that this was a new teaching, with authority, since he commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him. His report went out immediately everywhere into all the surrounding region of Galilee.
Leaving the synagogue they went to the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever; they told him at once, and he came and raised her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she served them. That evening at sunset they brought him all who were sick and possessed, the whole city gathered at the door, and he healed many and cast out many demons, not permitting the demons to speak because they knew him.
Very early, while it was still dark, he rose and went out to a deserted place and prayed there. Simon and those with him hunted him down and said everyone was looking for him; he answered, "Let us go elsewhere, into the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out." So he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
A leper (lepros; from lepis "scale, flake," √lep- "to peel, to husk"; skin flaking off in scales → the scaled and excluded body) came to him begging on his knees, "If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." Moved in the gut (splanchnizomai; from splanchna, the inward organs, heart, liver and lungs; the viscera convulsing → compassion felt as a physical spasm; Insight: Codex Bezae reads instead orgistheis, "moved with anger") he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, "I will; be thou clean," and immediately the leprosy left him. He sternly charged him to say nothing to anyone but to go, show himself to the priest and offer what Moses (AS) commanded, as a testimony to them. The man went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the word, so that Jesus (AS) could no longer openly enter a town but stayed outside in deserted places, and they came to him from every quarter.
Five Collisions with the Guardians of the Law
Days later he returned to Capernaum, and when it was heard he was at home so many gathered that there was no room even about the door, and he spoke the word to them. Four men came carrying a paralytic (paralytikos; para "alongside" + lyō "to loosen"; the limb unstrung at the side → slackened, the cord gone from the body). Unable to get near for the crowd, they unroofed the roof above him, dug through it, and lowered the pallet (krabattos; a low camp-bed, a vulgar loanword of the same family as Latin grabatus; the poor man's mat → Mark's street register, where Matthew and Luke write a politer word) with the paralytic on it.
Seeing their faith, Jesus (AS) said, "Son, thy sins are forgiven thee." Certain of the scribes sitting there reasoned in their hearts that this was blasphemy (blasphēmia; probably blaptō "to harm" + phēmē "speech"; speech that damages what it names → injurious utterance against the sacred), since none can forgive sins but God ﷻ alone. Knowing their reasoning in his spirit he asked which is easier, to say the sins are forgiven or to say rise, take up thy pallet and walk, and then, "that ye may know that the Son of Man hath authority on earth to forgive sins," he told the man to rise, take up his pallet and go home. He rose immediately, took up the pallet and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God ﷻ, saying they had never seen anything like it.
He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd came to him, and he taught them. Passing on he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the toll booth (telōnion; from telos "tax, toll" + ōneomai "to buy"; the bought right to collect at the road → the tax-farmer's stall, and with it his standing as a collaborator) and said, "Follow me," and he rose and followed him. As Jesus (AS) reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. The scribes of the Pharisees, seeing him eat with tax collectors and sinners, asked his disciples why; hearing it he said, "They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."
John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and people came and asked why his disciples did not fast. He answered, "Can the sons of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days." No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, or the new tears away from the old and the tear is made worse; and no one puts new wine into old wineskins, or the wine bursts the skins and both are lost, but new wine goes into new skins.
On a sabbath (sabbaton ← Hebrew shabbāt √sh-b-t "to cease, to desist"; the hand stopped mid-work → the ceasing, kept as a day) he was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pluck the heads of grain as they went. The Pharisees asked why they did what is not lawful on the sabbath. He reminded them what David (AS) did when he and his men were in need and hungry, entering the house of God ﷻ in the days of Abiathar the high priest, eating the bread of the Presence which only the priests may eat, and giving it to those with him. Then he said, "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath; therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the sabbath."
He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there with a withered hand, and they watched him to see whether he would heal on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. He told the man with the withered hand to stand up in the middle, then asked them, "Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?" They held their peace. Looking round on them with anger, grieved at the hardness (pōrōsis; from pōros, the callus that forms on a broken bone or a stone deposit; bone growing over the break → tissue turned rigid where it should be soft) of their hearts, he told the man to stretch out his hand, and it was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
The Crowd, the Twelve, and the House Divided
He withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude followed from Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and about Tyre and Sidon, hearing what great things he did. He told his disciples to keep a small boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, for he had healed many, so that all who had afflictions pressed on him to touch him. The unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him and cried, "Thou art the Son of God ﷻ," and he charged them sternly not to make him known.
He went up into the mountain and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him, and he appointed twelve to be with him, to send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out demons. Simon he surnamed Peter (Petros; petra "rock"; the stone in the field → the named rock), James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James he surnamed Boanerges (Mark glosses it "sons of thunder"; behind it an Aramaic phrase, plausibly bənê rəgesh or rəgaz, "sons of tumult or rage," though the reconstruction is disputed), and then Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
He went home, and the crowd came together again so that they could not so much as eat bread. When his own people heard it they went out to seize him, saying he was beside himself. The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said he had Beelzebul (Beelzeboul ← Baʿal-zəbûl, "lord of the exalted house" or "prince Baal," √b-ʿ-l "to own, to master"; the older Hebrew text at 2 Kings mocks it as Baʿal-zəbûb, "lord of flies") and that by the prince of the demons he cast out demons.
He called them and spoke to them in parables: how can Satan cast out Satan? A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, a house divided against itself cannot stand, and if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided he cannot stand but has an end. No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.
"Verily I say unto you, all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme; but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation." Mark supplies the reason in the next line, and the reason is the whole of it: he said this because they were saying he had an unclean spirit. The offer is stated at full width first and the single exception is placed not at a magnitude of wrong but at an attribution, the naming of the discerning power as its opposite.
His mother and his brothers came and stood outside and sent word calling him, and the crowd sitting around him said his mother and brothers were outside asking for him. He answered, "Who is my mother, or my brethren?" and looking round on those who sat about him he said, "Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God ﷻ, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother."
Seed, Soil, and the Secret of the Kingdom
He began again to teach beside the sea, and so great a crowd gathered that he got into a boat and sat on the water while the whole crowd stood on the land facing him. He taught them many things in parables (parabolē; para "alongside" + ballō "to throw"; the thing thrown down next to another → the comparison laid beside the matter, which both shows and screens it).
