MARK 6:39 Interlinear View

1. Greek word
2. Greek lemma
3. OET-LV words
4. OET-RV words
5. Strongs
6. Role/Morphology
7. OET Gloss
8. VLT Gloss
9. CAPS codes
10. Confidence
11. OET tags
12. OET word #
1. Καί
2. kai
3. And
4. and
5. 25320
6. C·······
7. and
8. and
9. S
10. Y28
11. 27074
1. ἐπέταξεν
2. epitassō
3. he commanded
4. told
5. 20040
6. VIAA3··S
7. ˱he˲ commanded
8. ˱he˲ commanded
9. -
10. Y28; R26835; Person=Jesus
11. 27075
1. ὁ
2. ho
3. -
4. -
5. 35880
6. E····NMS
7. ¬the
8. ¬the
9. -
10. -
11. 27076
1. Ἰησοῦς
2. iēsous
3. -
4. -
5. 24240
6. N····NMS
7. Yaʸsous/(Yəhōshūˊa)
8. Jesus
9. UN
10. -
11. 27077
1. αὐτοῖς
2. autos
3. to them
4. -
5. 8460
6. R···3DMP
7. ˱to˲ them
8. ˱to˲ them
9. -
10. Y28; R26976
11. 27078
1. ἀνακλῖναι
2. anaklinō
3. to sit down
4. sit
5. 3470
6. VNAA····
7. ˓to˒ sit_down
8. ˓to˒ sit_down
9. -
10. Y28
11. 27079
1. ἀνακλιθῆναι
2. anaklinō
3. -
4. -
5. 3470
6. VNAP····
7. ˓to_be˒ sat_down
8. ˓to_be˒ sat_down
9. -
10. -
11. 27080
1. πάντας
2. pas
3. all
4. -
5. 39560
6. S····AMP
7. all
8. all
9. -
10. Y28; R26943
11. 27081
1. κατά
2. kata
3. -
4. -
5. 25960
6. P·······
7. by
8. by
9. -
10. -
11. 27082
1. τήν
2. ho
3. -
4. -
5. 35880
6. E····AFS
7. ¬the
8. ¬the
9. -
10. -
11. 27083
1. συμπόσιαν
2. sumposia
3. -
4. -
5. 48485
6. N····AFS
7. common_meal
8. common_meal
9. -
10. -
11. 27084
1. συμπόσια
2. sumposion
3. groups
4. -
5. 48490
6. N····ANP
7. groups
8. groups
9. -
10. Y28
11. 27085
1. συμπόσια
2. sumposion
3. by groups
4. -
5. 48490
6. N····ANP
7. ˱by˲ groups
8. ˱by˲ groups
9. -
10. Y28
11. 27086
1. ἐπί
2. epi
3. on
4. -
5. 19090
6. P·······
7. on
8. on
9. -
10. Y28
11. 27087
1. ἐν
2. en
3. -
4. -
5. 17220
6. P·······
7. on
8. on
9. -
10. -
11. 27088
1. τῷ
2. ho
3. the
4. -
5. 35880
6. E····DMS
7. the
8. the
9. -
10. Y28
11. 27089
1. χλωρῷ
2. χlōros
3. green
4. green
5. 55150
6. A····DMS
7. green
8. green
9. -
10. Y28
11. 27090
1. χόρτῳ
2. χortos
3. grass
4. grass
5. 55280
6. N····DMS
7. grass
8. grass
9. -
10. Y28
11. 27091

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 6:30–44: Jesus did a miracle to feed more than five thousand people

Here Mark resumed the story about Jesus and his twelve apostles. In this section the twelve apostles came back to Jesus and told him about their mission in the Jewish villages. Then Jesus and the apostles went away to find a quiet place to rest. But crowds of people came there to see Jesus. Jesus taught the crowds of people and then did a miracle in order to give them all food to eat.

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 Feeds the Five Thousand (NIV)

The Feeding of the Five Thousand (NET)

Jesus fed five thousand people in a miraculous way

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 14:13–21; Luke 9:10–17; John 6:1–14. See also a similar story, where Jesus fed four thousand people, in Matthew 15:32–39 and Mark 8:1–10.

Paragraph 6:39–44

Jesus told the disciples to have all the people sit down. Then he did a miracle in order to give food to all of them to eat. There was more food left after they ate than there had been before they ate.

