Mark 1:19-20

1:19 Going on a little farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother in their ¹  boat mending nets. 1:20 Immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Mark 1:22

1:22 The people there ²  were amazed by his teaching, because he taught them like one who had authority, ³  not like the experts in the law. ⁴ 

Mark 5:14

5:14 Now ⁵  the herdsmen ran off and spread the news in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.

Mark 6:7

Sending Out the Twelve Apostles

6:7 Jesus ⁶  called the twelve and began to send them out two by two. He gave them authority over the unclean spirits. ⁷ 

Mark 8:3

8:3 If I send them home hungry, they will faint on the way, and some of them have come from a great distance.”

Mark 8:29

8:29 He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, ⁸  “You are the Christ.” ⁹ 

Mark 12:6

12:6 He had one left, his one dear son. ¹⁰  Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

Mark 12:12

12:12 Now ¹¹  they wanted to arrest him (but they feared the crowd), because they realized that he told this parable against them. So ¹²  they left him and went away. ¹³ 

Mark 14:37

14:37 Then ¹⁴  he came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn’t you stay awake for one hour?

Mark 14:40

14:40 When he came again he found them sleeping; they could not keep their eyes open. ¹⁵  And they did not know what to tell him.

Mark 16:18

16:18 they will pick up snakes with their hands, and whatever poison they drink will not harm them; ¹⁶  they will place their hands on the sick and they will be well.”

¹ tn Or “a boat.” The phrase ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ (en tw ploiw) can either refer to a generic boat, some boat (as it seems to do in Matt 4:21); or it can refer to “their” boat, implying possession. Mark assumes a certain preunderstanding on the part of his readers about the first four disciples and hence the translation “their boat” is justified (cf. also v. 20 in which the “hired men” indicates that Zebedee’s family owned the boats).

² tn Grk “They.”

³ sn Jesus’ teaching impressed the hearers with the directness of its claim; he taught with authority. A study of Jewish rabbinic interpretation shows that it was typical to cite a list of authorities to make one’s point. Apparently Jesus addressed the issues in terms of his own understanding.

⁴ tn Or “the scribes.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (grammateu") as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.

³ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate a transition to the response to the miraculous healing.

⁴ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ sn The phrase unclean spirits refers to evil spirits.

⁵ tn Grk “Answering, Peter said to him.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “Peter answered him.”

⁶ tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

⁶ tn Grk “one beloved son.” See comment at Mark 1:11.

⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to introduce a somewhat parenthetical remark by the author.

⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

⁹ sn The point of the parable in Mark 12:1-12 is that the leaders of the nation have been rejected by God and the vineyard (v. 9, referring to the nation and its privileged status) will be taken from them and given to others (an allusion to the Gentiles).

⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁹ tn Grk “because their eyes were weighed down,” an idiom for becoming extremely or excessively sleepy (L&N 23.69).

¹⁰ tn For further comment on the nature of this statement, whether it is a promise or prediction, see ExSyn 403-6.