Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Mark 13:9

9. [2908][2909] omit γάρ after παραδώσουσιν. It is probably an insertion.

[2908] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[2909] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mark 1:1 to Mark 10:15; Mark 10:30 to Mark 15:1; Mark 15:20 to Mark 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mark 16:8 and Mark 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

9. βλέπετε δὲ ὑμεῖς ἑαυτούς. Mk only. The pronouns are in emphatic juxtaposition. “Let other people attend to these disturbances in society and in nature; but do ye look to yourselves.” This use of βλέπω is very rare, but it has been found in a papyrus-letter of A.D. 41; βλέπω σεαυτόν. The reflexive ἑαυτούς with the second person is freq. in N.T. (Mark 9:50), esp. in Paul; ὑμῶν αὐτῶν, κ.τ.λ. is rare (1 Corinthians 5:13). Syr-Sin. omits the words.

παραδώσουσιν. “Your fellow-countrymen will hand you over to councils,” i.e. to the elders of the local synagogues, who as religious magistrates had considerable authority. See on Luke 12:11; Luke 21:12. Saul of Tarsus was among the first who fulfilled this prediction as a persecuting Jew, and later as a persecuted Christian. see on 2 Corinthians 11:24. In Matthew 10:17-20 and Luke 12:11-12 we have passages similar to this. They may be doublets; but it is not impossible that these cautions were given more than once.

καὶ εἰς συναγωγάς. These words are amphibolous and are commonly taken with what follows as a pregnant constr.; “and ye shall be taken into synagogues and beaten”; see on Mark 13:3; Mark 13:16. “Ye shall be beaten into the synagogues,” i.e. driven into them with whips, is certainly wrong. It is better to take the words with what precedes; They will deliver you up to councils and to synagogues; ye will be beaten. This harmonizes well with the abruptness of the preceding verses. Syr-Sin. has “They shall deliver you up to the people and to councils; and ye shall stand before kings and ye shall be beaten before governors for My sake, for a testimony to them, and to all nations.”

ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ. Cf. Mark 8:35; Mark 10:29.

εἰς μαρτύριον αὐτοῖς. Testimony to the rulers and kings, who, but for the persecution of Christians, might never have known about Christ. This applies to both Jewish and heathen potentates: St James and St Peter persecuted by Herod Agrippa I. illustrate the former; St Paul before Festus and Herod Agrippa II. illustrates both. A sagacious person might have seen that what is predicted here was probable. Even those who do not admit that Jesus had supernatural foresight need not suppose that this is a pseudoprophecy, constructed to fit the persecutions of Apostles, and attributed to Christ.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Mark 13:9

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