Exegesis:

proselthōn mikron ‘going ahead a little,’ ‘going forward a bit.’

proserchomai (cf. 1.31) ‘approach,’ ‘advance,’ ‘go (or, ‘come’) forward.’

mikron (14.70) ‘a little’: used here adverbially, of space.

epipten epi tēs gēs (cf. 9.20) ‘he fell upon the ground,’ ‘he prostrated himself on the ground’: an attitude of supplication and prayer.

prosēucheto hina (cf. 13.18) ‘he prayed that’: the hina clause indicates the content of the prayer which follows, in indirect form.

ei dunaton (cf. 13.22) ‘if possible,’ ‘if it could be done.’

parelthē ap’ autou hē hōra ‘the hour might pass from him’: the verb parerchomai (cf. 6.48) here means to pass by, or away (without affecting him). Lagrange: ‘make it pass far away from me.’

hē hōra (14.41) ‘the hour’: not simply an indication of time, but supremely of the content, or nature, which makes it critical. ‘The hour’ is the approaching Passion. The word has, as Lagrange says, “a nuance of divine predestination.”

Translation:

Fell on the ground must not be translated so as to imply that Jesus stumbled and fell, but rather that he ‘caused himself to fall’ or ‘prostrated himself on the ground,’ e.g. ‘lay down flat on the ground.’

The idiom the hour might pass from is an extremely complex and unusual expression, especially in those parts of the world which do not speak of ‘hours.’ Moreover, one may often speak of people passing a time, but rarely of a time passing from a person. Furthermore, it is often necessary to specify the relationship of the person to the period of time in a somewhat more specific manner. The following translations are typical of the adaptations which may be made: ‘allow me to pass this time’ (Central Mazahua); ‘that pass which would happen to him in that hour’ (Copainalá Zoque); ‘might not experience that hour’ (Highland Puebla Nahuatl); and ‘that this hour might change’ (Navajo).

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 .