MARK 11:26 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 11:20–26: Jesus used the withered fig tree as an example

The events in this section took place the morning after Jesus chased the merchants from the temple. On his way to Jerusalem the previous day, Jesus had spoken to a fig tree. He had said that no one would ever eat fruit from it again (11:12–14). In this section, 11:20–26, it was the next day. Jesus and his disciples were again walking from Bethany back to Jerusalem. They saw the same fig tree, which was now completely withered. It had died.

Jesus used the withered fig tree as an example to teach his disciples to trust God to do great things.Commentators think that what happened to the fig tree had a deeper meaning. The various interpretations include:(1) The withering of the fig tree at Jesus’ command was a symbol of God’s judgment on Jerusalem and the temple. (Kaiser, Evans page 182) thinks the judgment was of the temple.) France (page 444) mentions this interpretation but disagrees with it. That indicates that it might be good to check Kaiser on this matter, too.(2) The withering of the fig tree at Jesus’ command was a symbol of the coming judgment of Israel. It doesn’t seem necessary to give so much support for this. Lane (page 406) writes in his commentary: “Mark may have had in mind the passage from Hosea 9:16: The people of Israel are stricken. Their roots are dried up; they will bear no more fruit. And if they give birth, I will slaughter their beloved children. [NLT]”(3) The withering of the fig tree at Jesus’ command symbolized that the means of approaching God through worship at the temple was replaced so that now people would approach God through Jesus. (Edwards writes: “the fig tree thus symbolizes the temple: as the means of approach to God, the temple is fundamentally—‘from the roots’—replaced by Jesus as the center of Israel” page 346) He implied that he was able to make the fig tree wither because he trusted God. He told the disciples that their prayers would be answered if they trusted God. God would forgive their sins if they forgave others.

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

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

The Power of Faith (NCV)

A Lesson from the Fig Tree (CEV)

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 21:19–22 and Matthew 6:14–15. See also Matthew 17:20, 18:35, and Luke 17:6.

Paragraph 11:22–26

In 11:22–26, Jesus taught his disciples about trusting in God and praying. It may not be clear why he started doing this after Peter’s remark about the fig tree. You should make it clear in your translation that what Jesus said in the following paragraph was a response to Peter’s remark. Jesus used what happened to the fig tree as an example of the great things that can happen when people trust God.

11:26

[Most English versions do not translate this verse. See the Notes on 11:26.]

There is a textual issue here. Mark 11:26 was added in some of the later Greek manuscripts. However, the best manuscripts do not include these words. It is good to include this verse only as a footnote, as many English versions do.

Here is an example footnote:

Only some of the later Greek manuscripts include 11:26, which reads: “But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your sins.”

If the major language version in your area includes this verse in the text, you may want to include it in brackets. The NASB does this.

Here are several possibilities for numbering the verses without including the words of 11:26 in the text:

At the end of 11:25, include a footnote, and have the number 26 in the footnote (as the example above).
At the beginning of 11:25, put the numbers 25–26, but include only a footnote about 11:26. For example, the CEV says:
^25–26Whenever you stand up to pray
Put the number 26 in the text with only a footnote marker, no text. For example, the NCV says:
26 ‡
Put the content of 11:25a–b after the number 25 in the text. Put the content of 11:25c after the number 26 in the text. For example, the NJB says:
²⁵And when you stand in prayer, forgive whatever you have against anybody, ²⁶so that your Father in heaven may forgive your failings too.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: translate-textvariants

Εἰ δὲ ὑμεῖς οὐκ ἀφίετε οὐδὲ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἀφήσει τὰ παραπτώματα ὑμῶν

(Ei de humeis ouk afiete oude ho pataʸr humōn ho en tois ouranois afaʸsei ta paraptōmata humōn)

See the discussion of textual issues at the end of the General Notes to this chapter to decide whether to include this verse in your translation. The notes below discuss translation issues in this verse, for those who decide to include it.

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

οὐκ ἀφίετε

(ouk afiete)

Here Jesus implies that they might not forgive other people. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make that idea more explicit. Alternate translation: [do not forgive fellow humans] or [do not forgive people who have sinned against you]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν

(ho pataʸr humōn)

See how you translated the phrase your Father in the previous verse ([11:25](../11/25.md)). Alternate translation: [your spiritual Father] or [God, who is like a Father to you,]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς

(ho en tois ouranois)

See how you translated the phrase in the heavens in the previous verse ([11:25](../11/25.md)). Alternate translation: [who is in the heavens]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

τὰ παραπτώματα ὑμῶν

(ta paraptōmata humōn)

If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of trespasses, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: [you when you trespass]

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.

OET interlinear MARK 11:26

SR Greek word order (including unused variant words in grey)

Section 11:20–26: Jesus used the withered fig tree as an example

Paragraph 11:22–26

11:26

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)