Mark 4:20

4:20 But ¹  these are the ones sown on good soil: They hear the word and receive it and bear fruit, one thirty times as much, one sixty, and one a hundred.”

Mark 9:1

9:1 And he said to them, “I tell you the truth, ²  there are some standing here who will not ³  experience ⁴  death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.” ⁵ 

[4:20]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[9:1]  ² tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[9:1]  ³ tn The Greek negative here (οὐ μή, ou mh) is the strongest possible.

[9:1]  ⁴ tn Grk “will not taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).

[9:1]  ⁵ sn Several suggestions have been made as to the referent for the phrase the kingdom of God come with power: (1) the transfiguration itself, which immediately follows in the narrative; (2) Jesus’ resurrection and ascension; (3) the coming of the Spirit; (4) Jesus’ second coming and the establishment of the kingdom. The reference to after six days in 9:2 seems to indicate that Mark had the transfiguration in mind insofar as it was a substantial prefiguring of the consummation of the kingdom (although this interpretation is not without its problems). As such, the transfiguration was a tremendous confirmation to the disciples that even though Jesus had just finished speaking of his death (8:31; 9:31; 10:33), he was nonetheless the promised Messiah and things were proceeding according to God’s plan.