Text:

Verse 36. Instead of ti phagōsin ‘what they may eat’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has artous ti gar phagōsin ouk echousin ‘bread: for they have nothing to eat.’

Exegesis:

ēdē hōras pollēs genomenēs ‘it was already a late hour’: for the participial genitive clause used to express time cf. 6.21.

ēdē (4.37; 8.2; 11.11; 13.28; 15.42, 44) ‘already,’ ‘by now.’

hōra (11.11; 13.11, 32; 14.35, 37, 41; 15.25, 33, 34) ‘hour’: the expression hōra pollē means ‘late hour.’

proselthontes (cf. 1.31) ‘coming to,’ ‘approaching,’ ‘drawing near.’

apoluson autous ‘dismiss them,’ ‘send them away.’ The verb apoluō appears in Mark with three meanings: (1) ‘send away,’ ‘dismiss’ 6.36, 45; 8.3, 9; (2) ‘divorce’ 10.2, 4, 11, 12; (3) ‘release,’ ‘set free’ 15.6, 9, 11, 15.

eis tous kuklō agrous kai kōmas ‘to the nearby villages and towns.’

kuklō (cf. 3.34) ‘around,’ ‘surrounding,’ ‘nearby.’

agros (cf. 5.14) ‘hamlet,’ ‘small country town.’

kōmē (cf. 6.6) ‘village,’ ‘town.’

hina … agorasōsin heautois ti phagōsin ‘in order that … they may buy for themselves something they may eat.’

agorazō (6.37; 11.15; 15.46; 16.1) ‘buy,’ ‘purchase.’

ti phagōsin ‘what they may eat’: the interrogative pronoun ti is used here as a relative ‘something’: cf. 8.1, 2 for further examples.

Translation:

Grew late probably refers to late in the afternoon, perhaps toward sundown, but not late at night, for it is presumed that the village market places would still be open.

Send them away must not be understood in the sense of ‘getting rid of the people,’ but simply urging them to go and provide for themselves.

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 .