Mark 9:1

9:1 And he said to them, “I tell you the truth, ¹  there are some standing here who will not ²  experience ³  death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.” ⁴ 

Mark 12:36

12:36 David himself, by the Holy Spirit, said,

‘The Lord said to my lord, ⁵ 

“Sit at my right hand,

until I put your enemies under your feet.”’ ⁶ 

Mark 13:19

13:19 For in those days there will be suffering ⁷  unlike anything that has happened ⁸  from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, or ever will happen.

Mark 14:25

14:25 I tell you the truth, ⁹  I will no longer drink of the fruit ¹⁰  of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

Mark 14:54

14:54 And Peter had followed him from a distance, up to the high priest’s courtyard. He ¹¹  was sitting with the guards ¹²  and warming himself by the fire.

¹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

² tn The Greek negative here (οὐ μή, ou mh) is the strongest possible.

³ tn Grk “will not taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).

⁴ sn Several suggestions have been made as to the referent for the phrase the kingdom of God come with power: (1) the transfiguration itself, which immediately follows in the narrative; (2) Jesus’ resurrection and ascension; (3) the coming of the Spirit; (4) Jesus’ second coming and the establishment of the kingdom. The reference to after six days in 9:2 seems to indicate that Mark had the transfiguration in mind insofar as it was a substantial prefiguring of the consummation of the kingdom (although this interpretation is not without its problems). As such, the transfiguration was a tremendous confirmation to the disciples that even though Jesus had just finished speaking of his death (8:31; 9:31; 10:33), he was nonetheless the promised Messiah and things were proceeding according to God’s plan.

⁵ sn The Lord said to my Lord. With David being the speaker, this indicates his respect for his descendant (referred to as my Lord). Jesus was arguing, as the ancient exposition assumed, that the passage is about the Lord’s anointed. The passage looks at an enthronement of this figure and a declaration of honor for him as he takes his place at the side of God. In Jerusalem, the king’s palace was located to the right of the temple to indicate this kind of relationship. Jesus was pressing the language here to get his opponents to reflect on how great Messiah is.

⁶ sn A quotation from Ps 110:1.

⁹ tn Traditionally, “tribulation.”

¹⁰ sn Suffering unlike anything that has happened. Some refer this event to the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. While the events of a.d. 70 may reflect somewhat the comments Jesus makes here, the reference to the scope and severity of this judgment strongly suggest that much more is in view. Most likely Jesus is referring to the great end-time judgment on Jerusalem in the great tribulation.

¹³ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

¹⁴ tn Grk “the produce” (“the produce of the vine” is a figurative expression for wine).

¹⁷ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

¹⁸ sn The guards would have been the guards of the chief priests who had accompanied Judas to arrest Jesus.