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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Mark C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16
Mark 6 V1 V3 V5 V7 V9 V13 V15 V17 V19 V21 V23 V25 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V39 V41 V43 V45 V47 V49 V51 V53 V55
OET (OET-LV) And whatever wishfully place may_ not _receive you_all, nor may_they_hear from_you_all, going_out from_there, shake_off the dust which beneath the feet of_you_all for a_testimony to_them.
OET (OET-RV) But if any places don’t want you or don’t want to hear what you have to say, just leave that place. As you go, shake the dust off your sandals so they can see that you pass the responsibility of what happened to them.”
In this section Mark wrote that Jesus began to go around to various Jewish villages in order to teach the people. He also sent out his twelve apostles two by two into the villages. Jesus gave the apostles authority over evil spirits, and he gave them instructions for their journey. The apostles went out and preached that people should repent. They cast out demons and healed sick people.
The NIV starts a new section and paragraph at 6:6b. Some translations, such as the NASB and BSB, start the new section at 6:7. If you decide to do this, you should still make 6:6b a separate paragraph.
Here is another possible heading for this section:
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve (NIV)
There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 9:35; 10:5–15; Luke 8:1; 9:1–6.
Some Greek manuscripts have an extra sentence at the end of 6:11. The KJV follows these manuscripts and adds the following:
Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
Many of the older Greek manuscripts do not include this sentence, and most English versions do not include it. The sentence is in Matthew 10:15, and scholars believe someone added it later to the parallel passage here in Mark 6:11. It is recommended that you should not include this sentence in your translation.
If anyone will not welcome you or listen to you,
If the people of any town will not welcome you(plur) or listen to you,
If you(plur) come to a town where the people refuse to welcome you or to listen to your message,
If the people there did not accept them or listen to their message,
And if any place will not welcome you: The clause will not welcome you means that nobody in the town invited the disciples to stay in their home. Also, nobody did anything to show the disciples that they wanted them to be in their town.
or listen to you: The clause listen to you refers to the people of a particular place refusing to listen to the disciples’ message.
shake the dust off your feet when you leave that place,
shake the dust from your(plur) feet when you leave
brush off your(plur) feet to remove the dust when you leave that place.
the disciples should leave that town, and shake/brush the dust off their feet as they leave.
shake the dust off your feet when you leave that place: Here Jesus told the disciples to remove or shake off any dust that was sticking to their feet and sandals. They probably did this by shaking their feet or brushing off the dust with their hands. Consider how you would describe this kind of action in your language.
Shaking the dust off their feet was a cultural gesture that had a symbolic meaning. When a Jewish person shook the dust of a place off of his feet, it indicated that he did not have any relationship with the people in that place. It implied that the people were not God’s people. In this context, it meant that the disciples were no longer responsible for what happened to those people. God would punish the people because they did not accept the disciples and their message. The people would cause their own punishment, because they refused the message.
It is important to translate this gesture literally here in 6:11b. Then you can explain the meaning in the next phrase (6:11c).
Here are some other ways to translate this:
shake off the dust from the bottom of your feet when you leave
when you leave, shake/brush/tap your feet to remove the dust
your feet: If your language has specific words for the “lower leg and foot” or for the “sole of the foot,” you may use either of these expressions.
as a testimony against them.”
to warn them that they are now responsible for God punishing them.”
This would show the people of that town that God would judge/punish them.
as a testimony against them: The phrase as a testimony against them gives the meaning of the symbol of shaking dust off one’s feet. When the apostles shook off the dust of a town from their feet, they were warning the people. They were saying that God would judge them if they did not repent.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
as a warning to them that God will judge/punish them
as a sign to show them that they are responsible/guilty
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy
ὃς ἂν τόπος μὴ δέξηται
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὅς ἄν τόπος μή δέξηται ὑμᾶς μηδέ ἀκούσωσιν ὑμῶν ἐκπορευόμενοι ἐκεῖθεν ἐκτινάξατε τόν χοῦν τόν ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν ὑμῶν εἰς μαρτύριον αὐτοῖς)
Here, place represents represents the people who live in that place. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use an equivalent expression from your language or state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [when the people in any place do not receive]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / go
ἐκπορευόμενοι
going_out
In a context such as this, your language might say “coming” instead of going. Alternate translation: [coming out]
Note 3 topic: translate-symaction
ἐκτινάξατε τὸν χοῦν τὸν ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν ὑμῶν
shake_off (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ὅς ἄν τόπος μή δέξηται ὑμᾶς μηδέ ἀκούσωσιν ὑμῶν ἐκπορευόμενοι ἐκεῖθεν ἐκτινάξατε τόν χοῦν τόν ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν ὑμῶν εἰς μαρτύριον αὐτοῖς)
This action was an expression of strong rejection in this culture. It showed that someone did not want even the dust of a house or city to remain on them. If there is a similar gesture in your culture, you could consider referring to it here, or you could explain the meaning of the action. Alternate translation: [wash the dirt of that place off your hands] or [shake off the dust that is under your feet to sever your relationship with that place and]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
εἰς μαρτύριον αὐτοῖς
for ˓a˒_testimony ˱to˲_them
Here Jesus implies that the testimony indicates that these people are in danger of being punished by God. If it would be helpful in your language, you could make that idea more explicit. Alternate translation: [for a testimony that they will be punished]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
εἰς μαρτύριον
for ˓a˒_testimony
If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of testimony, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: [to testify]
Note 6 topic: translate-textvariants
εἰς μαρτύριον αὐτοῖς
for ˓a˒_testimony ˱to˲_them
Most ancient manuscripts end the verse with the words for a testimony against them. The ULT follows that reading. Some ancient manuscripts include another sentence after these words: “Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.” This sentence was probably added from [Matthew 10:15](../mat/10/15.md). If a translation of the Bible exists in your region, you may wish to use the reading that it uses. If a translation of the Bible does not exist in your region, it is recommended that you use the reading of the ULT.
6:11 The shaking of dust from the feet is best interpreted as a symbolic act pronouncing God’s judgment upon those who rejected the apostles’ preaching (cp. Acts 18:6), which was really a rejection of Jesus and of God, who sent him (9:37).
OET (OET-LV) And whatever wishfully place may_ not _receive you_all, nor may_they_hear from_you_all, going_out from_there, shake_off the dust which beneath the feet of_you_all for a_testimony to_them.
OET (OET-RV) But if any places don’t want you or don’t want to hear what you have to say, just leave that place. As you go, shake the dust off your sandals so they can see that you pass the responsibility of what happened to them.”
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.
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