Mark 10:46-52

Healing Blind Bartimaeus

10:46 They came to Jericho. ¹  As Jesus ²  and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road. 10:47 When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to shout, ³  “Jesus, Son of David, ⁴  have mercy ⁵  on me!” 10:48 Many scolded ⁶  him to get him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 10:49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So ⁷  they called the blind man and said to him, “Have courage! Get up! He is calling you.” 10:50 He threw off his cloak, jumped up, and came to Jesus. 10:51 Then ⁸  Jesus said to him, ⁹  “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied, “Rabbi, ¹⁰  let me see again.” ¹¹  10:52 Jesus said to him, “Go, your faith has healed you.” Immediately he regained ¹²  his sight and followed him on the road.

[10:46]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[10:46]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:47]  ³ tn Grk “to shout and to say.” The infinitive λέγειν (legein) is redundant here and has not been translated.

[10:47]  ⁴ sn Jesus was more than a Nazarene to this blind person, who saw quite well that Jesus was Son of David. There was a tradition in Judaism that the Son of David (Solomon) had great powers of healing (Josephus, Ant. 8.2.5 [8.42-49]).

[10:47]  ⁵ sn Have mercy on me is a request for healing. It is not owed the man. He simply asks for God’s kind grace.

[10:48]  ⁶ tn Or “rebuked.” The crowd’s view was that surely Jesus would not be bothered with someone as unimportant as a blind beggar.

[10:49]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

[10:51]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[10:51]  ⁹ tn Grk “And answering, Jesus said to him.” The participle ἀποκριθείς is redundant and has not been translated.

[10:51]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Master”; Grk ῥαββουνί (rabbouni).

[10:51]  ¹¹ tn Grk “that I may see [again].” The phrase can be rendered as an imperative of request, “Please, give me sight.” Since the man is not noted as having been blind from birth (as the man in John 9 was) it is likely the request is to receive back the sight he once had.

[10:52]  ¹² tn Or “received” (see the note on the phrase “let me see again” in v. 51).