Exegesis:

ek tou perisseuontos autois ‘from that which abounds to them,’ ‘from their abundance’: the participle is the genitive of the neuter form to perisseuon ‘that which abounds.’

perisseuō (only here in Mark; cf. perisseuma 8.8) ‘to abound,’ ‘to be present in abundance.’

husterēseōs (only here in Mark; cf. hustereō 10.21) ‘lack,’ ‘need,’ ‘poverty.’

panta hosa (cf. 6.30; 11.24) ‘everything,’ ‘everything as much (as).’

bion (only here in Mark) ‘life’: here in terms of ‘livelihood,’ ‘means of living,’ ‘subsistence,’ ‘property.’

Translation:

Out of their abundance is neatly translated in the Tabasco Chontal as ‘they gave money which they didn’t need.’ In Tzeltal this is ‘the left-over money.’

In Bali the last of this verse is idiomatically rendered as ‘but she, being wholly destitute, has cast in all her money and has shaken out her house’ (as one shakes out a bag so that nothing is left in it), implying that all the money she had was given.

The idea of her whole living can also be translated as ‘all she had; this was her food’ (Tabasco Chontal) and ‘all she was going to eat’ (Copainalá Zoque).

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 .