Mark 2:8

2:8 Now ¹  immediately, when Jesus realized in his spirit that they were contemplating such thoughts, ²  he said to them, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? ³ 

Mark 4:17

4:17 But ⁴  they have no root in themselves and do not endure. ⁵  Then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.

Mark 5:5

5:5 Each night and every day among the tombs and in the mountains, he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

Mark 9:50

9:50 Salt ⁶  is good, but if it loses its saltiness, ⁷  how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

Mark 12:7

12:7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and the inheritance will be ours!’

Mark 13:9

Persecution of Disciples

13:9 “You must watch out for yourselves. You will be handed over ⁸  to councils ⁹  and beaten in the synagogues. ¹⁰  You will stand before governors and kings ¹¹  because of me, as a witness to them.

Mark 14:7

14:7 For you will always have the poor with you, and you can do good for them whenever you want. But you will not always have me! ¹² 

Mark 15:31

15:31 In the same way even the chief priests – together with the experts in the law ¹³  – were mocking him among themselves: ¹⁴  “He saved others, but he cannot save himself!

¹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the shift from the thoughts of the experts in the law to Jesus’ response.

² tn Grk “they were thus reasoning within themselves.”

³ tn Grk “Why are you reasoning these things in your hearts?”

⁴ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

⁵ tn Grk “are temporary.”

⁷ sn Salt was used as seasoning or fertilizer (BDAG 41 s.v. ἅλας a), or as a preservative. If salt ceased to be useful, it was thrown away. With this illustration Jesus warned about a disciple who ceased to follow him.

⁸ sn The difficulty of this saying is understanding how salt could lose its saltiness since its chemical properties cannot change. It is thus often assumed that Jesus was referring to chemically impure salt, perhaps a natural salt which, when exposed to the elements, had all the genuine salt leached out, leaving only the sediment or impurities behind. Others have suggested the background of the saying is the use of salt blocks by Arab bakers to line the floor of their ovens: Under the intense heat these blocks would eventually crystallize and undergo a change in chemical composition, finally being thrown out as unserviceable. A saying in the Talmud (b. Bekhorot 8b) attributed to R. Joshua ben Chananja (ca. a.d. 90), when asked the question “When salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again?” is said to have replied, “By salting it with the afterbirth of a mule.” He was then asked, “Then does the mule (being sterile) bear young?” to which he replied: “Can salt lose its flavor?” The point appears to be both are impossible. The saying, while admittedly late, suggests that culturally the loss of flavor by salt was regarded as an impossibility. Genuine salt can never lose its flavor. In this case the saying by Jesus here may be similar to Matt 19:24, where it is likewise impossible for the camel to go through the eye of a sewing needle.

¹⁰ tn Grk “They will hand you over.” “They” is an indefinite plural, referring to people in general. The parallel in Matt 10:17 makes this explicit.

¹¹ sn Councils in this context refers to local judicial bodies attached to the Jewish synagogue. This group would be responsible for meting out justice and discipline within the Jewish community.

¹² sn See the note on synagogue in 1:21.

¹³ sn These statements look at persecution both from a Jewish context as the mention of councils and synagogues suggests, and from a Gentile one as the reference to governors and kings suggests. Some fulfillment of Jewish persecution can be seen in Acts.

¹³ tn In the Greek text of this clause, “me” is in emphatic position (the first word in the clause). To convey some impression of the emphasis, an exclamation point is used in the translation.

¹⁶ tn Or “with the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22. Only “chief priests” is in the nominative case; this sentence structure attempts to capture this emphasis.

¹⁷ tn Grk “Mocking him, the chief priests…said among themselves.”