A sower (speirō "to scatter, to sow," PIE *sper- "to strew"; cognate with sperma and diaspora; the hand flinging seed broadcast → scattering without aiming) went out to sow. Some seed fell along the path and the birds came and devoured it. Some fell on rocky ground where it had little soil, sprang up at once because the soil was shallow, and when the sun rose was scorched and withered for lack of root. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded nothing. And other seed fell into good ground and yielded, growing up and increasing, thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
When he was alone, those about him with the twelve asked him about the parables. He said, "Unto you it is given to know the mystery (mystērion; from myeō "to initiate," and behind it myō "to shut the lips or the eyes"; the closed mouth of the initiate → what is not concealed by nature but held until it is handed over) of the kingdom of God ﷻ, but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables, that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them."
Then he interpreted it. The sower sows the word. Those along the path are they in whom the word is sown and Satan comes immediately and takes it away. Those on rocky ground receive it at once with gladness, have no root in themselves, endure for a time, and stumble when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake. Those among thorns hear the word, but the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke it, and it becomes unfruitful. Those on good ground hear the word, receive it, and bear fruit thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold.
He asked whether a lamp is brought to be put under a bushel or under a bed, and not to be set on a stand, for there is nothing hidden except to be made manifest, and nothing kept secret but that it should come to light. "If any man have ears to hear, let him hear." He warned them to take heed what they hear, for with the measure they use it shall be measured to them, and more shall be given; to him that has shall more be given, and from him that has not, even what he has shall be taken away.
The kingdom of God ﷻ is as if a man should cast seed into the ground and sleep and rise night and day, and the seed sprout and grow he knows not how, the earth bearing fruit of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear, and when the fruit is ripe he puts in the sickle because the harvest has come. It is like a grain of mustard seed, which when sown is the least of all seeds on the earth, and when it is grown becomes greater than all herbs and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the air may lodge under its shadow. With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it, and without a parable he did not speak to them, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
Storm, Legion, Blood, and Death
That evening he said, "Let us pass over unto the other side." They took him in the boat as he was, other boats also with him, and a great windstorm arose, the waves beating into the boat so that it was already filling. He was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; they woke him and said, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" He rose, rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace, be still," and the wind ceased and there was a great calm (galēnē; the flat unmoving surface of the sea → stillness on water, the sea's own smoothness). He asked them, "Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?" and they feared exceedingly and said one to another, "What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
They came to the country of the Gerasenes on the other side of the sea, the place-name varying across the manuscripts, and immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with fetters and chains and had wrenched the chains apart and broken the fetters in pieces, and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the mountains he was crying out and cutting himself with stones.
Seeing Jesus (AS) from afar he ran and worshipped him and cried with a loud voice, "What have I to do with thee, Jesus (AS), thou Son of the most high God ﷻ? I adjure thee by God ﷻ, torment me not," for he had said to him, "Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit." He asked his name, and he answered, "My name is Legion (legiōn; the Latin legio, from legere "to gather, to levy"; the Roman levy of some six thousand men → a name that is an occupying army, spoken in the occupier's own language), for we are many." He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.
A great herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside, and the spirits begged to be sent into the swine. He gave them leave, and the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine, and the herd, about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned. Those who fed them fled and told it in the city and in the country, and people came to see, and found the man who had been possessed by the legion sitting, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them what had happened to the possessed man and to the swine, and they began to beg him to depart from their borders.
As he was getting into the boat the man who had been possessed begged to be with him, but Jesus (AS) did not permit it and said, "Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord ﷻ hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee." He went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis (Dekapolis; deka "ten" + polis "city"; the ten-city league east of the Jordan → Greek civic territory, gentile ground) how much Jesus (AS) had done for him, and all men marvelled.
When he had crossed back in the boat a great crowd gathered about him beside the sea, and one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, seeing him, fell at his feet and begged him earnestly, saying his little daughter lay at the point of death and asking him to come and lay his hands on her that she might be made whole (sōzō; from sōs "safe, sound, entire"; the body brought back intact → to rescue, to heal and to save, one verb for all three) and live. He went with him, and a great multitude followed and thronged him.
A woman who had suffered a flow of blood twelve years, who had endured much at the hands of many physicians, had spent all she had and was not bettered but rather grew worse, heard of Jesus (AS), came behind him in the crowd and touched his garment, for she said, "If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole." At once the fountain of her blood was dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of the plague. Jesus (AS), knowing in himself that power (dynamis; dynamai "to be able"; the capacity to do → force as a quantity that can go out of a body) had gone out of him, turned in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" His disciples said the crowd was pressing him and he asked who touched him; but he looked round to see her. The woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him and told him all the truth, and he said, "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague."
While he yet spoke, people came from the ruler of the synagogue's house saying his daughter was dead and asking why he should trouble the master further. Overhearing, Jesus (AS) said to the ruler, "Be not afraid, only believe." He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James, and coming to the house he saw the tumult and those weeping and wailing greatly. He said, "Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth," and they laughed him to scorn.
He put them all out, took the father and mother of the child and those with him, and went in where she lay. Taking her by the hand he said, "Talitha koum" (Aramaic ṭalyəthā qûm; ṭalyā "lamb, young one," used of a small girl, and √q-w-m "to rise, to stand," the same root as Arabic qāma; the lamb lifted to its feet → little girl, get up; Insight: Mark keeps the Aramaic and then translates it), which is, being interpreted, "Damsel, I say unto thee, arise." Immediately the girl rose and walked, for she was twelve years old, and they were astonished with a great astonishment. He charged them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.
Rejected at Home, Sent Out Two by Two
He went out from there and came into his own country, his disciples following, and on the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue. Many hearing him were astonished and asked where this man got these things, what wisdom is given him, that such mighty works are done by his hands. "Is not this the carpenter (tektōn; the worker in hard material, wood or stone; the builder at the bench → craftsman, a labourer's trade), the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses and Juda and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?" And they were offended at him.
Jesus (AS) said to them, "A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house." He could there do no mighty work, except that he laid his hands on a few sick folk and healed them, and he marvelled because of their unbelief. Then he went round about the villages teaching.
He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over unclean spirits, and commanded them to take nothing for the journey but a staff only, no bag, no bread, no money in their belt, but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. He told them that wherever they entered a house they should stay there until they left that place, and that wherever they were not received and not heard, they should shake off the dust under their feet as a testimony against them when they departed. They went out and preached that men should repent, and they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them.
