Exegesis:

stugnasas (only here in Mark) ‘becoming gloomy’: Arndt & Gingrich suggest possibly ‘shocked,’ ‘appalled.’

epi tō logō ‘at the word,’ ‘with the saying.’

epi ‘upon’: after verbs which express feeling the preposition means ‘at,’ ‘because,’ ‘with’ (cf. 1.22; 3.5).

lupoumenos (14.19) ‘sorrowing,’ ‘sad,’ ‘distressed.’ Manson translates ‘in annoyance.’

ktēmata (only here in Mark) in general means ‘property,’ ‘possessions’; specifically it means ‘lands,’ ‘estates’ (cf. Moulton & Milligan; Swete).

Translation:

Countenance fell can only rarely be translated literally. In Navajo one must say ‘his face drew together’ and in Amganad Ifugao the equivalent is ‘his feeling changed.’

At that saying may be translated as a verb expression in the form ‘when Jesus said that.’

Sorrowful must in some languages be carefully handled in order to avoid the meaning of ‘sorrow’ as an emotional response to death or bereavement. In this passage the meaning is one of emotional distress and disturbance, and as in so many instances of such psychological reactions the ways of speaking about these experiences are quite varied and often highly metaphorical, e.g. ‘his stomach died’ (Mezquital Otomi), ‘he was heavy in his stomach’ (Uduk), ‘his heart was pained’ (Kpelle), ‘he was sick in his mind’ (Amganad Ifugao), ‘his heart hung’ (Loma (Liberia)), and ‘his heart was spoiled’ (More).

The cultural equivalent of great possessions is in many languages ‘many farms’ and in others ‘many houses.’ In some languages the closest corresponding expression is ‘he was very rich.’

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .