1.31 Took her by the hand and lifted her up, a gesture found elsewhere in Mark’s healing stories (see 5.41; 9.27); see also note on 5.23.
1.32–34 Cf. Mt 8.16–17; Lk 4.40–41. The first transitional “summary report” cf. the note on 1.14–15.
1.32 At sunset, when sabbath restrictions were lifted (cf. v. 21).
1.33 The whole city, a characteristically Markan exaggeration (see also all, v. 32; everyone, v. 37).
1.34 Not permit the demons to speak. This is the first injunction to silence about Jesus’ identity; v. 25 prepares for it. See also 3.11–12; 8.30; 9.30. These commands are related to the reinterpretation of messiahship in Mark.
1.35–39 Cf. Mt 4.23; Lk 4.42–44.
1.35 A deserted place (see also 6.31, 32, 35), a setting for prayer in Mark (6.46). See also Lk 5.16; 6.12.
1.40–45 Cf. Mt 8.1–4; Lk 5.12–16.
1.40 Leprosy was regarded as a contagious, ritual impurity (Lev 13–14), curable only by divine power (2 Kings 5.7; cf. Mt 11.5; Lk 7.22); a leper was subject to banishment (2 Kings 7.3–10; 2 Chr 26.19–21).
1.41 Pity (see also 6.34; 9.22) appears in most ancient manuscripts, though the harder variant reading anger (text note d on p. 1726) may be the original.
1.43 Sternly warning. Cf. 14.5; Mt 9.30; Jn 11.33, 38.
1.44 Say nothing to anyone, probably not an injunction to silence but an indication of the urgency and importance of the instruction to go to the priest. Show yourself to the priest. See also Lev 14.2–32; Lk 17.12–14.
1.45 The word, perhaps an allusion to early Christian preaching (see also 2.2; 4.14–20, 33; Acts 6.4; Gal 6.6; Col 4.3).
Mark 2
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
1When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. 3Then some peoplea came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7“Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 9Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? 10But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—11“I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” 12And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Jesus Calls Levi
13Jesusb went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. 14As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.
15And as he sat at dinnerc in Levi’sd house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sittinge with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him. 16When the scribes off the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eatg with tax collectors and sinners?” 17When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
The Question about Fasting
18Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and peopleh came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
21“No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”i
Pronouncement about the Sabbath
23One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” 25And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? 26He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.” 27Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; 28so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”
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a Gk they
b Gk He
c Gk reclined
d Gk his
e Gk reclining
f Other ancient authorities read and
g Other ancient authorities add and drink
h Gk they
i Other ancient authorities lack but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins
2.1–3.6 Conflict between Jesus and other religious leaders and authorities.
2.1–12 Cf. Mt 9.1–8; Lk 5.17–26. The first in a series of five controversy narratives (see also 2.13–17, 18–22, 23–28; 3.1–6), this passage embeds a story of conflict (vv. 6–10) within a story of healing (vv. 1–5, 11–12). Such narrative intertwinings are characteristic of Mark (see also 3.1–6, 19–35;5.21–43; 6.7–30; 11.12–25; 14.1–11, 53–72; 15.6–32).
2.4 In Palestinian house design, the roof consisted of crossbeams covered with thatch and hardened mud (cf. Lk 5.19).
2.5 Here, as in other Markan miracle stories (see also 5.34, 36; 9.23–34; 10.52), faith suggests confidence in Jesus’ healing power. For the correlation of healing with being forgiven, see Lk 7.48; see also 2 Sam 12.13; 2 Chr 7.14; Pss 41.4; 103.3; Isa 38.17;57.17–19; Jer 3.22; Hos 14.4.
2.6–7 The accusation by the scribes (see note on 1.22) of blasphemy, a theoretically capital offense (Lev 24.15–16; Mk 14.64), presumes that forgiveness was exclusively God’s prerogative (see Ex 34.6–7; Isa 43.25; 44.22). It may also be an indirect condemnation of Jesus’ bypassing the commandments regarding atonement that involved the temple.
2.10 The Son of Man in Mark sometimes clearly alludes to Dan 7.13–14 (8.38; 13.26; 14.62), but here it is ambiguous, as in v. 28. The scribes, as characters in the narrative, find the phrase confusing, but the audience would understand it as a title for Jesus based on a particular interpretation of Dan 7.13–14. Whatever its precise meaning, it focuses here on Jesus’ earthly authority (see also v. 28; Mt 8.20; 11.19; 12.32; Lk 6.22; 7.34; 9.58; 12.10).
