SIL Translator's Notes on Mark 9:15

9:15a–c

As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were filled with awe: Verse 9:15a–c indicates that the people were very surprised when they saw Jesus.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

When the whole crowd saw him, they were immediately overcome with awe (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
The whole crowd saw Jesus, and they were immediately amazed.

As soon as: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as As soon as indicates that the reaction of the crowd was the next event that happened. In some languages the meaning of “as soon as” or “immediately” may be left implied. For example, the God’s Word says:

All the people were very surprised to see Jesus

Translate this idea in a way that is natural in your language.

they were filled with awe: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as they were filled with awe indicates a strong reaction. The reaction can be positive or negative. It depends on the context. (Elsewhere in Mark this Greek verb is used to refer to sorrow (14:34a) and alarm/fear (16:5d). A different form of the same verb is used in 1:27a to refer to shock or amazement.)

In this context, this verb probably refers to great surprise or amazement. The people were surprised or amazed because they did not expect to see Jesus right then. This verb may also refer to a feeling of amazement. The people were perhaps amazed because Jesus’ face or clothes were still shining faintly. Mark did not say why the people were surprised or awed. So you should not make explicit the reason for their reaction.

Here are some other ways to translate this verb:

were greatly surprised (Good News Bible)
-or-
were overcome with awe (Revised English Bible)
-or-
were struck with amazement (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
were filled/overcome with surprise and awe

In some languages it may be natural to use a metaphor or idiom to express great surprise or awe.

ran to greet Him: The people ran to Jesus in order to greet him. They wanted to greet him by speaking words of welcome. In some languages it may not be natural to say that a crowd of people ran. If that is true in your language, you may use a more general word. For example, the Contemporary English Version says:

everyone hurried over to greet him

© 2008 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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