6:39a

Then Jesus directed them

¶ Then Jesus commanded the disciples
¶ After that Jesus told his followers

Then: The Greek word that the BSB translates as Then introduces the next step in a sequence of closely related events. Use a word or expression that does this in your language. For example:

After that

And then

Jesus directed them: The Greek word that the BSB translates as directed means “commanded,” “ordered,” or “urged.”

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

he gave orders

he told them

them: In the Greek text, the pronoun them is ambiguous. There are two ways to interpret this word:

It refers to the disciples. For example, the GNT says:
Jesus then told his disciples to make all the people divide into groups and sit down on the green grass. (BSB, GNT, NIV, NJB, KJV, REB, NCV, NRSV, CEV)
It refers to the crowd. For example, the NLT96 says:
Then Jesus told the crowd to sit down in groups on the green grass. (NLT, RSV, NASB, NET, GW, JBP)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). Jesus commanded the crowds indirectly, by telling his disciples to tell the crowds to sit down. However, there is strong support in commentaries and English versions for both interpretations.Luke and John told this same story in their Gospels, and in those books the Greek follows interpretation (1). See Luke 9:14 and John 6:10. Matthew also told this story in his Gospel. Matthew 14:19 says that Jesus “directed the crowds to sit down,” which follow interpretation (2). So it appears that Jesus commanded the crowds indirectly, through the disciples.

6:39b

to have the people sit in groups on the green grass.

to tell all the people to sit down in groups on the soft/fresh grass where they were.
to organize the people into groups and have them sit on the ground.
“Tell all the people to sit down on the grass in groups.”

to have the people sit in groups: The command to have all the people sit means “to cause them to sit down.”

Here are some other ways to translate this:

to tell them to sit down in groups

to seat them in groups

to organize them into groups and tell them to sit down

on the green grass: The place where everyone was standing was a grassy area. Jesus wanted them to sit down where they were, that is, on the grass where they were standing. He was not telling them to go looking for grass to sit down on.

If grass is uncommon in your area, you may want to use a general term. For example:

on the ground

green grass: The term green grass refers to short grass that is fresh (green). It was not dry, brown grass.

General Comment on 6:39a–b

In some languages it may be natural to translate 6:39b using direct speech. For example:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Tell all the people to sit down in groups on the grass.”

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: writing-pronouns

ἐπέταξεν αὐτοῖς ἀνακλῖναι πάντας

˱he˲_commanded ˱to˲_them ˓to˒_sit_down all

The pronoun them could refer to: (1) all the people who were there. In this case, Jesus directly commanded the crowd to recline. Alternate translation: [he commanded the whole crowd to recline] (2) the disciples, who them told all the people who were there to recline. In this case, Jesus commands the disciples, who command the crowd. Alternate translation: [he commanded the disciples to have all the people recline]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / quotations

αὐτοῖς ἀνακλῖναι πάντας, συμπόσια συμπόσια ἐπὶ τῷ χλωρῷ χόρτῳ

˱to˲_them ˓to˒_sit_down all groups ˱by˲_groups (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Καί ἐπέταξεν αὐτοῖς ἀνακλῖναι πάντας συμπόσια συμπόσια ἐπί τῷ χλωρῷ χόρτῳ)

It may be more natural in your language to have a direct quotation here. Alternate translation: [them all, “Recline group by group on the green grass.”]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

ἀνακλῖναι

˓to˒_sit_down

In Jesus’ culture, people would usually recline, or lay on one side, when they were eating. If it would be helpful in your language, you could refer to the position in which people eat in your culture, or you could just refer to eating. Alternate translation: [to sit down to eat] or [to get ready to eat]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

συμπόσια συμπόσια

groups ˱by˲_groups

Here, the phrase group by group indicates that the people were supposed to sit down in many smaller groups of people. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a comparable phrase or state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [in many smaller groups] or [in separate groups]

Note 5 topic: translate-unknown

τῷ χλωρῷ χόρτῳ

the green grass

Mark describes the grass as green because it was growing and healthy. If your readers would not be familiar with green grass, you could use the name of something similar in your area or you could use a more general term. Alternate translation: [the growing grass] or [the healthy grass]

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.