Exegesis:
epi to petrōdes hopou ouk eichen gēn pollēn ‘on rocky (stony) ground where it did not have much soil’: what is meant is a shallow layer of soil covering the outcropping of an underlying bedrock.
Grammatically allo ‘other (seed)’ is the subject of ouk eichen ‘it had not’ and to mē echein ‘not to have’: this other portion of seed did not have much soil, and it sprang up immediately because it did not have any depth of soil. The same meaning, however, may be achieved in another way: ‘where there was not much soil … because there was no depth of soil’ (cf. Goodspeed, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada).
euthus exaneteilen ‘immediately it sprang up,’ ‘quickly it sprouted.’
hote aneteilen ho hēlios (16.2) ‘when the sun rose,’ ‘after the sun had risen’ (cf. 1.32 ‘when the sun set’). This does not mean ‘at sunrise’: what is meant is that the sun, high in the sky, was sufficiently hot to scorch the newly sprouted plant.
ekaumatisthē (only here in Mark) ‘it was burned,’ ‘it was scorched.’
dia to mē echein rizan ‘because it had no root’: dia ‘on account of’ with the infinitive indicates cause.
riza (4.17; 11.20) ‘root’: due to lack of soil the roots barely developed.
exēranthē (cf. 3.1) ‘it was withered,’ ‘it was shriveled up.’
Translation:
Rocky ground in this passage must be translated in such a way that people understand it not as soil having many stones, but as soil consisting of a thin overlayer on bedrock. This is done in some languages by saying ‘fell into thin soil which was lying on huge rocks’ (as a way of combining the first two clauses into one).
Some translators have failed to translate the second part of verse 5 correctly because they themselves did not understand it. This passage refers to the fact that in the spring of the year thin soil over bedrock or near outcroppings becomes warm faster than deep soil. This contributes to the more rapid germination of the seed. Hence, the seeds do actually spring up quickly, precisely because the soil is thin.
In the English text the seed is referred to collectively, and the pronominal reference in the singular it identifies the portion of seeds which fell in one place or another. In many languages, however, plurals are required, e.g. ‘other seeds fell … and immediately they sprang up….’
When the sun rose should not be restricted merely to the position of the sun in the eastern sky (a typical mistake), but to the sun high in the heavens, scorching the vegetation (the early morning sun is not likely to scorch any vegetation).
In verse 6 it refers to the germinated seeds, hence, ‘the plants.’ Accordingly, in some languages one must speak of ‘the seeds’ in verse 5 and ‘the small plants’ in verse 6.
Since it had no root must not be taken in the absolute sense, or these plants would be quite miraculous. The meaning therefore is ‘because they did not have much root’ or ‘because they did not have deep roots.’
It might seem that in indicating the extent to which a translator is required in some languages to be more specific than the text we are being unnecessarily pedantic or quibbling. This is not the case. We are only calling to the attention of the translator the fact that in many languages, especially of predominantly horticultural peoples, lexical distinctions between words require the selection of forms which are more specific than the corresponding Greek text.
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 .