Exegesis:
basileia (cf. 1.15) ‘kingdom’: here a political entity, in the sense of a country ruled by a king.
eph’ heautēn ‘upon itself,’ i.e. ‘against itself.’
meristhē (3.24, 25, 26; 6.41) ‘be divided,’ ‘be split,’ ‘be disunited.’
dunatai … dunēsetai ‘it cannot … it will not’: simply a stylistic change from the present to the future tense.
stathēnai … stēnai ‘stand … stand’: the meaning of both infinitives is the same, though one is passive and the other active: ‘stand,’ ‘maintain itself,’ ‘endure’ (the verb histēmi used absolutely, without an object, may mean ‘stand firm’).
oikia ‘house’: not simply a building, but the people who live in it: ‘household,’ ‘family.’ Rawlinson points out that in Aramaic usage the word may be used in a broad sense for a political domain.
Translation:
In some languages one cannot speak of a ‘kingdom’ as ‘being divided against itself.’ This type of passive is especially complex because there is no agent, other than the kingdom itself. Therefore, one must often render this passage in terms of ‘the people of a kingdom’ causing this type of division.
The division spoken of in this verse is essentially a state of enmity and war among the people of a region, not an actual division of a territory. Accordingly, this clause must often be translated as ‘if the people of a kingdom fight against each other’ (Mitla Zapotec, Central Tarahumara). However, this division may also be spoken of in terms of antipathy, e.g. ‘hate one another’ (Copainalá Zoque).
Cannot stand is rendered in some languages as ‘cannot continue to exist,’ ‘cannot remain,’ or ‘cannot be any longer.’
A literal rendering of verse 25 can also be interpreted in a completely materialistic manner, thus missing the significance of the passage. As in the case of verse 24, one may translate ‘the people of a family fight among themselves’ (Copainalá Zoque). Since clan squabbles are not at all uncommon in many societies, this reference to the family, especially in its extended clan form, can be very meaningful (cf. Toraja-Sa’dan ‘the members of a family,’ Indonesian ‘the inmates of the house’).
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 .