Herod's Banquet and the Prophet's Head
King Herod heard of him, for his name had become known, and some said John the Baptist was risen from the dead and therefore mighty works showed themselves in him; others said it was Elijah (Ēlias ← Hebrew ʾĒlîyāhû, "my God is Yah") (AS), and others that it was a prophet, or as one of the prophets. But Herod, hearing of it, said, "It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead."
For Herod himself had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her, and John had said to Herod that it was not lawful for him to have his brother's wife. Herodias held it against him and would have killed him but could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and kept him safe; and when he heard him he was much perplexed, and yet heard him gladly.
A convenient day came when Herod on his birthday made a supper for his lords, high captains and chief men of Galilee. The daughter of Herodias came in and danced and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, and the king said to the girl, "Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee," and swore to her, "Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom." She went out and asked her mother what she should ask, and the mother said, "The head of John the Baptist." She came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, "I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist."
The king was exceeding sorry, yet for his oath's sake and for the sake of those sitting with him he would not refuse her. Immediately he sent an executioner (spekoulatōr; the Latin speculator, the scout and courier of a governor's guard, who also carried out executions → the guardsman as headsman; Insight: one of Mark's many Latin loanwords) and commanded his head to be brought, and he beheaded him in the prison and brought his head in a charger and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard of it they came and took up his corpse and laid it in a tomb.
Bread in the Wilderness, Feet on the Water
The apostles gathered to Jesus (AS) and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. He said, "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while," for there were many coming and going and they had no leisure so much as to eat. They departed by boat privately, but the people saw them going, many knew him, and ran on foot out of all the cities and got there before them.
Coming out he saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things. When the day was far spent his disciples said the place was deserted and the hour late, and asked him to send the people away to buy themselves bread in the country and villages round about. He answered, "Give ye them to eat," and they asked whether they should go and buy two hundred pennyworth (dēnarion; the Latin denarius, "containing ten," a labourer's day-wage → roughly eight months of a working man's pay) of bread and give them to eat.
He asked how many loaves they had and told them to go and see, and they said, "Five, and two fishes." He commanded them all to sit down by companies on the green grass, and they sat down in ranks (Mark uses two vivid domestic words, symposia, "drinking-parties," and prasiai, "garden-beds," from prason, "leek"; the field laid out in green rectangles like a kitchen garden → the crowd seated in blocks of colour), by hundreds and by fifties. He took the five loaves and the two fishes, looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them, and he divided the two fishes among them all. They all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments and of the fishes, and those who ate the loaves were about five thousand men.
Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side toward Bethsaida while he sent the multitude away, and when he had sent them away he departed into a mountain to pray. When evening came the boat was in the midst of the sea and he alone on the land, and he saw them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night he came to them walking on the sea and would have passed by (parerchomai, "to go past"; the passing-by that Mark reports without explaining; Insight: the Greek translation of the older scriptures uses this verb of God ﷻ passing before Moses (AS) in the cleft and before Elijah (AS) at the cave).
When they saw him walking on the sea they supposed it was an apparition (phantasma; from phainō "to shine, to appear"; the thing that shows itself without substance → a spectre) and cried out, for they all saw him and were troubled. Immediately he spoke with them and said, "Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid," and he went up to them into the boat and the wind ceased. They were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure and wondered, for they did not consider the miracle of the loaves, because their heart was hardened.
Crossing over they came to the land of Gennesaret and moored to the shore, and as soon as they came out of the boat the people knew him. They ran through that whole region round about and began to carry about in beds those that were sick to wherever they heard he was, and wherever he entered, into villages, cities or country, they laid the sick in the streets and begged him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment (kraspedon; the tassel or fringe at the corner of a cloak, the tassel the Law commands to be worn → the edge of the garment as the outermost point of contact), and as many as touched him were made whole.
Clean Hands, Unclean Hearts, and the Crumbs of the Gentiles
The Pharisees and certain of the scribes came from Jerusalem and saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is unwashed, hands, and found fault. Mark explains for his readers that the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands with the fist (pygmē; "with a fist," an obscure usage even in antiquity, taken variously as up to the wrist, with cupped hand, or with a handful of water), holding the tradition (paradosis; para "along" + didōmi "to give"; the thing handed on from hand to hand → what is passed down; Insight: the same verb, paradidōmi, is Mark's word for betrayal) of the elders, and that coming from the market they do not eat unless they wash, and there are many other things they have received to hold, the washing of cups and pots, brazen vessels and couches.
They asked why his disciples did not walk according to the tradition of the elders but ate bread with unwashed hands. He answered that Isaiah prophesied well of them as hypocrites, in the words that this people honours God ﷻ with the lips while the heart is far from him, and that in vain they worship, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. "For laying aside the commandment of God ﷻ, ye hold the tradition of men."
He gave the case. Moses (AS) said to honour father and mother, and that whoever curses father or mother should die the death; but you say that if a man tells his father or mother that whatever profit he might have received from him is Corban (korban ← Hebrew qorbān √q-r-b "to draw near"; the gift brought near to the altar → a thing declared dedicated and so withdrawn from ordinary use; Arabic qurbān; Mark glosses it, "that is to say, a gift"), you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or mother, making the word of God ﷻ of no effect through the tradition you have handed down, and many such things you do.
Calling the crowd he said, "There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile (koinoō; from koinos "common, shared"; to make ordinary → to render unfit for the holy by making it common, the opposite of setting apart) him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man." In the house his disciples asked about the parable, and he asked whether they too were without understanding, since whatever enters from outside cannot defile because it does not enter the heart but the belly and passes out into the drain, and here Mark adds the comment that in saying this he made all foods clean. What comes out of the man is what defiles him, for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride and foolishness; all these evil things come from within and defile the man.
He rose and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but he could not be hid. A woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell at his feet; she was a Greek (Hellēnis; Greek in speech and religion, that is a gentile), a Syrophoenician (Syrophoinikissa; of Phoenicia in the province of Syria → the coastal gentile territory north of Galilee) by nation, and she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
He said to her, "Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs (kynarion, the diminutive of kyōn; the small dog kept in the house rather than the scavenger of the street → the house-dog under the table)." She answered, "Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs." He said, "For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter," and she went home and found the demon gone and her daughter laid upon the bed.
