Mark 4:37

4:37 Now ¹  a great windstorm ²  developed and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was nearly swamped.

Mark 4:11

4:11 He said to them, “The secret ³  of the kingdom of God has been given ⁴  to you. But to those outside, everything is in parables,

Mark 4:19

4:19 but ⁵  worldly cares, the seductiveness of wealth, ⁶  and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, ⁷  and it produces nothing.

Mark 2:15

2:15 As Jesus ⁸  was having a meal ⁹  in Levi’s ¹⁰  home, many tax collectors ¹¹  and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.

Mark 2:21

2:21 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear becomes worse.

Mark 4:32

4:32 when it is sown, it grows up, ¹²  becomes the greatest of all garden plants, and grows large branches so that the wild birds ¹³  can nest in its shade.” ¹⁴ 

Mark 11:23

11:23 I tell you the truth, ¹⁵  if someone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

[4:37]  ¹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[4:37]  ² tn Or “a squall.”

[4:11]  ³ tn Grk “the mystery.”

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

[4:19]  ⁵ tn Grk “and.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[4:19]  ⁶ tn Grk “the deceitfulness of riches.” Cf. BDAG 99 s.v. ἀπάτη 1, “the seduction which comes from wealth.”

[4:19]  ⁷ sn That is, their concern for spiritual things is crowded out by material things.

[2:15]  ⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:15]  ⁸ tn Grk “As he reclined at table.”

[2:15]  ⁹ tn Grk “his.”

[2:15]  ¹⁰ sn The tax collectors would bid to collect taxes for the Roman government and then add a surcharge, which they kept. Since tax collectors worked for Rome, they were viewed as traitors to their own people and were not well liked.

[4:32]  ⁹ tn Mark 4:31-32 is fairly awkward in Greek. Literally the sentence reads as follows: “As a mustard seed, which when sown in the earth, being the smallest of all the seeds in the earth, and when it is sown, it grows up…” The structure has been rendered in more idiomatic English, although some of the awkward structure has been retained for rhetorical effect.

[4:32]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).

[4:32]  ¹¹ sn The point of the parable seems to be that while the kingdom of God may appear to have insignificant and unnoticeable beginnings (i.e., in the ministry of Jesus), it will someday (i.e., at the second advent) be great and quite expansive. The kingdom, however, is not to be equated with the church, but rather the church is an expression of the kingdom. Also, there is important OT background in the image of the mustard seed that grew and became a tree: Ezek 17:22-24 pictures the reemergence of the Davidic house where people can find calm and shelter. Like the mustard seed, it would start out small but grow to significant size.

[11:23]  ¹¹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”