17:1 Six days later 3 Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, 4 and led them privately up a high mountain.
20:20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling down she asked him for a favor. 5 20:21 He said to her, “What do you want?” She replied, 6 “Permit 7 these two sons of mine to sit, one at your 8 right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”
1 sn The term apostles is rare in the gospels, found only here, Mark 3:14, and six more times in Luke (6:13; 9:10; 11:49; 17:5; 22:14; 24:10).
2 sn In the various lists of the twelve, Simon (that is, Peter) is always mentioned first (see also Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:13-16; Acts 1:13) and the first four are always the same, though not in the same order after Peter.
3 tn Grk “And after six days.”
4 tn Grk “John his brother” with “his” referring to James.
5 tn Grk “asked something from him.”
6 tn Grk “said to him.”
7 tn Grk “Say that.”
8 tc A majority of witnesses read σου (sou, “your”) here, perhaps for clarification. At the same time, it is possible that the pronoun dropped out through haplography or was excised because of perceived redundancy (there are two other such pronouns in the verse) by א B. Either way, the translation adds it due to the requirements of English style. NA27 includes σου here.
9 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).
10 tn Grk “to James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James.”
11 tn Grk “and James,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.
12 tn Or “business associates.”
13 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
14 sn From now on is a common Lukan expression, see Luke 1:48.
15 tn The Greek term ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women, thus “people.”
16 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of Jesus’ pronouncement.
17 sn The expression left everything and followed him pictures discipleship, which means that to learn from Jesus is to follow him as the guiding priority of one’s life.
18 tn Grk “and Thomas.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.
19 sn Didymus means “the twin” in Greek.
20 tn Grk “and Nathanael.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.
21 map For location see Map1-C3; Map2-D2; Map3-C5.
22 tn Grk “and the sons.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.
23 sn The sons of Zebedee were James and John.
24 sn The two other disciples who are not named may have been Andrew and Philip, who are mentioned together in John 6:7-8 and 12:22.
25 sn The expression executed with a sword probably refers to a beheading. James was the first known apostolic martyr (Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. 2.9.1-3). On James, not the Lord’s brother, see Luke 5:10; 6:14. This death ended a short period of peace noted in Acts 9:31 after the persecution mentioned in 8:1-3.