Ephphatha, the Second Table, and the Hardened Hearts
Leaving the coasts of Tyre he came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the midst of the region of Decapolis. They brought him a deaf man with an impediment in his speech (mogilalos; mogis "with difficulty" + laleō "to speak"; the tongue that will not run → a rare word, which the Greek Isaiah uses of the mute tongue that shall sing) and begged him to put his hand on him.
He took him aside from the multitude privately, put his fingers into his ears, spat and touched his tongue, looked up to heaven, sighed (stenazō; to groan, to draw breath heavily under weight → the sound of effort or grief) and said to him, "Ephphatha" (Aramaic, √p-t-ḥ "to open," the same root as Arabic fataḥa; the bolt drawn and the door swung → be opened; Mark keeps the word and translates it), that is, Be opened. Immediately his ears were opened, the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly. He charged them to tell no one, but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it, and they were beyond measure astonished, saying, "He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak."
In those days the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, he called his disciples and said he had compassion on the multitude because they had been with him three days and had nothing to eat, and that if he sent them away fasting to their own houses they would faint by the way, for some of them came from far. His disciples asked from where a man could satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness. He asked how many loaves they had, and they said seven.
He commanded the people to sit down on the ground, took the seven loaves, gave thanks, broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before them, and they set them before the people. They had a few small fishes, and he blessed them and commanded to set them also before them. They ate and were filled, and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven hampers (spyris; the large plaited basket a man could be lowered in → Mark uses a different word here from the smaller kophinos of the first feeding, and both counts are kept exactly in the reckoning that follows), and those who had eaten were about four thousand, and he sent them away.
Immediately he entered a boat with his disciples and came into the parts of Dalmanutha. The Pharisees came and began to question him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. He sighed deeply in his spirit and said, "Why doth this generation seek after a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation." He left them, got into the boat again and departed to the other side.
The disciples had forgotten to take bread, and had only one loaf with them in the boat. He charged them, "Take heed, beware of the leaven (zymē; the pinch of sour dough kept back and worked into the next batch; the small hidden portion that changes the whole mass → a working influence rather than a quantity) of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod." They reasoned among themselves that it was because they had no bread.
Knowing it, he asked why they reasoned about having no bread, whether they still did not perceive or understand, whether their heart was yet hardened, whether having eyes they did not see and having ears they did not hear, and whether they did not remember. When he broke the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did they take up? Twelve. And when the seven among four thousand, how many hampers full of fragments? Seven. "How is it that ye do not understand?"
Two Blind Men and the Turn to the Cross
He came to Bethsaida, and they brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand, led him out of the town, spat on his eyes, put his hands on him and asked whether he saw anything. Looking up he said, "I see men as trees, walking." Then he put his hands again upon his eyes and made him look up, and he was restored and saw every man clearly, and he sent him away to his house, saying he should not go into the town nor tell it to anyone in the town.
Jesus (AS) and his disciples went out into the towns of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked them, "Whom do men say that I am?" They answered, "John the Baptist: but some say, Elijah (AS); and others, One of the prophets." He asked, "But whom say ye that I am?" and Peter answered, "Thou art the Christ." He charged them that they should tell no man of him.
He began to teach them that the Son of Man (huios tou anthrōpou; a Greek rendering of the Aramaic bar ʾĕnāsh, "son of man," the ordinary idiom for a human being, and also the figure who comes with the clouds in the vision of Daniel → the phrase Mark's Jesus (AS) uses of himself and no one else uses of him) must suffer many things, be rejected of the elders, chief priests and scribes, be killed, and after three days rise again. He spoke that saying openly, and Peter took him and began to rebuke him. Turning about and looking on his disciples he rebuked Peter, saying, "Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God ﷻ, but the things that be of men."
Calling the people to him with his disciples he said, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross (stauros; the upright stake, from √stā- "to stand"; the pointed pole set in the ground → the beam a condemned man carried to his own execution), and follow me." Whoever will save his life (psychē; from psychō "to breathe, to blow"; the breath in the body → the living self, translated life or soul without a seam between them) shall lose it, and whoever shall lose his life for his sake and the gospel's shall save it. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whoever is ashamed of him and of his words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. And he said, "Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God ﷻ come with power."
The Mountain, the Voice, and the Valley Below
After six days he took Peter, James and John and led them up into a high mountain apart by themselves, and he was transfigured (metamorphoō; meta, of change + morphē "form"; the shape itself altered rather than the covering → a change of form, not of dress) before them. His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller (gnapheus; the tradesman who cleaned and bleached cloth with earth and urine → the whitest a craft could make cloth, and less white than this) on earth could whiten them. Elijah (AS) appeared to them with Moses (AS), and they were talking with Jesus (AS).
Peter said, "Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles (skēnē; the tent or booth of branches → shelter thrown up for a night or a festival), one for thee, and one for Moses (AS), and one for Elijah (AS)," for he did not know what to say, since they were sore afraid. A cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud: "This is my beloved Son: hear him." Suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more except Jesus (AS) only with themselves.
Coming down from the mountain he charged them to tell no man what they had seen until the Son of Man were risen from the dead. They kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean, and they asked him why the scribes say that Elijah (AS) must first come. He answered that Elijah (AS) truly comes first and restores all things, and asked how it is written of the Son of Man that he must suffer many things and be set at nought; but he said that Elijah (AS) is indeed come, and they have done to him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.
Coming to his disciples he saw a great multitude about them and the scribes questioning with them, and all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed and ran to greet him. He asked what they were questioning about, and one of the multitude answered that he had brought his son, who had a dumb spirit that seizes him, tears him, makes him foam and gnash his teeth and pine away, and that he had spoken to the disciples that they should cast it out and they could not. He answered, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me."
They brought him, and when the spirit saw him it immediately tore him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming. He asked the father how long ago this had come to him, and he said, "Of a child," and that it had often cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him, and he begged, "if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us." Jesus (AS) said, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth," and immediately the father of the child cried out with tears, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief."
Seeing that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying, "Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him." The spirit cried, tore him sore and came out, and he was as one dead, so that many said he was dead; but Jesus (AS) took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. In the house his disciples asked privately why they could not cast it out, and he said, "This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer."
