MARK 16:15 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.

16:15–18

In these verses Jesus spoke to his disciples. In some languages it may be more natural to use indirect quotes for his words. See the General Comment on 16:15–18 at the end of the notes on 16:18c for an example.

16:15a

And He said to them,

Then Jesus said to them,
But after that, he told them,

He said to them: The words He said to them introduce important instructions that Jesus gave his disciples. You may need to make it clear in your translation that 16:15–18 is not part of Jesus’ rebuke. For example:

And then he told them (NLT)

But after that he said to them

16:15b

“Go into all the world

“Go everywhere
“Go to all places

16:15c

and preach the gospel to every creature.

and preach the good news to everyone.
and tell all people the good news about me.

16:15b–c

Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature: The command in 16:15b–c is often called “the Great Commission.” It indicates that Jesus wanted his disciples to preach the good news to everyone in every place in the world.

into all the world…to every creature: The expressions into all the world and to every creature have similar meanings. The Greek text uses two similar words that are translated as all and every in the BSB. This repetition emphasizes that Jesus wanted everyone in the whole world to hear the good news. Emphasize this in a way that is natural in your language.

into all the world: In this context the expression into all the world means “to every place” or “everywhere” in the world.

preach: The Greek word that the BSB translates as preach means to publicly tell people something important. In Mark, it usually refers to speaking about God and his kingdom to a group or crowd of people. The word should not only refer to what a preacher does in church.

Here are some other ways to translate preach:

announce

proclaim

tell people

See how you translated this word in 1:38b and 14:9b.

the gospel: The Greek word that the BSB translates here as the gospel is the same word that the BSB translates as “gospel” in 1:1. In Mark, this word refers to the good news about Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

good/sweet news

good news about Jesus Christ

good news from God

message/report that causes joy

Be sure that the term you choose does not refer only to a news report or to a story that is not true.

See how you translated this term in 1:1. In 14:9b, the BSB translates this same term as the “gospel.”

to every creature: The expression every creature is a figure of speech that refers to all of mankind. It does not include other animals or plants.

Here are some other ways it has been translated:

everyone (NLT)

all people (GNT)

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 16:15