Text:

Instead of kai emeristhē ‘and is divided’ read by the majority of the modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus and Soden read kai memeristai ‘and has been divided’; Tischendorf and Kilpatrick read emeristhē kai ‘is divided and.’

Exegesis:

anestē eph’ heauton kai emeristhē ‘he rose against himself and is divided’: i.e. if Satan is at war against himself, if there is faction or division in his kingdom, among his subordinates.

telos echei (cf. Heb. 7.3) ‘he has an end,’ i.e. “he is done for” (Manson), “he is finished”, “that is the end of him” (Translator’s New Testament). What is meant is the end of his power, or his kingdom (cf. Lagrange), rather than the end of his existence (as O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada perece has it).

Translation:

Risen up against himself may be rendered as ‘Satan fighting against himself’ (Amganad Ifugao, Shilluk). On the other hand, one may employ a less violent, but equally meaningful type of equivalent, as in Kekchí e.g. ‘if Satan hates himself’ (literally, ‘looks mean at himself’).

To speak of Satan as being ‘divided’ may mean that he is literally cut into two pieces, obviously not the meaning of the passage. On the other hand, it is quite possible to speak of ‘his power is divided,’ and by this means employ a very close equivalent.

Cannot stand may be treated as in the preceding two verses.

In some languages a person cannot ‘come to an end,’ but ‘his power will end’ (Loma (Liberia)). In others, one may translate ‘he will disappear’ or ‘he will no longer exist.’

It should be noted, that though these conditional sentences (verses 24-26) are given as simple conditionals: ‘if … is…, is (or, will)’; nevertheless, they are essentially conditions contrary to fact: ‘if … should be…, then … would be….’ One must often be quite careful to distinguish between simple conditions, which in this case would imply that Satan cannot stand, as of now, and conditions contrary to fact, implying that Satan was not divided against himself, for certainly Jesus was not acting on the authority of Beelzebul.

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 .