Translation commentary on Mark 10:32

Text:

Instead of hoi de ‘but those’ before akolothountes ‘(who) were following’ of most modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus and Kilpatrick have kai ‘and.’ Thus the meaning is changed to … ‘and following (they were afraid).’

Exegesis:

There is general agreement that the subject of ‘they were going up to Jerusalem’ is ‘Jesus and his disciples’; that the subject of ‘they were amazed’ is ‘the disciples’; and that ‘but those (others) who were following were afraid’ refers to people other than the disciples.

Most of the words of this verse have already been dealt with: for anabainō ‘go up’ cf. 1.10; proagō ‘precede,’ ‘go ahead’ cf. 6.45; thambeomai ‘be amazed’ cf. 1.27; akoloutheō ‘follow’ (here in a physical sense) cf. 1.18; phobeomai ‘be afraid’ cf. 4.41; paralambanō ‘take along,’ ‘take aside’ cf. 4.36; hoi dōdeka ‘the Twelve’ cf. 3.16.

ēsan de en tē hodō anabainontes eis Ierosoluma ‘they were on the road going up to Jerusalem’: it is probable (with Revised Standard Version) that ēsan ‘they were’ is the main verb, and anabainontes ‘going up’ is an independent participle, modifying ‘they.’

en tē hodō (cf. 8.3, 27) ‘in the road,’ ‘on the journey.’

anabainontes eis Ierosoluma ‘going up to Jerusalem’ cf. ‘those who came down from Jerusalem’ in 3.22.

ta mellonta autō sumbainein ‘the things that were to happen to him.’

mellō (13.4) ‘about to be (or, happen),’ ‘coming,’ ‘future’: the verb denotes something in the future which is about to take place; often, however (as here), more than mere time is implied: there is the quality of “compulsion, necessity or certainty” (Abbott-Smith), so that the participial form to mellon does not mean simply ‘the thing that will happen (in the future)’ but ‘something that must take place,’ ‘something that is bound to happen.’ Arndt & Gingrich: “an action that necessarily follows a divine decree, is destined, must, will certainly.”

sumbainō (only here in Mark) ‘happen,’ ‘come about.’

Translation:

Were on the road must often be rendered ‘traveling on the road.’

They must be so translated as to identify Jesus and those with him, not the immediately preceding third person plural ‘the many’ of verse 31, or those who will receive the hundredfold. Accordingly, one may translate ‘Jesus and those with him were journeying along.’

Going up to is generally used of traveling to Jerusalem because of the greater height of Jerusalem relative to the surrounding region, especially Jericho (see verse 45). However, at this point they were not evidently in the ascent from the Jordan valley, for the episode described as near Jericho occurs later in the chapter.

Ahead of them may actually be ‘ahead of the rest’ in some languages, for Jesus is contrasted with the disciples and the following crowd.

They, as the subject of were amazed, may be translated as ‘the disciples,’ if a more specific subject is required.

For amazed see 1.22, 27.

Taking the twelve refers to ‘going aside with the twelve disciples’ or ‘leading aside the twelve disciples’ (cf. 3.14; 4.10).

Happen to him may in some languages be translated as active, from the perspective of the person undergoing the events, e.g. ‘what he would experience.’ In other languages what would happen to is best translated as ‘what men would do to.’

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 .

SIL Translator's Notes on Mark 10:32

Section 10:32–34

Jesus predicted his death a third time

Jesus told his disciples in 8:31 and 9:31 that people would kill him and that he would rise from the dead after three days. In 10:32–34, Jesus again told the disciples that these things would happen to him. This time he gave more details about how it would happen.

It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

For the Third Time Jesus Foretells That He Will Die and Come Back to Life (God’s Word)
-or-
Jesus continues his journey toward suffering and death in Jerusalem

Refer to your section title for 9:30–32. If you used a phrase that means “the second time” there, you should use a phrase that means “the third time” here.

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 20:17–19 and Luke 18:31–34.

