Mark 9:38-42

On Jesus’ Side

9:38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.” 9:39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, because no one who does a miracle in my name will be able soon afterward to say anything bad about me. 9:40 For whoever is not against us is for us. 9:41 For I tell you the truth, ¹  whoever gives you a cup of water because ²  you bear Christ’s ³  name will never lose his reward.

9:42 “If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone ⁴  tied around his neck and to be thrown into the sea.

[9:41]  ¹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[9:41]  ² tn Grk “in [the] name that of Christ you are.”

[9:41]  ³ tn Or “bear the Messiah’s”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[9:42]  ¹ tn Grk “the millstone of a donkey.” This refers to a large flat stone turned by a donkey in the process of grinding grain (BDAG 661 s.v. μύλος 2; L&N 7.68-69). The same term is used in the parallel account in Matt 18:6.