2.12 Amazed. See note on 1.22.
2.13–17 Cf. Mt 9.9–13; Lk 5.27–32.
2.14 Levi son of Alphaeus does not appear among Mark’s listing of the Twelve (3.16–19; cf. Mt 9.9; 10.3). Tax booth, perhaps a roadside tollhouse.
2.15 Tax (or toll) collectors were despised by Jews for their presumed dishonesty and collaboration with Roman authorities. Sinners, the notoriously wicked who flouted Jewish law (in contrast with the righteous; see v. 17). On Jesus’ association with social outcasts, see also Mt 11.19; Lk 7.34;15.1–2.
2.16 The Pharisees, leaders of a popular reform movement among ancient Jews, interpreted the law in the cultural context of the time and favored obedience to the commandments in all walks of life. Like the scribes (see note on 1.22), Pharisees are typically ranged among Jesus’ adversaries i
n Mark (v. 24;3.6; 7.1, 5; 8.11, 15; 10.2; 12.13).
2.17 A similar proverb is attributed to ancient philosophers.
2.18–22 Cf. Mt 9.14–17; Lk 5.33–39.
2.18–20 John’s disciples. See also Mt 11.2–6; Lk 7.18–23; 11.1; Jn 1.35; 3.25–30. Fasting, originally a sign of contrition, was prescribed as an annual practice (Lev 16.29; Zech 7.5) and also undertaken on specific occasions (Ezra 8.21–23; Jon 3.7–9); see also Lk 18.12. In the Second Temple period, it was also practiced as an act of piety. V. 20 probably reflects the practice of fasting in the early church.
2.19 Wedding guests (or “the groomsmen”), bridegroom, imagery used in portraying God’s saving covenant elsewhere in the NT (Mt 22.1–14; 25.1–13; 2 Cor 11.2; Eph 5.32; Rev 19.7; 21.2), in the OT (Isa 54.4–8; 62.4–5; Ezek 16.1–63; Hos 2.19), and among the rabbis.
2.23–28 Cf. Mt 12.1–8; Lk 6.1–5.
2.24 What is not lawful, evidently a reference to the prohibition of reaping on the sabbath in Ex 34.21. The legality of activities on the sabbath (Ex 20.8–11; Deut 5.12–15) was extensively debated among Jews in the Second Temple period and among the rabbis; see also Lk 14.1–6.
2.25 A counterquestion typical of ancient dialogues and debates.
2.26 It was not the son Abiathar (1 Sam 22.20) who was high priest, but the father, Ahimelech (1 Sam 21.1–6; cf. Mt 12.4; Lk 6.4). On the bread of the Presence, see Ex 25.30; Lev 24.5–9.
2.27–28 Humankind, lit. “man,” referring to Adam. Thus, on one level, the Son of Man is the generic “human being” or “humankind” (cf. Ps 8.4). The informed members of the audience, however, know that the term is Jesus’ authoritative self-designation (see note on 2.10).
Mark 3
The Man with a Withered Hand
1Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.” 4Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
A Multitude at the Seaside
7Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; 8hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon. 9He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him; 10for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. 11Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, “You are the Son of God!” 12But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.
Jesus Appoints the Twelve
13He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. 14And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles,a to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, 15and to have authority to cast out demons. 16So he appointed the twelve:b Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Jesus and Beelzebul
Then he went home; 20and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. 21When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” 22And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” 23And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. 27But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.
28“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—30for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
The True Kindred of Jesus
31Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. 32A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sistersc are outside, asking for you.” 33And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
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a Other ancient authorities lack whom he also named apostles
b Other ancient authorities lack So he appointed the twelve
c Other ancient authorities lack and sisters
3.1–6 Cf. Mt 12.9–14; Lk 6.6–11. Healing and controversy are entwined, again raising the issue of what is permitted on the sabbath, as in 2.23–28 (see Lk 13.10–17;14.1–6; Jn 5.1–18; see also note on 2.1–12).
3.4 Is it lawful. See note on 2.24. This anecdote presupposes that healing was defined as work by some leaders at the time of Jesus, e.g., the Pharisees. Jesus’ contemporaries would have accepted a violation of the sabbath to save life but probably would have questioned its relevance in this case. The Markan Jesus claims that healing work ought to take priority over observance of the sabbath.
3.5 Hardness of heart, or stubborn obtuseness (see 6.52; 8.17; 10.5; see also Ex 9.34–35; 1 Sam 6.6; 2 Chr 36.13; Ps 95.8; Eph 4.18).
