Mark 10:46-47

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!”

[10:46]  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.