Mark 9
1 He said to them, “Honestly, I’m telling you that some of the people standing here will certainly not experience death until they see God’s Reign having arrived powerfully.”
2 Six days later, Jesus brought Peter, Jacob,a and John along and led them up the high mountain privately. He transformedb right in front of them, 3 and his clothes became shining bright white, so much that no laundererc in the landd could whiten them that much. 4 Elijah was seen by them, along with Moses; they were speaking with Jesus.
5 In response, Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s preciouse for us to be here, and we couldf set up three tentsg—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. 6 (You see, he hadn’t known how to respond because they were terrified.)
7 A cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my beloved son. Listen to him!” 8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone else but Jesus with them.
9 As they were coming down from the mountain, he directed them not to tell anyone about the things they had seen until after the Son of Humanity reawakenedh from among the dead. 10 They kept the conversationi to themselves, deliberating about what to reawaken from among the dead meant.
11 They asked Jesus, “Why do the Bible scholars say that it is necessary for Elijah to come first?”
12 So he answered, “Elijah, coming first, actually restoresj everything. And how is it written about the Son of Humanity that he will endure many things and be treated with contempt? 13 However, I’m telling you that Elijah has actually already come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, just like it is written about him.”
14 When they came to the rest of the students, they saw a large crowd around them and Bible scholars deliberating with them. 15 Straightaway, when they saw him, the whole crowd was awestruck, and running to him, they began to greet him.
16 He challenged them, “What are you debating with them?”
17 Someone from the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son who has a speechless spirit-breath. 18 Whenever it takes hold, it makes him collapse, and he foams and grinds his teeth and is curled up.k I spoke to your students so they would drive it out, but they weren’t able.”
19 Jesusl responded to them, “What a faithlessm groupn! How much longer will I be with you? How much longer will I support you? Bring him to me.”
20 They brought the sono to him. When the spirit-breath perceived Jesus,p straightaway it contracted his body, and after he fell on the ground, he began rolling around and foaming.
21 “How long has it been since this started?” Jesus asked his father.
“Since he was young,” he said.
22 “It often even threw him into a fire and into the water to kill him, but if you are able, have compassion for us and help us!”
23 Jesus said to him, “‘If you are able?’ Everything is within the ability of the one who trusts faithfully.”
24 Straightaway, the child’s father cried out, “I trust! Help my mistrust!”
25 Seeing that a crowd was growing quickly, Jesus commanded the unclean spirit-breath, “Speechless and deaf spirit-breath, I order you! Get out of him and never go back into him!”
26 After crying out and many convulsions, it came out. He became like a corpse, so that many people were saying that he died. 27 However, after taking hold of his hand, Jesus helped him get up, and he stood up.
28 After Jesusq went inside the house, his students asked him privately, “Why weren’t we able to drive it out?”
29 “No one is able to drive out this kind except with prayer,” he said.
30 After they left that place, they began to pass through Galilee, but Jesus did not want anyone to know. 31 You see, he began teaching his students and telling them that the Son of Humanity would be handed over into the hands of humans, they would kill him, and the one who was killed would reawakenr after three days. 32 They didn’t understand the statement, and they were afraid to ask him about it.
33 They came into Capernaum. Once he was at home, Jesuss asked them, “What were you debating on the road?” 34 However, they were silent since they had debated with each other on the road who was the most important.
35 After sitting down,t he called the Twelve and told them, “If anyone wants to be first, they willu be last of all and enslaved to all.”
36 He had a small child stand among them, and holding him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever includesv one of these small children as my representativew includes me, and whoever includes me doesn’t include me but rather the one who sent me.”
38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your namex and we were trying to stop him because he doesn’t follow us.”
39 But Jesus said, “Don’t stop him. You see, no one who does a powerful act in my name will also be able quickly to speak badly about me. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us. 41 Honestly, I’m telling you, whoever gives you a drink of water in my name because you are the Messiah’s certainly won’t lose their repayment.
42 “Whoever trips up one of these little onesy who place their trust in me, it would be preferable for them if a huge millstone were tied around their neck and be thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand trips you up, cut it off; it would be preferable for you to join in life disabled than to have two hands and go away to the Hinnom Valley,z to the unquenchableaa fire. 45 bb If your foot trips you up, cut it off. It would be preferable to join in life missing a foot than to have two feet and to be thrown into the Hinnom Valley. 47 cc If your eye trips you up, throw it away; it would be preferable to join in God’s reign with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the Hinnom Valley, 48 where their maggot does not die, and the fire is not put out. 49 You see, everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is desirable, but if the salt becomes saltless, how would you season it? Have salt among yourselves, and make peace among each other.”
