MARK 16:14 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 16:14–18: Jesus told his disciples to preach the good news to all people

After Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and two of his followers, he appeared to his eleven disciples. First, he rebuked them for their lack of faith and for refusing to believe that he had been raised from the dead. Then Jesus told them to go out into the world and preach the good news to everyone.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

Jesus Appears to the Eleven (GNT)

What Jesus’ Followers Must Do (CEV)

There is a parallel passage for this section in Matthew 28:16–20.

16:14a

Later, as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the Eleven

¶ Later, Jesus came to his eleven disciples while they were eating together.
¶ Later, Jesus showed himself to the eleven followers all at once, while they were eating supper/bread.

Later: The Greek word that the BSB translates as Later here introduces events that probably occurred after the events in 16:12–13 but on the same day. See Luke 24:36.

as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the Eleven: The Greek verb that the BSB translates as appeared was also used in 16:12. Jesus showed himself to the eleven disciples; that is, he came to them.

as they were eating: It is implied that the disciples were eating together. Jesus appeared to them while they were together in the same place. In some languages it may be necessary to provide an object and say what they were eating. They were eating the evening meal:

as they were eating supper/dinner

the Eleven: The phrase the Eleven refers to the eleven remaining disciples. Judas was dead and another disciple had not yet been chosen to replace him. See Acts 1:18–22. In many languages it maybe helpful to add your word for “disciples” to the phrase the Eleven. For example:

the eleven disciples (GNT)

16:14b

and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart,

He reproached them for failing to believe and stubbornly refusing to accept
He scolded them because they were too stubborn to believe (CEV)

and rebuked them: The Greek verb that the BSB translates as rebuked means to reprimand or reproach someone for doing something wrong. Jesus rebuked the disciples because they had refused to believe that he was alive, even though he had told them that he would rise from the dead. See 10:34.

for their unbelief and hardness of heart: The Greek phrases that the BSB translates as unbelief and hardness of heart mean “lack of faith” and “stubborn refusal to believe.” The expressions “unbelief” and “hardness of heart” have almost the same meaning in this context. They are probably used together here for emphasis.However, in a sense the disciples were guilty of two different things: failing to believe what Jesus had said would happen and refusing to believe those who knew that it had happened.

In some languages it may not be natural to use two different phrases to express this emphasis. If that is true in your language, express the emphasis in a different way. For example:

they were too stubborn to believe (CEV)

they completely refused to believe

See the General Comment on 16:14b–c for a discussion of how this part of the verse is related to the context.

16:14c

because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.

the testimony of the people who had seen him after he rose from the dead.
when those who saw him after he came to life again told what they had seen.

believe: In this context, the word believe refers to the situation where the eleven disciples did not believe that some people had seen Jesus risen from the dead. They did not accept this report as true. Here, the word believe does not mean “believe in” or “trust in” Jesus.

See believe, meaning 1, in the Glossary for more information about this word.

those who had seen Him after He had risen: The clause those who had seen Him after He had risen refers to Mary Magdalene in 16:9–11 and the two disciples in 16:12–13. These people had seen Jesus after he rose from the dead. The text implies here that these people told the disciples what they had seen. You may need to make this explicit. For example:

the testimony of the people who had seen him after he rose from the dead

General Comment on 16:14b–c

16:14c expresses the reason that Jesus reproached the disciples in 16:14b. In some languages it may be necessary to express this relationship explicitly, as the Greek text does. The NJB follows the Greek text:

^14bHe reproached them for their incredulity and obstinacy, ^14cbecause they had refused to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

TSN Tyndale Study Notes:

16:9-20 Nearly all scholars agree that Mark did not write the “shorter” and “longer” endings. There are clear differences in their style, vocabulary, and theology. Also, the best two available Greek manuscripts (Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus) lack these endings. However, there is reason to doubt that Mark intended to end his Gospel at 16:8: (1) Mark emphasizes the fulfillment of Jesus’ predictions throughout his Gospel, and if the Gospel ended with 16:8, there would be no reference to the resurrection appearance(s) of Jesus; (2) all the other Gospels contain accounts of Jesus’ appearances to the women and the disciples; (3) early readers of Mark evidently did not think the book could have ended with 16:8, because they wrote these endings; (4) there is no convincing explanation as to why Mark would have wanted to end his Gospel at 16:8 (all such explanations sound like modern existential literary interpretations that revel in paradox, very unlike the way a first-century Christian author would have thought); (5) it is strange for a Gospel to begin with a bold proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah (1:1) and end with the women’s fear; (6) it would be unique for an ancient Greek book to end with gar (“because”) as the last word—no other example of this has been found; and (7) 16:7 raises the expectation that the disciples will meet Jesus in Galilee—if 16:8 was the original ending of Mark, it is the only unfulfilled prediction in the Gospel. Many scholars conclude that the original ending was accidentally torn off and lost, or was never finished.

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.