Exegesis:

hoi de esiōpon (cf. 3.4) ‘but they kept silent’ (cf. Lagrange ils gardaient le silence).

dielechthēsan (only here in Mark) ‘they discussed’: more expressly ‘they had an argument,’ ‘they had entered into controversy.’ The aorist of the verb, in this context, is to be translated as a past perfect, ‘they had argued.’

tis meizōn ‘who is greater?’ i.e. ‘who is the greatest?’ For use of the comparative form with the superlative meaning cf. 4.31, 32.

Translation:

Were silent is often rendered as ‘said nothing,’ ‘did not reply.’

On the way, as in the preceding verse, should be translated in many languages as ‘when they were going along the road’ or ‘as they were walking along.’

Discussed may require the introduction of direct discourse, in which case the pronouns must be changed, e.g. ‘discussed with one another, Which one of us is the greatest,’ or ‘asked one another, Which of us, do you think, is the greatest’ (in the sense of ‘most important’).

Superlative expressions have a variety of forms, e.g. ‘surpasses all in being…’ (as in many Bantu languages), ‘finds more…’ (Copainalá Zoque), and ‘is the first in being….’

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 .