Mark 3:31

Jesus’ True Family

3:31 Then ¹  Jesus’ ²  mother and his brothers ³  came. Standing ⁴  outside, they sent word to him, to summon him.

Mark 11:25

11:25 Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will ⁵  also forgive you your sins.”

[3:31]  ¹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[3:31]  ² tn Grk “his”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:31]  ³ sn The issue of whether Jesus had brothers (siblings) has had a long history in the church. Epiphanius, in the 4th century, argued that Mary was a perpetual virgin and had no offspring other than Jesus. Others argued that these brothers were really cousins. Nothing in the text suggests any of this. See also John 7:3.

[3:31]  ⁴ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[11:25]  ⁵ tn Although the Greek subjunctive mood, formally required in a subordinate clause introduced by ἵνα ({ina), is traditionally translated by an English subjunctive (e.g., “may,” so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV), changes in the use of the subjunctive in English now result in most readers understanding such a statement as indicating permission (“may” = “has permission to”) or as indicating uncertainty (“may” = “might” or “may or may not”). Thus a number of more recent translations render such instances by an English future tense (“will,” so TEV, CEV, NLT, NASB 1995 update). That approach has been followed here.