Mark 8:31

First Prediction of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection

8:31 Then ¹  Jesus ²  began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer ³  many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, ⁴  and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Mark 13:14

The Abomination of Desolation

13:14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation ⁵  standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee ⁶  to the mountains.

[8:31]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:31]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:31]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

[13:14]  ⁵ sn The reference to the abomination of desolation is an allusion to Dan 9:27. Though some have seen the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy in the actions of Antiochus IV (or a representative of his) in 167 b.c., the words of Jesus seem to indicate that Antiochus was not the final fulfillment, but that there was (from Jesus’ perspective) still another fulfillment yet to come. Some argue that this was realized in a.d. 70, while others claim that it refers specifically to Antichrist and will not be fully realized until the period of the great tribulation at the end of the age (cf. Mark 13:19, 24; Matt 24:21; Rev 3:10).

[13:14]  ⁶ sn Fleeing to the mountains is a key OT image: Gen 19:17; Judg 6:2; Isa 15:5; Jer 16:16; Zech 14:5.