Mark 1:40-42

Cleansing a Leper

1:40 Now ¹  a leper ²  came to him and fell to his knees, asking for help. “If ³  you are willing, you can make me clean,” he said. 1:41 Moved with compassion, ⁴  Jesus ⁵  stretched out his hand and touched ⁶  him, saying, “I am willing. Be clean!” 1:42 The leprosy left him at once, and he was clean.

Matthew 8:2

8:2 And a leper ⁷  approached, and bowed low before him, saying, ⁸  “Lord, if ⁹  you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Matthew 8:8-9

8:8 But the centurion replied, ¹⁰  “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Instead, just say the word and my servant will be healed. 8:9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. ¹¹  I say to this one, ‘Go’ and he goes, ¹²  and to another ‘Come’ and he comes, and to my slave ¹³  ‘Do this’ and he does it.” ¹⁴ 

Matthew 9:28

9:28 When ¹⁵  he went into the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus ¹⁶  said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.”

Matthew 14:31

14:31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

² sn The ancient term for leprosy covers a wider array of conditions than what we call leprosy today. A leper was totally ostracized from society until he was declared cured (Lev 13:45-46).

³ tn This is a third class condition. The report portrays the leper making no presumptions about whether Jesus will heal him or not.

⁴ tc The reading found in almost the entire NT ms tradition is σπλαγχνισθείς (splancnisqei", “moved with compassion”). Codex Bezae (D), {1358}, and a few Latin mss (a ff² r^1*) here read ὀργισθείς (ojrgisqei", “moved with anger”). It is more difficult to account for a change from “moved with compassion” to “moved with anger” than it is for a copyist to soften “moved with anger” to “moved with compassion,” making the decision quite difficult. B. M. Metzger (TCGNT 65) suggests that “moved with anger” could have been prompted by 1:43, “Jesus sent the man away with a very strong warning.” It also could have been prompted by the man’s seeming doubt about Jesus’ desire to heal him (v. 40). As well, it is difficult to explain why scribes would be prone to soften the text here but not in Mark 3:5 or 10:14 (where Jesus is also said to be angry or indignant). Thus, in light of diverse mss supporting “moved with compassion,” and at least a plausible explanation for ὀργισθείς as arising from the other reading, it is perhaps best to adopt σπλαγχνισθείς as the original reading. Nevertheless, a decision in this case is not easy. For the best arguments for ὀργισθείς, however, see M. A. Proctor, “The ‘Western’ Text of Mark 1:41: A Case for the Angry Jesus” (Ph.D. diss., Baylor University, 1999).

⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ sn Touched. This touch would have rendered Jesus ceremonially unclean (Lev 14:46; also Mishnah, m. Nega’im 3.1; 11.1; 12.1; 13.6-12).

⁷ tn Grk “And behold, a leper came.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

⁸ tn Grk “a leper approaching, bowed low before him, saying.”

⁹ tn This is a third class condition. The report portrays the leper making no presumptions about whether Jesus will heal him or not.

¹⁰ tn Grk “But answering, the centurion replied.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant and has not been translated.

¹¹ tn Grk “having soldiers under me.”

¹² sn I say to this one ‘Go’ and he goes. The illustrations highlight the view of authority the soldier sees in the word of one who has authority. Since the centurion was a commander of a hundred soldiers, he understood what it was both to command others and to be obeyed.

¹³ tn Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times… in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v. 1). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος) in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

¹⁴ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

¹⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹⁶ tn Grk “to him, and Jesus.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in Greek, but a new sentence was started here in the translation.