Mark 10:13

Jesus and Little Children

10:13 Now ¹  people were bringing little children to him for him to touch, ²  but the disciples scolded those who brought them. ³ 

Mark 8:22

A Two-stage Healing

8:22 Then ⁴  they came to Bethsaida. They brought a blind man to Jesus ⁵  and asked him to touch him.

[10:13]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[10:13]  ² tn Grk “so that he would touch them.” Here the touch is connected with (or conveys) a blessing (cf. v. 16; also BDAG 126 s.v. ἅπτω 2.c).

[10:13]  ³ tc “Those who brought them” (ἐπετιμῶν τοῖς προσφέρουσιν, epetimwn toi" prosferousin) is the reading of most mss (A D W [Θ Ë^1,13] Ï lat sy), but it is probably a motivated reading. Since the subject is not explicit in the earliest and best witnesses as well as several others (א B C L Δ Ψ 579 892 2427), scribes would be prone to add “those who brought them” here to clarify that the children were not the ones being scolded. It could be argued that the masculine pronoun αὐτοῖς (autois, “them”) only rarely was used with the neuter antecedent παιδία (paidia, “children”), and thus the longer reading was not motivated by scribal clarification. However, such rare usage is found in Mark (cf. 5:41; 9:24-26); further, scribes routinely added clarifications when such were not necessary. Thus, both on external and internal grounds, the shorter reading is strongly preferred. Similar motivations are behind the translation here, namely, “those who brought them” has been supplied to ensure that the parents who brought the children are in view, not the children themselves.

[8:22]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:22]  ⁵ tn Grk “to him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.