FOOTNOTES:
a Traditionally, ‘James’
b Traditionally, ‘transfigured,’ which is just an older way to say the same thing in English, not a separate word in Greek.
c Literally, ‘fuller’ which was someone who cleaned wool.
d Or ‘on the earth’
e Traditionally, ‘good.’ The word kalos can be translated in many ways, with the basic meaning of ‘beautiful,’ ‘pleasant,’ or ‘positive’ in some way.
f This is often translated as if it were a mandative. It is a subjunctive, emphasizing possibility or conditionality.
g Or ‘booths’ or ‘tabernacles. This is a reference to the festival of Sukkoth, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, commemorating the period when the people of Israel wandered the desert for 40 years.
h Traditionally, ‘had risen.’ The word anistemi means ‘to wake up’ or ‘get up’ or stand up’ or ‘wake again.’ The euphemism ‘fall asleep’ was commonly used to refer to someone dying. This seems to be the opposite euphemism.
i Or ‘statement’ or ‘what he said’
j Or ‘returns where it belongs’
k Literally, ‘dried out.’ This is the same word that is translated as ‘atrophied’ in Mark 3:1.
l Literally, ‘he’
m Or ‘unfaithful’ or ‘mistrusting’
n Or ‘generation’ or ‘lineage’ or any ‘group of people’ that has a shared characteristic or origin, including gender.
o Literally, ‘him,’ making the sentence “They brought him to him.”
p Literally, ‘him’
q Literally, ‘he’
r Traditionally, ‘rise again’
s Literally, ‘he’
t Culturally, he would have sat on a cushion on the floor, not on an upright chair like in Western culture.
u Traditionally, ‘must.’ This verb is in the future tense. While rare examples exist of the future tense being used as an imperative, according to Daniel Wallace (1996) in Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, it is “almost always in OT quotations (due to a literal translation of the Hebrew).” While it was used occasionally in classical Greek, by the time of the New Testament, it was not a normal part of the Greek language.
v Literally, ‘extend a right hand’ used to refer to welcoming a guest, granting hospitality, or adopting into a family. When it is about ideas or circumstances, ‘accept’ and ‘consent’ are good translations.
w Literally, ‘in my name.”
x “In your name” refers to someone claiming Jesus’ authority or endorsement, that what they do is as a representative of Jesus or at his direction.
y The word for ‘small’ here mikron is the opposite of megas used in verse 34 as ‘important.’ That word literally means ‘big’ and traditionally is translated as ‘great.’
z ‘Hinnom Valley’ is translating Gehenna here. Gehenna is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew Ge Hinnom or ‘Valley of Hinnom’ where fiery infant sacrifice was made to the god Molech during the region’s polytheistic period. The Hinnom Valley was also a gravesite and for a time, the Romans cremated corpses there. It may have also been a dumpsite since it was considered cursed after the long history of infant sacrifice. Ultimately, every reference to Gehenna is a reference to the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah 7-9 (and especially Jeremiah 7:30-34) and Jeremiah 19 (especially verses 1-13) carry much of that meaning, but references to the Hinnom Valley (sometimes called the Valley of Ben Hinnom) are scattered throughout the book. The failure of Israel and Judah to be faithful to the Lord’s teachings in the Torah led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple and the death and exile of its people to Babylon (as promised in Deuteronomy 28). The cost of not treating others how they would want to be treated (Matthew 7:12) was literal death by military action, disgrace (accursedness) by losing their sacred places and having corpses rot with no one to care for them, and destruction by being wiped out and scattered, having divine protection from the consequences of their own actions withheld. Additionally, the common teaching that there were perpetual fires there to burn the trash has no evidence to back it up and was only first proposed 1000 years after Jesus. Jeremiah 7 is about the impending invasion of the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem and the temple just like the Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom of Israel and destroyed Shiloh and Samaria. Jesus is warning against perpetrating oppression and the people living with the values of power over others, violence, and exclusion of those who are deemed as less-than or outsiders, which will provoke the wrath of another invader and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple: Rome. Jesus’ prediction happened approximately 40 years later in AD 70. Also, there was rabbinic teaching that used it as a metaphor and ‘Hinnom Valley’ was used to describe a time of punishment after death; however, it was thought to be limited to a year, and the dead were given rest on each Shabbat. There is little evidence that Jesus had anything in mind like what modern Christians think of as Hell, which was not developed as a concept in the church for 200 years after Jesus, and even then was not like our current understanding until it was infused with European superstition in the Middle Ages.
aa In the context of this being the Hinnom Valley, it could be taken two ways. 1, It’s never satisfied; no amount of babies burned alive was enough to end Molech’s thirst for more. 2, the wrath of Rome would be unstoppable once it began, there was no amount of fire-suppression effort that would stop Jerusalem from burning.
bb Verse 44 seems to be a later addition and has been omitted here. It reads “where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.”
cc Verse 46 seems to be a later addition and has been omitted here. It reads “where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.”