3:6a

At this: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as At this here introduces what happened next in the story. Connect 3:6 to 3:5 in a way that is natural in your language.

the Pharisees: This is the first time in this chapter that Mark mentioned the Pharisees by name. The Pharisees are the people whom he referred to by saying, “they were watching” in 3:2b. As the note there said, you may need to introduce this information earlier than 3:6a, so that your readers will understand who was accusing Jesus.

The phrase the Pharisees does not refer here to all of the Pharisees, but only to those who were in that synagogue. In some languages it may be necessary to indicate that in some way. For example:

Jesus’ enemies there who were Pharisees

Pharisees: The Pharisees were a Jewish religious group or party. It was very important to them to obey all of the Jewish religious laws very carefully and in detail. Here are some ways to translate this word:

• Transliterate the word Pharisees according to the sounds of your language and indicate that it refers to people. For example:

Farisi members
-or-
Parise adherents

• Transliterate the word Pharisees and indicate that it refers to a group of people with certain beliefs. For example:

people belonging to the Farise religious sect/group
-or-
members of the religious group called the Farasi

See how you translated Pharisees in 2:16. You may also want to include an explanation of Pharisees in the glossary of your translation.

went out: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as went out means that the Pharisees “left” or “exited” the synagogue.

3:6b

began plotting: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as began plotting means “were meeting together to discuss (something) and make a plan.” The Greek verb form probably indicates that the action was repeated or continued at other times after this. The Berean Standard Bible and some other English versions add the word “began” to indicate this. In this context it is clear that the Pharisees’ plans were evil.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

met together and planned / discussed
-or-
plotted/conspired

The Greek phrase also includes the word that is sometimes translated as “immediately.” The Good News Bible expresses it this way:

met at once with some members of Herod’s party (Good News Bible)

The Pharisees immediately met with the Herodians and began to plan how they could cause the courts to sentence Jesus to death. It was a Sabbath day, but they decided to have a meeting immediately.

with the Herodians: The Herodians were a Jewish political group that supported the Jewish ruler whose name was Herod Antipas. The Roman government had appointed him to be king over the Roman province of Judea.

Both the Pharisees and the Herodians were against Jesus. So they joined together to oppose Jesus.

Here are some other ways to translate Herodians:

those who supported Governor Herod
-or-
Herod’s followers (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
some members of Herod’s party (Good News Bible)
-or-
supporter of the ruler Herod

3:6c

how they might kill Jesus: The Pharisees wanted Jesus to be killed, but they did not have the authority to sentence him to death. So they were looking for a way to accuse him so that the government would kill him. The Pharisees were not planning to murder Jesus themselves.

If you need to make this explicit in your language, you can say:

how they might accuse Jesus to have him killed

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