The Way to Jerusalem: Servant, Marriage, Child, and Wealth
They departed and passed through Galilee, and he did not want anyone to know it, for he taught his disciples and said that the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him, and after he is killed he shall rise the third day. They did not understand that saying and were afraid to ask him.
He came to Capernaum, and in the house he asked what they had disputed among themselves by the way, and they held their peace, for by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve and said, "If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant (diakonos; the one who waits at table and runs the errand → the household attendant, a working word with no honour in it) of all." He took a child (paidion; the small child, one still in another's keeping → the household's least member, with no standing to give and nothing to trade), set him in the midst, took him in his arms and said, "Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me."
John said they had seen one casting out demons in his name who did not follow them, and they forbade him. Jesus (AS) said, "Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part." Whoever gives a cup of water to drink in his name, because they belong to Christ, shall not lose his reward.
Whoever shall cause to stumble (skandalizō; from skandalon, the baited trigger-stick that springs a trap; the stick that snaps under the foot → not an offence to the feelings but the thing that brings a walker down) one of the little ones that believe in him, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were cast into the sea. If thy hand offend thee, cut it off; it is better to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into Gehenna (geenna ← Hebrew gê-hinnōm, the Valley of Hinnom on the south side of Jerusalem, a place of burning in the older accounts → a named ravine outside the city, used as the name of the fire), into the fire that never shall be quenched. So also with the foot, and with the eye, for it is better to enter into the kingdom of God ﷻ with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into Gehenna, where their worm dies not and the fire is not quenched. Everyone shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt (halas; the preservative and the seasoning, and the thing traded, given at table as a bond) is good, but if the salt has lost its saltness, with what will you season it? "Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another."
He rose from there and came into the coasts of Judea beyond the Jordan, and the people resorted to him again, and as he was accustomed he taught them again. The Pharisees came and asked, tempting him, whether it is lawful for a man to put away his wife. He asked what Moses (AS) commanded them, and they said Moses (AS) permitted to write a bill of divorcement and to put her away. Jesus (AS) said, "For the hardness of your heart (sklērokardia; sklēros "hard, dry, stiff" + kardia "heart"; the material gone rigid → the compound Mark's Jesus (AS) uses of the condition the concession was written for) he wrote you this precept." But from the beginning of the creation God ﷻ made them male and female; for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and be joined (proskollaō; pros "toward" + kolla "glue"; two surfaces set fast with glue → bonded so as not to come apart without damage) to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, so then they are no more twain but one flesh. "What therefore God ﷻ hath joined together, let not man put asunder." In the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter, and he said that whoever puts away his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if a woman puts away her husband and is married to another she commits adultery.
They brought young children to him that he should touch them, and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. When Jesus (AS) saw it he was much displeased and said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God ﷻ. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God ﷻ as a little child, he shall not enter therein." He took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them and blessed them.
As he went out into the way, one came running, kneeled to him and asked, "Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" He said, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God ﷻ." He recited the commandments: do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honour thy father and mother. The man answered that he had observed all these from his youth. Jesus (AS) beholding him loved him and said, "One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me." He was sad at that saying and went away grieved, for he had great possessions.
Jesus (AS) looked round about and said to his disciples, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God ﷻ!" The disciples were astonished at his words, and he answered again that it is easier for a camel (kamēlos; the pack animal of the caravan, the largest beast his hearers knew) to go through the eye of a needle (raphis; the sewing needle, from raptō "to stitch") than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God ﷻ. They were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, "Who then can be saved?" Looking upon them he said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God ﷻ: for with God ﷻ all things are possible."
Peter began to say that they had left all and followed him. Jesus (AS) answered that there is no man that has left house, brethren, sisters, father, mother, wife, children or lands for his sake and the gospel's, but he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, brethren, sisters, mothers, children and lands, with persecutions, and in the world to come eternal life. "But many that are first shall be last; and the last first."
The Third Prediction, the Cup, and the Roadside Cry
They were in the way going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus (AS) went before them, and they were amazed, and as they followed they were afraid. He took the twelve again and began to tell them what things should happen to him: they go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, they shall condemn him to death and deliver him to the Gentiles, and they shall mock him, scourge him, spit upon him and kill him, and the third day he shall rise again.
James and John the sons of Zebedee came to him saying they would that he should do for them whatever they desired, and when he asked what they wanted they said, "Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory." He said, "Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup (potērion; the drinking vessel, and in the older scriptures the portion poured out for a man, whether of wrath or of blessing → the measure a man is given to swallow) that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They said they could, and he told them they would indeed drink of that cup and be baptized with that baptism, but to sit on his right hand and on his left is not his to give, but is for them for whom it is prepared.
When the ten heard it they began to be much displeased with James and John. Jesus (AS) called them and said, "Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom (lytron; from lyō "to loose, to untie"; the price laid down to loose a captive or free a slave → the payment that unbinds another) for many."
They came to Jericho, and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus (Bartimaios; Aramaic bar "son" + the name Timaios, and Mark glosses it, "the son of Timaeus"), sat by the highway side begging. Hearing that it was Jesus (AS) of Nazareth he began to cry out, "Jesus (AS), thou son of David (AS), have mercy on me." Many charged him to hold his peace, but he cried the more a great deal.
Jesus (AS) stood still and commanded him to be called, and they called the blind man, saying, "Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee." Casting away his garment he rose and came to Jesus (AS), who asked, "What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" The blind man said, "Rabboni" (Aramaic rabbûnî, "my master," √r-b-b "to be great, to be master," the same root as Arabic rabb; the great one over a household → a form warmer than the plain title), "that I might receive my sight." Jesus (AS) said, "Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole," and immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus (AS) in the way.
The King Enters, the Fig Tree Withers, the Temple Is Cleared
When they came near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and told them to go into the village over against them and immediately on entering it they would find a colt tied, on which no man ever sat; they should loose him and bring him, and if any man asked why, they should say that the Lord has need of him, and straightway he will send him hither. They went their way and found the colt tied by the door outside in a place where two ways met, and they loosed him. Certain of them that stood there asked what they were doing loosing the colt, and they answered as Jesus (AS) had commanded, and they let them go.
