Mark 4:11

4:11 He said to them, “The secret ¹  of the kingdom of God has been given ²  to you. But to those outside, everything is in parables,

Mark 9:13

9:13 But I tell you that Elijah has certainly come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, just as it is written about him.”

Mark 9:50

9:50 Salt ³  is good, but if it loses its saltiness, ⁴  how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

Mark 12:43

12:43 He called his disciples and said to them, “I tell you the truth, ⁵  this poor widow has put more into the offering box ⁶  than all the others. ⁷ 

Mark 13:21

13:21 Then ⁸  if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ ⁹  or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe him.

Mark 14:9

14:9 I tell you the truth, ¹⁰  wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

[4:11]  ¹ tn Grk “the mystery.”

[4:11]  ² tn This is an example of a “divine passive,” with God understood to be the source of the revelation (see ExSyn 437-38).

[9:50]  ³ sn Salt was used as seasoning or fertilizer (BDAG 41 s.v. ἅλας a), or as a preservative. If salt ceased to be useful, it was thrown away. With this illustration Jesus warned about a disciple who ceased to follow him.

[9:50]  ⁴ sn The difficulty of this saying is understanding how salt could lose its saltiness since its chemical properties cannot change. It is thus often assumed that Jesus was referring to chemically impure salt, perhaps a natural salt which, when exposed to the elements, had all the genuine salt leached out, leaving only the sediment or impurities behind. Others have suggested the background of the saying is the use of salt blocks by Arab bakers to line the floor of their ovens: Under the intense heat these blocks would eventually crystallize and undergo a change in chemical composition, finally being thrown out as unserviceable. A saying in the Talmud (b. Bekhorot 8b) attributed to R. Joshua ben Chananja (ca. a.d. 90), when asked the question “When salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again?” is said to have replied, “By salting it with the afterbirth of a mule.” He was then asked, “Then does the mule (being sterile) bear young?” to which he replied: “Can salt lose its flavor?” The point appears to be both are impossible. The saying, while admittedly late, suggests that culturally the loss of flavor by salt was regarded as an impossibility. Genuine salt can never lose its flavor. In this case the saying by Jesus here may be similar to Matt 19:24, where it is likewise impossible for the camel to go through the eye of a sewing needle.

[12:43]  ⁵ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[12:43]  ⁶ tn See the note on the term “offering box” in v. 41.

[12:43]  ⁷ sn Has put more into the offering box than all the others. With God, giving is weighed evaluatively, not counted. The widow was praised because she gave sincerely and at some considerable cost to herself.

[13:21]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[13:21]  ⁸ tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[14:9]  ⁹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”