Exegesis:

aphiete (cf. 2.5) ‘you allow,’ ‘you permit.’

akurountes ton logon tou theou ‘annulling the word of God’: the participle expresses manner: ‘in this way you annul….’

akuroō (only here in Mark) ‘make void,’ ‘annul,’ ‘invalidate.’

ho logos tou theou (only here in Mark) ‘the Word of God’: cf. the absolute use of logos ‘Word’ in ch. 4 (vv. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 33).

tē paradosei humōn hē paredōkate ‘by means of your tradition which you have handed down.’ In saying ‘you have handed down,’ Jesus refers to the Jews as a whole, not to the particular individuals whom he was addressing then.

paradosis (cf. v. 3) ‘tradition.’

paradidōmi (cf. 1.14) ‘hand over,’ ‘deliver’: when used of tradition as here, ‘hand down.’

paromoia (only here in the N.T.) ‘similar,’ ‘like.’

Translation:

If, as in some languages, the involved nature of verse 11 (see above) makes the condition quite obscure, one may translate these two verses, as in Southern Bobo Madaré, ‘a man may tell his father or his mother…. Then if he does that you do not permit….’ The result is essentially the same, but the construction may be more readily understood.

To do anything for may be translated as ‘to help’ or ‘to provide for.’

Thus making void introduces still another clause to an already complex sentence. It may be broken off from what precedes, and still integrally related to it, by translating ‘in this way you make void.’

Making void may be translated as ‘make without anything’ (Southern Subanen), ‘cause to be lost’ (Sayula Popoluca), ‘refuse to consider important’ (San Blas Kuna), ‘make powerless’ (Javanese), ‘break’ (Batak Toba), ‘annul’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), or ‘take away its power.’

The word of God should not be confused here with the Bible. This is ‘what God has said.’

Your tradition which you hand on implies ‘customs which have been handed on to you and which in turn you hand on to others,’ since these particular persons were part of the Jewish cultural tradition responsible for adherence to these man-made rules. On the other hand, Jesus is, of course, speaking to the larger group of Jewish people and is not assigning the entire responsibility to these particular persons (see above, under Exegesis). This meaning can be indicated by saying ‘which you as Jews have handed on.’

Hand on is rendered in some languages as ‘to speak to others about’ or ‘to say that your children should do.’

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 .