Mark 2:16

2:16 When the experts in the law ¹  and the Pharisees ²  saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ³ 

Mark 8:31

First Prediction of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection

8:31 Then ⁴  Jesus ⁵  began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer ⁶  many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, ⁷  and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Mark 10:33

10:33 “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and experts in the law. ⁸  They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles.

Mark 11:18

11:18 The chief priests and the experts in the law ⁹  heard it and they considered how they could assassinate ¹⁰  him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed by his teaching.

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 ¹¹  must marry ¹²  the widow and father children ¹³  for his brother.’ ¹⁴ 

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 ¹⁵  were trying to find a way ¹⁶  to arrest Jesus ¹⁷  by stealth and kill him.

Mark 14:43

Betrayal and Arrest

14:43 Right away, while Jesus ¹⁸  was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived. ¹⁹  With him came a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and experts in the law ²⁰  and elders.

[2:16]  ¹ tn Or “the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

[2:16]  ² sn Pharisees were members of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.

[2:16]  ³ sn The issue here is inappropriate associations. Jews were very careful about personal associations and contact as a matter of ritual cleanliness. Their question borders on an accusation that Jesus is ritually unclean.

[8:31]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:31]  ⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:31]  ⁶ sn The necessity that the Son of Man suffer is the particular point that needed emphasis, since for many 1st century Jews the Messiah was a glorious and powerful figure, not a suffering one.

[8:31]  ⁷ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

[10:33]  ⁷ tn Or “chief priests and scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

[11:18]  ¹⁰ tn Or “The chief priests and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

[11:18]  ¹¹ tn Grk “how they could destroy him.”

[12:19]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn The use of ἵνα (Jina) with imperatival force is unusual (BDF §470.1).

[12:19]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “raise up seed” (an idiom for fathering children).

[12:19]  ¹⁶ 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.

[14:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the chief priests and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

[14:1]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “were seeking how.”

[14:1]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:43]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:43]  ²⁰ tn Or “approached.” This is a different verb than the one translated “arrived” in Matt 26:47 and below in v. 45, although in this context the meanings probably overlap.

[14:43]  ²¹ tn Or “from the chief priests, scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.