Exegesis:

edeiran (12.5; 13.9) ‘they beat,’ ‘they flogged,’ ‘they whipped.’

kenon (only here in Mark) ‘empty,’ ‘empty-handed.’

Translation:

Empty-handed may be translated in some languages simply as ‘without anything.’ In one instance it is idiomatically rendered as ‘holding his own hands,’ i.e. without anything in them.

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 .