They brought the colt to Jesus (AS), cast their garments on him, and he sat upon him, and many spread their garments in the way while others cut down branches off the trees and strewed them in the way. Those that went before and those that followed cried, "Hosanna (hōsanna ← Hebrew hôshîʿâ-nnā, "save now, we pray," √y-sh-ʿ "to save, to deliver," the same root that stands in the name Jesus, Yēshûaʿ; the cry for rescue → a plea worn smooth into an acclamation); Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord ﷻ: Blessed be the kingdom of our father David (AS), that cometh in the name of the Lord ﷻ: Hosanna in the highest." He entered Jerusalem and into the temple, and when he had looked round about upon all things, the evening being come, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
On the morrow, coming from Bethany, he was hungry, and seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves he came, if perhaps he might find anything on it, and found nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not yet. He said to it, "No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever," and his disciples heard it.
They came to Jerusalem, and he went into the temple and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of them that sold doves, and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. He taught them, saying, "Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves (lēstēs; the armed brigand of the hills, the raider and insurgent, distinct from kleptēs, the sneak-thief → not the pilferer but the man with a weapon and a hideout)." The scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy him, for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine. When evening came he went out of the city.
In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots, and Peter, calling to remembrance, said, "Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away." Jesus (AS) answered, "Have faith in God ﷻ. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith." Therefore whatever things you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them; and when you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against any, that your Father in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Trapped in the Temple Courts
They came again to Jerusalem, and as he walked in the temple the chief priests, scribes and elders came and asked by what authority he did these things and who gave him that authority. He answered that he would ask them one question, and if they answered he would tell them by what authority he did these things: the baptism of John, was it from heaven or of men? They reasoned among themselves that if they said from heaven he would ask why then they did not believe him, and if they said of men they feared the people, for all held that John was a prophet indeed. So they answered that they could not tell, and he said, "Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things."
He began to speak to them by parables. A man planted a vineyard (ampelōn; the walled and terraced plot of vines → in the older prophets the standing figure for the people of God ﷻ), set a hedge about it, dug a place for the winefat, built a tower, let it out to husbandmen and went into a far country. At the season he sent a servant to receive the fruit; they beat him and sent him away empty. He sent another, and they stoned him and wounded him in the head and sent him away shamefully handled; and another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some. Having yet one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him last, saying, "They will reverence my son." But those husbandmen said among themselves, "This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours," and they took him, killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. What then shall the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the husbandmen and give the vineyard to others. "And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: this was the Lord's ﷻ doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?" They sought to lay hold on him but feared the people, for they knew he had spoken the parable against them, and they left him and went their way.
They sent to him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians to catch him in his words. They came and said they knew he was true and cared for no man, that he did not regard the person of men but taught the way of God ﷻ in truth, and asked, "Is it lawful to give tribute (kēnsos; the Latin census, the head-tax levied by Rome on a subject province and payable in Roman coin → another of Mark's Latin words, and the exact point of the trap) to Caesar, or not? shall we give, or shall we not give?" Knowing their hypocrisy he said, "Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it." They brought it, and he asked, "Whose is this image (eikōn; the likeness struck or carved, the portrait) and superscription?" They said, "Caesar's." Jesus (AS) answered, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God ﷻ the things that are God's ﷻ," and they marvelled at him.
Then came the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, and put a case: Moses (AS) wrote that if a man's brother die and leave a wife and no children, his brother should take his wife and raise up seed to his brother; there were seven brethren, the first took a wife and died leaving no seed, and the second took her and died, and the third likewise, and all seven had her and left no seed, and last of all the woman died also. In the resurrection, whose wife shall she be, for the seven had her to wife? Jesus (AS) answered, "Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God ﷻ? For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven." As touching the dead that they rise, he asked whether they had not read in the book of Moses (AS), in the bush, how God ﷻ spoke to him saying, "I am the God of Abraham (AS), and the God of Isaac (AS), and the God of Jacob (AS)," and said, "He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err."
One of the scribes came, having heard them reasoning together and perceiving that he had answered them well, and asked which is the first commandment of all. Jesus (AS) answered, "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God ﷻ is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God ﷻ with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." The scribe said he had spoken well and according to the truth, for there is one God ﷻ and there is none other but he, and to love him with all the heart, all the understanding, all the soul and all the strength, and to love one's neighbour as oneself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. When Jesus (AS) saw that he answered discreetly he said, "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God ﷻ." And no man after that durst ask him any question.
Teaching in the temple he asked how the scribes say that Christ is the son of David (AS), when David (AS) himself said by the Holy Spirit, "The Lord ﷻ said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool," so that David (AS) himself calls him Lord, and from where then is he his son? The common people heard him gladly. In his doctrine he said, "Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts: which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation."
He sat over against the treasury and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury, and many that were rich cast in much. A certain poor widow (chēra; the woman left without a husband, and in the older law the standing name for the defenceless party the community owes protection) came and threw in two mites (lepton; from leptos "peeled, thin, small"; the thinnest coin struck → the smallest money in circulation, which Mark glosses for his Roman readers as a quadrans, using the Latin coin). He called his disciples and said, "Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: for all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living."
The Discourse on the Mount of Olives
As he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said, "Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!" Jesus (AS) answered, "Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." As he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately when these things should be, and what the sign when all these things should be fulfilled.
He began by warning them to take heed that no man deceive them, for many shall come in his name saying, "I am Christ," and shall deceive many. When they hear of wars and rumours of wars they are not to be troubled, for such things must be, but the end is not yet, since nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be earthquakes in divers places and famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
They must take heed to themselves, for they shall deliver them up to councils, they shall be beaten in the synagogues, and they shall be brought before rulers and kings for his sake, for a testimony against them; and the gospel must first be published among all nations. When they lead them and deliver them up, they are not to take thought beforehand what they shall speak, nor premeditate, but to speak whatever is given them in that hour, for it is not they that speak but the Holy Spirit. Brother shall betray brother to death, and the father the son, and children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death, and they shall be hated of all men for his name's sake; but he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.
