Exegesis:

prophētēs (cf. 1.2) ‘prophet’: not to be thought of simply as a soothsayer or diviner, but as ‘proclaimer and interpreter of the divine revelation.’

atimos (only here in Mark) ‘unhonored,’ ‘dishonored’; to be dishonored is not to receive one’s due honor and respect.

en tē patridi autou (cf. v. 1) ‘in his native place,’ ‘in his own hometown.’

en tois suggeneusin autou ‘among his own kinsmen,’ ‘among his own relatives.’

suggenēs (only here in Mark) ‘related,’ ‘akin to’: here in the sense of ‘relative,’ ‘kinsman’ (cf. Moulton & Milligan).

Translation:

For prophet, see 1.2.

The expression a prophet is not without honor may be difficult for two reasons: (1) honor must often be translated as a verb, not as a noun, and (2) the double negative involved in not without may require two entirely different sentences, in order to produce the required contrast. Furthermore, in some instances the contrast must be precisely stated by a somewhat redundant, but necessary, repetition (see Mitla Zapotec rendering below). The following renderings are typical: ‘a messenger of God is surely respected; only in his own land … he is not respected’ (Tzeltal), ‘a prophet has respect everywhere, but not with his townspeople, … they don’t have respect’ (Mitla Zapotec), ‘prophets are everywhere praised, but not in their own towns…’ (Rinón Zapotec), ‘in his own country, … he is not honored, but everywhere else he is honored’ (Highland Oaxaca Chontal), ‘one who speaks the word of God is wanted, but he is not wanted in his own town…’ (San Mateo del Mar Huave).

Own country may be well translated as ‘birth town’ (Loma (Liberia)). Kin refers to the ‘clan,’ and his own house means ‘his family.’

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 .