Mark 1:44

1:44 He told him, ¹  “See that you do not say anything to anyone, ²  but go, show yourself to a priest, and bring the offering that Moses commanded ³  for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” ⁴ 

Mark 12:19

12:19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us: ‘If a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man ⁵  must marry ⁶  the widow and father children ⁷  for his brother.’ ⁸ 

[1:44]  ¹ tn Grk “And after warning him, he immediately sent him away and told him.”

[1:44]  ² sn The silence ordered by Jesus was probably meant to last only until the cleansing took place with the priests and sought to prevent Jesus’ healings from becoming the central focus of the people’s reaction to him. See also 1:34; 3:12; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26, 30; and 9:9 for other cases where Jesus asks for silence concerning him and his ministry.

[1:44]  ³ sn On the phrase bring the offering that Moses commanded see Lev 14:1-32.

[1:44]  ⁴ tn Or “as an indictment against them”; or “as proof to the people.” This phrase could be taken as referring to a positive witness to the priests, a negative testimony against them, or as a testimony to the community that the man had indeed been cured. In any case, the testimony shows that Jesus is healing and ministering to those in need.

[12:19]  ⁵ tn Grk “his brother”; but this would be redundant in English with the same phrase “his brother” at the end of the verse, so most modern translations render this phrase “the man” (so NIV, NRSV).

[12:19]  ⁶ tn The use of ἵνα (Jina) with imperatival force is unusual (BDF §470.1).

[12:19]  ⁷ tn Grk “raise up seed” (an idiom for fathering children).

[12:19]  ⁸ sn A quotation from Deut 25:5. This practice is called levirate marriage (see also Ruth 4:1-12; Mishnah, m. Yevamot; Josephus, Ant. 4.8.23 [4.254-256]). The levirate law is described in Deut 25:5-10. The brother of a man who died without a son had an obligation to marry his brother’s widow. This served several purposes: It provided for the widow in a society where a widow with no children to care for her would be reduced to begging, and it preserved the name of the deceased, who would be regarded as the legal father of the first son produced from that marriage.