Mark 8:34

Following Jesus

8:34 Then ¹  Jesus ²  called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ³  he must deny ⁴  himself, take up his cross, ⁵  and follow me.

Mark 12:15

12:15 But he saw through their hypocrisy and said ⁶  to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius ⁷  and let me look at it.”

[8:34]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[8:34]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:34]  ³ tn Grk “to follow after me.”

[8:34]  ⁴ tn This translation better expresses the force of the Greek third person imperative than the traditional “let him deny,” which could be understood as merely permissive.

[8:34]  ⁵ sn To bear the cross means to accept the rejection of the world for turning to Jesus and following him. Discipleship involves a death that is like a crucifixion; see Gal 6:14.

[12:15]  ⁶ tn Grk “Aware of their hypocrisy he said.”

[12:15]  ⁷ tn Here the specific name of the coin was retained in the translation, because not all coins in circulation in Palestine at the time carried the image of Caesar. In other places δηνάριον (dhnarion) has been translated simply as “silver coin” with an explanatory note.