"But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation (bdelygma tēs erēmōseōs; bdelygma from bdelyssomai "to feel nausea, to turn away in disgust," and erēmōsis from erēmos, the emptied place; the thing that makes the stomach turn, standing where it empties the ground of its use → the phrase Daniel uses, which Mark reproduces and then breaks the narration to gloss), spoken of by Daniel (AS) the prophet, standing where it ought not," and here Mark adds an aside to the reader, "let him that readeth understand," then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him on the housetop not go down into the house nor enter to take anything out of his house, and let him in the field not turn back to take up his garment. Woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days, and pray that their flight be not in the winter.
In those days shall be affliction (thlipsis; from thlibō "to press, to squeeze"; the load bearing down until the walls close → pressure rather than sorrow) such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God ﷻ created unto this time, neither shall be; and except the Lord ﷻ had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved, but for the elect's (eklektos; ek "out" + legō "to pick"; the item lifted out of the heap → chosen by selection) sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. Then if any man says, "Lo, here is Christ," or "lo, he is there," they are not to believe him, for false Christs and false prophets shall rise and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. "But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things."
In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. Then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory, and then shall he send his angels and gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
He gave them the parable of the fig tree: when her branch is yet tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near; so likewise, when you see these things come to pass, know that it is near, even at the doors. "Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father."
Take heed, watch (grēgoreō; from egeirō "to rouse, to waken"; the man kept from lying down → to stay awake, not merely to look out) and pray, for you know not when the time is. It is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house and gave authority to his servants and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. "Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch."
Ointment, Silver, and the Broken Bread
After two days was the feast of the Passover (pascha ← Hebrew pesaḥ √p-s-ḥ, "to pass over, to skip past"; the stride that steps over a house → the feast named for the passing-over) and of unleavened bread, and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft and put him to death, but they said, "Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people."
Being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, a woman came having an alabaster box (alabastron; the flask of soft stone cut for perfume, whose neck was broken rather than opened) of ointment of spikenard (nardos pistikē; nard, the aromatic root brought from the mountains of India, and the second word is uncertain even in antiquity, taken as "pure," "genuine" or "liquid") very precious, and she broke the box and poured it on his head. Some had indignation within themselves and said, "Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor," and they murmured against her.
Jesus (AS) said, "Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her."
Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray (paradidōmi; para "over" + didōmi "to give"; the handing across → the same verb as the handing-on of tradition and the delivering-up of John, one word for transmission and treachery) him to them. When they heard it they were glad and promised to give him money, and he sought how he might conveniently betray him.
On the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples asked where he would have them go and prepare that he might eat the passover. He sent two of them and told them to go into the city, where a man bearing a pitcher of water would meet them, and to follow him, and wherever he went in, to say to the goodman of the house that the Master asks where the guestchamber is where he shall eat the passover with his disciples; and he would show them a large upper room furnished and prepared. They went, found as he had said, and made ready the passover.
In the evening he came with the twelve, and as they sat and ate he said, "Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me." They began to be sorrowful and to say one by one, "Is it I?" He answered, "It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish. The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born."
As they ate, he took bread, blessed and broke it, gave to them and said, "Take, eat: this is my body." He took the cup, gave thanks and gave it to them, and they all drank of it, and he said, "This is my blood of the new testament (diathēkē; dia "through" + tithēmi "to set, to arrange"; the disposition a man sets in place, in Greek law the will he leaves behind, and in the Greek scriptures the standing word for the covenant), which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God ﷻ."
When they had sung a hymn they went out into the mount of Olives, and Jesus (AS) said, "All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee." Peter said that although all should be offended, yet would not he. Jesus (AS) said, "Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice." But he spoke the more vehemently, saying that if he should die with him he would not deny him in any wise, and likewise also said they all.
Gethsemane and the Kiss
They came to a place named Gethsemane (Gethsēmani ← Aramaic gat shəmānê, "oil press," the trough and the stone where olives are crushed for their oil), and he said to his disciples, "Sit ye here, while I shall pray." He took with him Peter, James and John and began to be sore amazed (ekthambeomai; an intensive of thambos, the shock that stops a man where he stands → struck with horror rather than wonder) and to be very heavy (adēmoneō; a rare word for distress, in which a man is not at home in himself → the anguish of one who cannot settle), and said to them, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch."
He went forward a little, fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from him, and he said, "Abba (Aramaic ʾabbā, the father, the ordinary household address of a child to his father; Mark keeps the Aramaic word and translates it in the same breath), Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt."
He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour? Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak." Again he went away and prayed, speaking the same words, and returning found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. He came the third time and said, "Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand."
Immediately, while he yet spoke, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests, the scribes and the elders. His betrayer had given them a token, saying, "Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead him away safely." As soon as he came he went straight to him and said, "Master, master," and kissed him, and they laid their hands on him and took him. One of them that stood by drew a sword and smote a servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.
Jesus (AS) answered, "Are ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and with staves to take me? I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not: but the scriptures must be fulfilled." And they all forsook him and fled. There followed him a certain young man (neaniskos; the youth, one past boyhood and not yet a man) having a linen cloth (sindōn; the fine linen sheet, the same word Mark will use of the burial cloth) cast about his naked body, and the young men laid hold on him, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.
Two Trials and Three Denials
They led Jesus (AS) away to the high priest, and with him were assembled all the chief priests, the elders and the scribes. Peter followed him afar off, right into the palace of the high priest, and sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire.
The chief priests and all the council (synedrion; syn "together" + hedra "seat"; the sitting-together → the assembled court, a Greek word taken into Aramaic as sanhedrin) sought for witness against Jesus (AS) to put him to death and found none, for many bore false witness against him but their witness did not agree together. Certain arose and bore false witness saying they had heard him say, "I will destroy this temple that is made with hands (cheiropoiētos; cheir "hand" + poieō "to make"; the thing manufactured → in the older scriptures the standing word for an idol), and within three days I will build another made without hands," but neither so did their witness agree.
The high priest stood up in the midst and asked him whether he answered nothing, and what it was these witnessed against him, but he held his peace and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked, "Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" Jesus (AS) said, "I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." The high priest rent his clothes and said, "What need we any further witnesses? Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye?" They all condemned him to be guilty of death. Some began to spit on him, to cover his face and to buffet him and say to him, "Prophesy," and the servants struck him with the palms of their hands.
