OET interlinear MARK 16:8

Section 16:1–8: Jesus rose from the dead

In this section, Mark wrote about what happened when Jesus rose from the dead. He rose just as he had told his disciples that he would.

When the Sabbath was over, some women who knew Jesus bought spices. They planned to bring them to Jesus’ tomb early the next morning to anoint his body. When they arrived at the tomb, they saw that someone had rolled the large stone away from the entrance. A young man dressed in a white robe was sitting inside the tomb. He told them that Jesus was not there. He was alive again! Then the women became afraid and ran from the tomb.

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

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

Jesus Comes Back to Life (GW)

The Resurrection of Jesus (NRSV)

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 28:1–8; Luke 24:1–12; and John 20:1–12, 20:15.

Paragraph 16:8

In this paragraph, the women were completely unprepared to meet this young man and hear his message to them. They left the tomb too afraid to say anything to anyone else.

So the women left the tomb and ran away, trembling and bewildered.

• ¶ So the women left the tomb and hurried away, confused and trembling.

• ¶ So the women began to tremble with fear and were amazed. They left the tomb and hurried away.

And in their fear they did not say a word to anyone.

• They did not tell anyone about what happened, because they were afraid. (NCV)

• They were too afraid to tell anyone what had happened. (CEV)

• They did not tell anyone what had they had seen and heard because they were afraid.

General Comment on 16:8b

It may be more natural in some languages to reverse the order of these two clauses. For example, the CEV says:

They were too afraid to tell anyone what had happened.

The rest of chapter 16, verses 9–20, is often referred to as “The Longer Ending of Mark.” There is a textual issue concerning this section:

1. Most Greek manuscripts include 16:9–20. Every major English version includes these verses. However, many versions place them inside brackets, or separate them in some other way, indicating that they were probably not part of the original text. For example, the GNT gives these verses the heading:

   An Old Ending to the Gospel

2. Some important early Greek manuscripts do not include 16:9–20.The UBS4 (pages 190–192) gives this reading an A rating, indicating that it is likely that the original text of Mark did not include these verses.

Most Bible scholars do not believe that 16:9–20 was part of the story as Mark first wrote it. Some believe that Mark wrote more after 16:8b, but that we do not have the end of the story as he wrote it. Others believe that he stopped writing at 16:8b and that 16:9–20 was added later by a different person.

It is therefore recommended that you follow option (1) and put these verses in brackets, or separate them from the main text in some other way, to indicate that they were probably not part of Mark’s original text. You may also want to add a note such as the following:

Although the two oldest Greek manuscripts do not have verses 9–20, most major Greek manuscripts include them. Most Bible scholars think these verses were written by someone other than Mark,TRT note 168 on page 227. but they are still considered to be a valuable ancient witness to what happened after Jesus rose from the dead. There are similarities in 16:9–20 to Matthew 28:9–10, 16–20, Luke 24:13–49, John 20:10–23, and Acts 1:6–8.

There is also a second ending to Mark, often referred to as “The Shorter Ending of Mark.” It will be discussed later in a separate section after the notes on Mark 16:9–20. The BSB includes the longer ending of Mark in the main text. There is a footnote in the BSB that mentions the shorter ending.