Mark 1:41

1:41 Moved with compassion, ¹  Jesus ²  stretched out his hand and touched ³  him, saying, “I am willing. Be clean!”

Mark 6:25

6:25 Immediately she hurried back to the king and made her request: ⁴  “I want the head of John the Baptist on a platter immediately.”

Mark 14:36

14:36 He said, “Abba, ⁵  Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup ⁶  away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

[1:41]  ¹ tc The reading found in almost the entire NT ms tradition is σπλαγχνισθείς (splancnisqei", “moved with compassion”). Codex Bezae (D), {1358}, and a few Latin mss (a ff² r^1*) here read ὀργισθείς (ojrgisqei", “moved with anger”). It is more difficult to account for a change from “moved with compassion” to “moved with anger” than it is for a copyist to soften “moved with anger” to “moved with compassion,” making the decision quite difficult. B. M. Metzger (TCGNT 65) suggests that “moved with anger” could have been prompted by 1:43, “Jesus sent the man away with a very strong warning.” It also could have been prompted by the man’s seeming doubt about Jesus’ desire to heal him (v. 40). As well, it is difficult to explain why scribes would be prone to soften the text here but not in Mark 3:5 or 10:14 (where Jesus is also said to be angry or indignant). Thus, in light of diverse mss supporting “moved with compassion,” and at least a plausible explanation for ὀργισθείς as arising from the other reading, it is perhaps best to adopt σπλαγχνισθείς as the original reading. Nevertheless, a decision in this case is not easy. For the best arguments for ὀργισθείς, however, see M. A. Proctor, “The ‘Western’ Text of Mark 1:41: A Case for the Angry Jesus” (Ph.D. diss., Baylor University, 1999).

[1:41]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:41]  ³ sn Touched. This touch would have rendered Jesus ceremonially unclean (Lev 14:46; also Mishnah, m. Nega’im 3.1; 11.1; 12.1; 13.6-12).

[6:25]  ⁴ tn Grk “she asked, saying.” The participle λέγουσα (legousa) is redundant and has not been translated.

[14:36]  ⁷ tn The word means “Father” in Aramaic.

[14:36]  ⁸ sn This cup alludes to the wrath of God that Jesus would experience (in the form of suffering and death) for us. See Ps 11:6; 75:8-9; Isa 51:17, 19, 22 for this figure.