3.6 Pharisees. See note on 2.16. Herodians, “those belonging to Herod,” i.e., partisans of Herod or, more likely in this context, Galilean officials appointed by Herod Antipas. This is the first of Mark’s four references to a conspiracy to destroy Jesus (see also 11.18; 12.12; 14.1).
3.7–35 Portrayal of Jesus as the Son of God.
3.7–12 Cf. Mt 4.24–25; 12.15–16; Lk 6.17–19. A second transitional “summary report” (see note on 1.32–34) underscoring Jesus’ popularity (see also 1.28, 35–37, 45) and foreshadowing his ministry beyond Palestine (see 7.24–31).
3.8 Judea, Jerusalem. See note on 1.5. Idumea (“Edom,” Gen 32.3), a region southeast of Judea. Beyond the Jordan (Perea), an area northeast of Judea and southeast of Galilee. Tyre and Sidon, cities northwest of Galilee.
3.10 To touch him. See also 5.27–28;6.56.
3.11 Unclean spirits, or demons (see also 1.23;3.30), fell down before him in submission (see also 5.22, 33; 7.25); they, not humans, recognize Jesus as the Son of God (see also 1.24; 5.7; cf. 15.39).
3.12 On Jesus’ injunctions to silence about his identity, see note on 1.34.
3.13–19a Cf. Mt 10.1–4; Lk 6.12–16.
3.13 As in the OT (e.g., Ex 19.3–25; 1 Kings 19.8), the mountain (or “hill country”) may symbolize a place of divine disclosure (see also 9.2–13), but such usage is not consistent throughout Mark (cf. 5.5, 11; 6.46; 11.1, 23; 13.3, 14;4.26).
3.14 Appointed, lit. “made” (see also v. 16; 1 Kings 13.33; 2 Chr 2.18; Heb 3.2). Twelve, probably a symbolic representation of the twelve tribes of Israel (see Num 1.4–16; 13.1–16; Mt 19.28; Lk 22.30). Apostles, if original here, probably refers to emissaries authorized to discharge a specific commission (see 6.7–13); rare in Mark (elsewhere only in 6.30).
3.16–19a For variation in the names and ordering of the Twelve, cf. Mt 10.2–4; Lk 6.14–16; Jn 1.40–49; 21.2; Acts 1.13.
3.16 Peter, perhaps from the Greek for “stone” or “rock” (Mt 16.18–
19); in Aramaic, Cephas (e.g., Jn 1.42; 1 Cor 1.12; Gal 1.18).
3.17 Boanerges, derivation and meaning obscure. “Boane-” may derive from the Hebrew meaning “sons of” “-rges” may come from the Hebrew meaning “agitation” or “tumult,” e.g., “thunder.”
3.18 Cananaean probably derives from an Aramaic term denoting religious zeal (see Lk 6.15; Acts 1.13).
3.19a Iscariot, probably meaning “a man from Kerioth,” a city of Judea (see Josh 15.25; cf. Jer 48.24). On language about Jesus being betrayed, lit. “handed over,” see note on 1.14.
3.19b–35 A controversy about exorcism (vv. 22–30; see also Mt 12.22–32; Lk 11.14–23; 12.10) is inserted into an episode about Jesus’ family (vv. 19b–21, 31–35; see Mt 12.46–50; Lk 8.19–21; see also note on 2.1–12).
3.19b Home, a typical site for much of Jesus’ ministry in Mark (see, e.g., 1.29, 32–33;2.1).
3.20 They could not even eat. See also 6.31.
3.21 His family, translation of an ambiguous phrase based on the people mentioned in v. 31. Out of his mind. As implied by v. 22, insanity in the ancient world was attributed to demonic possession (see also Jn 7.20;8.48–52; 10.20).
3.22 See note on 1.22. Jerusalem. See 10.32–34. Beelzebul, related to “Baal Zabul,” “Baal the Prince,” the probable name of the Semitic deity mocked by the name “Baal Zebul”(“Lord of the Flies”) in 2 Kings 1.2. By Mark’s time, this Canaanite deity had been demoted to the status of the ruler of the demons, equivalent to Satan.
3.23 Parables, enigmatic proverbs or riddling stories that are provocative if not always illuminating (3.24–27; 4.3–9, 21–32; 7.14–17; 12.1–12;13.28; see also Ps 78.2; Prov 1.6; Ezek 17.2; Hab 2.6; Sir 47.17).
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