Exegesis:

exethambēthēsan (14.33; 16.5, 6) ‘they were amazed’: there are differences of opinion on what is the exact significance of the word here. Arndt & Gingrich take it to mean ‘they were alarmed’; Lagrange ‘very surprised’; Gould ‘joyous surprise.’ It would appear that the context indicates surprise at the unexpected appearance of Jesus: the idea of fear would not fit in very well with their immediate reaction in running up to him and greeting him.

prostrechontes (10.17; cf. suntrechō 6.33; trechō 5.6) ‘running to.’

ēspazonto (15.18) ‘they greeted,’ ‘they welcomed’: the imperfect tense aptly indicates the action of the people as they came to Jesus and greeted him in turn.

Translation:

One should not attempt to reproduce the rather awkward syntax of the English construction immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed. A much more usual expression would be ‘right then when the crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran….’

Words which designate greeting are quite varied, depending upon local usage. For example, among some of the Nilotic people of the Sudan the regular expression is ‘to meet snapping fingers’; among the Ekari of New Guinea one says ‘they grasped fingers.’ Among the San Blas Kuna ‘they shook hands.’ One may legitimately ask if this would be the way a crowd would behave. Actually, that is not the right question to ask, for the actual behavior of a crowd is not the point; what matters is how the people describe the action of a crowd which greets a visitor. Whether or not each member of the crowd personally salutes (i.e. snaps fingers, shakes hands, grasps fingers, or rubs noses with the guest) is not what counts. What is important is how such people regularly speak of the behavior of such a crowd. Even though the people may not actually shake his hand, nevertheless the standard idiom for greeting may be ‘they shook his hand.’ In Tzotzil, for example, one must translate as ‘they spoke to him,’ for this is the way to formalize greetings, which are of two types: (1) ‘Are you still alive?,’ a question invariably asked if a person has been gone for more than two weeks, and (2) ‘Are you really there?’ the normal greeting to anyone who has made a shorter trip. The problem then is not what the people actually do or are likely to do in such circumstances, but the ways in which people speak about such actions.

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 .