Mark 14:1

The Plot Against Jesus

14:1 Two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the chief priests and the experts in the law ¹  were trying to find a way ²  to arrest Jesus ³  by stealth and kill him.

Psalms 2:1-5

Psalm 2 ⁴ 

2:1 Why ⁵  do the nations rebel? ⁶ 

Why ⁷  are the countries ⁸  devising ⁹  plots that will fail? ¹⁰ 

2:2 The kings of the earth ¹¹  form a united front; ¹² 

the rulers collaborate ¹³ 

against the Lord and his anointed king. ¹⁴ 

2:3 They say, ¹⁵  “Let’s tear off the shackles they’ve put on us! ¹⁶ 

Let’s free ourselves from ¹⁷  their ropes!”

2:4 The one enthroned ¹⁸  in heaven laughs in disgust; ¹⁹ 

the Lord taunts ²⁰  them.

2:5 Then he angrily speaks to them

and terrifies them in his rage, ²¹  saying, ²² 

Acts 4:5-8

4:5 On the next day, ²³  their rulers, elders, and experts in the law ²⁴  came together ²⁵  in Jerusalem. ²⁶  4:6 Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others who were members of the high priest’s family. ²⁷  4:7 After ²⁸  making Peter and John ²⁹  stand in their midst, they began to inquire, “By what power or by what name ³⁰  did you do this?” 4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, ³¹  replied, ³²  “Rulers of the people and elders, ³³ 

Acts 4:27-28

4:27 “For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against ³⁴  your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, ³⁵  4:28 to do as much as your power ³⁶  and your plan ³⁷  had decided beforehand ³⁸  would happen.

[14:1]  ¹ tn Or “the chief priests and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

[14:1]  ² tn Grk “were seeking how.”

[14:1]  ³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 2. In this royal psalm the author asserts the special status of the divinely chosen Davidic king and warns the nations and their rulers to submit to the authority of God and his chosen vice-regent.

[2:1]  ⁵ tn The question is rhetorical. Rather than seeking information, the psalmist expresses his outrage that the nations would have the audacity to rebel against God and his chosen king.

[2:1]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew verb רָגַשׁ (ragash) occurs only here. In Dan 6:6, 11, 15 the Aramaic cognate verb describes several officials acting as a group. A Hebrew nominal derivative is used in Ps 55:14 of a crowd of people in the temple.

[2:1]  ⁷ tn The interrogative לָמָּה (lamah, “why?”) is understood by ellipsis in the second line.

[2:1]  ⁸ tn Or “peoples” (so many English versions).

[2:1]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew imperfect form describes the rebellion as underway. The verb הָגָה (hagah), which means “to recite quietly, meditate,” here has the metonymic nuance “devise, plan, plot” (see Ps 38:12; Prov 24:2).

[2:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “devising emptiness.” The noun רִיק (riq, “emptiness”) may characterize their behavior as “worthless, morally bankrupt” but more likely refers to the outcome of their plots (i.e., failure). As the rest of the psalm emphasizes, their rebellion will fail.

[2:2]  ¹¹ sn The expression kings of the earth refers somewhat hyperbolically to the kings who had been conquered by and were subject to the Davidic king.

[2:2]  ¹² tn Or “take their stand.” The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes their action as underway.

[2:2]  ¹³ tn Or “conspire together.” The verbal form is a Niphal from יָסַד (yasad). BDB 413-14 s.v. יָסַד defines the verb as “establish, found,” but HALOT 417 s.v. II יסד proposes a homonym meaning “get together, conspire” (an alternate form of סוּד, sud).

[2:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and against his anointed one.” The Davidic king is the referent (see vv. 6-7).

[2:3]  ¹⁵ tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The quotation represents the words of the rebellious kings.

[2:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “their (i.e., the Lord’s and the king’s) shackles.” The kings compare the rule of the Lord and his vice-regent to being imprisoned.

[2:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “throw off from us.”

[2:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “sitting.” The Hebrew verb יָשַׁב (yashav) is here used metonymically of “sitting enthroned” (see Pss 9:7; 29:10; 55:19; 102:12; 123:1).

[2:4]  ¹⁹ tn As the next line indicates, this refers to derisive laughter. The Hebrew imperfect verbal forms in vv. 4-5 describe the action from the perspective of an eyewitness who is watching the divine response as it unfolds before his eyes.

[2:4]  ²⁰ tn Or “scoffs at”; “derides”; “mocks.”

[2:5]  ²¹ sn And terrifies them in his rage. This line focuses on the effect that God’s angry response (see previous line) has on the rebellious kings.

[2:5]  ²² tn The word “saying” is supplied in the translation for clarification to indicate that the speaker is the Lord (cf. RSV, NIV).

[4:5]  ²³ tn Grk “It happened that on the next day.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[4:5]  ²⁴ tn Or “and scribes.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (grammateu") as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.

[4:5]  ²⁵ tn Or “law assembled,” “law met together.”

[4:5]  ²⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[4:6]  ²⁷ sn The high priest’s family. This family controlled the high priesthood as far back as a.d. 6. Annas, Caiaphas, and Alexander were all high priests at one time (though Alexander held that office after this event).

[4:7]  ²⁸ tn Grk “And after.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new sentence is begun in the translation at the beginning of v. 7.

[4:7]  ²⁹ tn Grk “making them”; the referents (Peter and John) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:7]  ³⁰ sn By what name. The issue of the “name” comes up again here. This question, meaning “by whose authority,” surfaces an old dispute (see Luke 20:1-8). Who speaks for God about the ancient faith?

[4:8]  ³¹ sn Filled with the Holy Spirit. The narrator’s remark about the Holy Spirit indicates that Peter speaks as directed by God and for God. This fulfills Luke 12:11-12 (1 Pet 3:15).

[4:8]  ³² tn Grk “Spirit, said to them.”

[4:8]  ³³ tc The Western and Byzantine texts, as well as one or two Alexandrian witnesses, read τοῦ ᾿Ισραήλ (tou Israhl, “of Israel”) after πρεσβύτεροι (presbuteroi, “elders”; so D E Ψ 33 1739 Ï it), while most of the better witnesses, chiefly Alexandrian (Ì⁷⁴ א A B 0165 1175 vg sa bo), lack this modifier. The longer reading was most likely added by scribes to give literary balance to the addressees in that “Rulers” already had an adjunct while “elders” was left absolute.

[4:27]  ³⁴ sn The application of Ps 2:1-2 is that Jews and Gentiles are opposing Jesus. The surprise of the application is that Jews are now found among the enemies of God’s plan.

[4:27]  ³⁵ sn A wordplay on “Christ,” v. 26, which means “one who has been anointed.”

[4:28]  ³⁶ tn Grk “hand,” here a metaphor for God’s strength or power or authority.

[4:28]  ³⁷ tn Or “purpose,” “will.”

[4:28]  ³⁸ tn Or “had predestined.” Since the term “predestine” is something of a technical theological term, not in wide usage in contemporary English, the translation “decide beforehand” was used instead (see L&N 30.84). God’s direction remains as the major theme.