Paragraph 10:32–34

10:32a

The events in this section happened sometime after the event in the preceding section. At the beginning of that section in 10:17, Jesus started on his journey. The events in this section happened while he was on the journey. Indicate this in a natural way in your language.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

And they were on the road (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
They were now on the way up to Jerusalem (New Living Translation)
-or-
As Jesus and the people with him were on the road to Jerusalem (New Century Version)

As they were going up the road to Jerusalem: Jesus and his disciples had already begun to travel toward Jerusalem (see 10:17 and 10:23). It may be natural in your language to indicate this in some way. For example:

As they continued going up the road to Jerusalem

they: The pronoun they refers to Jesus’ disciples. You may need to make this explicit in your translation. Since Jesus was with them, some versions include Jesus along with the disciples as those referred to as they. For example, the Good News Bible says:

Jesus and his disciples

going up the road to Jerusalem: When the writers of the Bible said that people were going to Jerusalem, they usually said that they were going up to Jerusalem. This is because the city of Jerusalem was higher than most parts of the land of Israel. It was located in the mountains at an altitude of about 800 meters above sea level.

In some languages, it is natural to speak of going up or down when traveling on a road. In other languages, this may not be natural, or it may not be understood. If that is true in your language, you may use a more general expression. For example:

were going on the road to Jerusalem

Jerusalem: Jerusalem was the most important city to the Jewish people. The temple where they worshiped God was there. The high priest and many other religious, government, and military leaders lived there. In some languages you may want to include a footnote with some of this information.

See how you translated this city name in 1:5a.

Jesus was walking ahead of them: The phrase Jesus was walking ahead of them means that Jesus was walking first along the road, and the others were behind him.

10:32b–c

The disciples were amazed, but those who followed were afraid: The phrases The disciples and those who followed refer to two different groups of people. (There is a textual issue here. As a result, English versions interpret the relationship between the phrases the disciples and those who followed in either of two ways: (1) The phrases refer to two different groups of people. For example, the God’s Word says: “His disciples were shocked…. The others who followed were afraid.” (Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, God’s Word, Good News Bible, New American Standard Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, NET Bible, New Living Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, English Standard Version). (2) The phrases both refer to the same group of people. For example, the King James Version says: “they were amazed, and as they followed, they were afraid” (King James Version). Most English versions follow the Greek manuscripts on which interpretation (1) is based. It is recommended that you follow option (1), as most English versions do.) In some languages, it may be necessary to make this more explicit than the Berean Standard Bible does. For example, the God’s Word says:

His disciples were shocked…. The others who followed were afraid.

disciples: The word disciples here refers to the twelve men whom Jesus chose as apostles in 3:14–18. See how you translated this word at 2:15b. See also disciple in the Glossary.

amazed: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as amazed means “astonished” or “very surprised.” Apparently the disciples were amazed that Jesus was going to a place where there might be danger to him. In some languages it may be necessary to say why they were amazed. For example:

His disciples were shocked [that he was going to Jerusalem]. (God’s Word)

those who followed were afraid: The text does not say why the people who followed were afraid. It was probably for the same reason that the disciples were astonished. They realized that it might be dangerous to go to Jerusalem.

those who followed: The phrase those who followed refers to other people (beside the twelve disciples) who were traveling with him. In this context, they were literally following Jesus on the road. Jesus led the way, his disciples came behind him, and those who followed were behind the disciples.

General Comment on 10:32a–c

In some languages it may be more natural to change the order of the parts of this verse. For example, the Contemporary English Version says:

32bThe disciples were confused 32aas Jesus led them toward Jerusalem, 32cand his other followers were afraid.

10:32d–e

Again: The word Again (The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Again is connected grammatically with the verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as took…aside. But the Berean Standard Bible and a number of other English versions translate 10:32d in a way that includes the words began to tell them what was going to happen to him in what Jesus did again.) applies to the whole action in 10:32d–e. It indicates that Jesus again took the disciples aside and taught them privately about what was going to happen to him. He had done this earlier, in 9:30–32.

Jesus took the Twelve aside: The phrase took…aside means “led away from the other people.” Jesus led his twelve disciples away from the crowd who were following them. He wanted to speak with his disciples privately.

In some languages the natural way to translate took…aside would be with an indirect quote. For example:

Jesus told the twelve disciples to come with him so he could be alone with them

the Twelve: The phrase the Twelve refers to the twelve disciples whom Jesus had selected as his special helpers. See how you translated this phrase in 4:10a.

and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him: This clause summarizes Jesus’ speech in 10:33–34. Jesus told his disciples about what was going to happen to him in Jerusalem.

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