As Peter was beneath in the palace, one of the maids of the high priest came, and when she saw Peter warming himself she looked upon him and said, "And thou also wast with Jesus (AS) of Nazareth." He denied it, saying, "I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest," and he went out into the porch, and the cock crew. A maid saw him again and began to say to them that stood by, "This is one of them," and he denied it again. A little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, "Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilaean, and thy speech agreeth thereto," but he began to curse and to swear, saying, "I know not this man of whom ye speak." The second time the cock crew, and Peter called to mind the word Jesus (AS) said to him, "Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice," and he broke down and wept, in a Greek phrase whose exact force has never been settled.
Straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders, scribes and the whole council, bound Jesus (AS), carried him away and delivered him to Pilate (Pilatos; Pontius Pilate, prefect of Judea, whose name stands in the inscription found at Caesarea Maritima). Pilate asked, "Art thou the King of the Jews?" and he answering said, "Thou sayest it." The chief priests accused him of many things, but he answered nothing, and Pilate asked him again whether he answered nothing and to behold how many things they witnessed against him, but Jesus (AS) yet answered nothing, so that Pilate marvelled.
At that feast he released to them one prisoner whom they desired, and one named Barabbas (Barabbas ← Aramaic bar ʾabbā, "son of the father") lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. The multitude came up and began to ask him to do as he had ever done, and Pilate answered, "Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?" for he knew the chief priests had delivered him for envy. But the chief priests moved the people that he should rather release Barabbas. Pilate asked what he should then do with him whom they called the King of the Jews, and they cried out again, "Crucify him." Pilate said, "Why, what evil hath he done?" and they cried out the more exceedingly, "Crucify him." So Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas to them and delivered Jesus (AS), when he had scourged (phragelloō; from the Latin flagellum, the weighted whip → another of Mark's Latin words, and the standard preliminary to crucifixion) him, to be crucified.
Golgotha
The soldiers led him away into the hall called Praetorium (praitōrion; the Latin praetorium, the governor's headquarters and the space around it) and called together the whole band. They clothed him with purple, platted a crown of thorns and put it about his head, and began to salute him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They smote him on the head with a reed, spat upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. When they had mocked him they took off the purple, put his own clothes on him and led him out to crucify him.
They compelled (angareuō; from the Persian angaros, the mounted royal courier who could requisition men and beasts along the road → to press a bystander into carrying a load, the same Persian post-system that lies behind the word for messenger) one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. They brought him to the place Golgotha (Golgotha ← Aramaic gulgaltā, "skull," from the root of rolling and roundness; the round bare bone → Mark glosses it, "which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull"). They gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh, but he did not receive it.
When they had crucified him they parted his garments, casting lots upon them what every man should take. It was the third hour and they crucified him, and the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. With him they crucified two thieves, one on his right hand and the other on his left.
They that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads and saying, "Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself, and come down from the cross." Likewise the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, "He saved others; himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe." And they that were crucified with him reviled him.
When the sixth hour was come there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, and at the ninth hour Jesus (AS) cried with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani" (Aramaic ʾĕlāhî ʾĕlāhî ləmā šəbaqtānî; ʾĕlāh "God," and √sh-b-q "to leave, to let go, to release"; the hand opening and the thing left behind → Mark keeps the Aramaic and translates it, and the words open the twenty-second Psalm), which is, being interpreted, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, "Behold, he calleth Elijah (AS)." One ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed and gave him to drink, saying, "Let alone; let us see whether Elijah (AS) will come to take him down."
Jesus (AS) cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost. And the veil (katapetasma; kata "down" + petannymi "to spread"; the great curtain spread down across the sanctuary door → the screen dividing what may be entered from what may not) of the temple was rent (schizō, the same verb Mark used of the heavens at the baptism and nowhere else; Insight: the tearing that opens the account is the tearing that closes it) in twain from the top to the bottom. When the centurion (kentyriōn; the Latin centurio, the officer over a hundred, which Mark writes in its Latin form where the other accounts use the Greek word), which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out and gave up the ghost, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God ﷻ."
There were also women looking on afar off, among whom was Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome, who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him and ministered to him; and many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
The Tomb, the Stone, and the Silence
When the evening was come, because it was the preparation, that is the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathaea (Iōsēph ho apo Harimathaias, described as euschēmōn bouleutēs, a man of good standing and a member of the council), an honourable counsellor who also waited for the kingdom of God ﷻ, came and went in boldly to Pilate and craved the body of Jesus (AS). Pilate marvelled that he was already dead, and calling the centurion he asked whether he had been any while dead; when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.
He bought fine linen, took him down, wrapped him in the linen, laid him in a sepulchre hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone to the door of the sepulchre. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.
When the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome had bought sweet spices (arōma; the aromatic gum or oil used in burial → the goods bought for a body, not for a living man) that they might come and anoint him. Very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came to the sepulchre at the rising of the sun, and they said among themselves, "Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?" When they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great.
Entering into the sepulchre they saw a young man (neaniskos, the same word Mark used of the youth who fled naked at the arrest, here sitting clothed) sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment, and they were affrighted. He said to them, "Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus (AS) of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you."
They went out quickly and fled from the sepulchre, for they trembled (tromos; the shaking of the body) and were amazed (ekstasis; ek "out" + histēmi "to stand"; standing outside oneself → displacement of mind), neither said they any thing to any man, for they were afraid. Here the two oldest complete manuscripts end the book, on a sentence that stops on its conjunction.
The Longer Ending
The verses that follow are absent from the earliest and best witnesses, are marked as doubtful in others, and stand alongside a separate shorter ending that some manuscripts carry instead; they are transmitted with the book and are set out here as the tradition received them.
Now when Jesus (AS) was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. She went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept, and they, when they had heard that he was alive and had been seen of her, did not believe. After that he appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country, and they went and told it to the residue, neither did they believe them.
Afterward he appeared to the eleven as they sat at meat and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe them which had seen him after he was risen. He said to them, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God ﷻ. And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following.
Concise Summary
Mark tells the shortest account of Jesus (AS): a sudden arrival announced from the wilderness, a ministry of authority the crowds and the unclean spirits recognize at once and the authorities resist from the first sabbath, a road turned deliberately toward Jerusalem and the cross, and an empty tomb whose first witnesses said nothing to anyone because they were afraid. Its through-line is a power that the disciples repeatedly fail to read, that the demons name correctly and are silenced for naming, and that a Roman officer at the foot of the cross confesses only at the moment of death.