Mark 1:35

Praying and Preaching

1:35 Then ¹  Jesus ²  got up early in the morning when it was still very dark, departed, and went out to a deserted place, and there he spent time in prayer. ³ 

Mark 8:27

Peter’s Confession

8:27 Then Jesus and his disciples went to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. ⁴  On the way he asked his disciples, ⁵  “Who do people say that I am?”

Mark 9:2

The Transfiguration

9:2 Six days later ⁶  Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John and led them alone up a high mountain privately. And he was transfigured before them, ⁷ 

Mark 10:25

10:25 It is easier for a camel ⁸  to go through the eye of a needle ⁹  than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

[1:35]  ¹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[1:35]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:35]  ³ tn The imperfect προσηύχετο (proshuceto) implies some duration to the prayer.

[8:27]  ⁴ map Fpr location see Map1 C1; Map2 F4.

[8:27]  ⁵ tn Grk “he asked his disciples, saying to them.” The phrase λέγων αὐτοῖς (legwn autois) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[9:2]  ⁷ tn Grk “And after six days.”

[9:2]  ⁸ sn In 1st century Judaism and in the NT, there was the belief that the righteous get new, glorified bodies in order to enter heaven (1 Cor 15:42-49; 2 Cor 5:1-10). This transformation means the righteous will share the glory of God. One recalls the way Moses shared the Lord’s glory after his visit to the mountain in Exod 34. So the disciples saw Jesus transfigured, and they were getting a sneak preview of the great glory that Jesus would have (only his glory is more inherent to him as one who shares in the rule of the kingdom).

[10:25]  ¹⁰ tc A few witnesses (˹³ 28 579 pc) read κάμιλον (kamilon, “rope”) for κάμηλον (kamhlon, “camel”), either through accidental misreading of the text or intentionally so as to soften Jesus’ words.

[10:25]  ¹¹ sn The referent of the eye of a needle is a sewing needle. (The gate in Jerusalem known as “The Needle’s Eye” was built during the middle ages and was not in existence in Jesus’ day.) Jesus was speaking rhetorically to point out that apart from God’s intervention, salvation is impossible (v. 27).