Mark 16:17-18

16:17 These signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages; ¹  16:18 they will pick up snakes with their hands, and whatever poison they drink will not harm them; ²  they will place their hands on the sick and they will be well.”

[16:17]  ¹ tn Grk “tongues,” though the word is used figuratively (perhaps as a metonymy of cause for effect). To “speak in tongues” meant to “speak in a foreign language,” though one that was new to the one speaking it and therefore due to supernatural causes. For a discussion concerning whether such was a human language, heavenly language, or merely ecstatic utterance, see BDAG 201-2 s.v. γλῶσσα 2, 3; BDAG 399 s.v. ἕτερος 2; L&N 33.2-4; ExSyn 698; C. M. Robeck Jr., “Tongues,” DPL, 939-43.

[16:18]  ² tn For further comment on the nature of this statement, whether it is a promise or prediction, see ExSyn 403-6.