MARK 10:26 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) Now they were totally stunned, asking, “How can anyone possibly be saved then?”

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT And they were greatly astonished, saying to him,[fn] “And who is able to be saved?”

Instead of to him, some manuscripts read to themselves.

UST That greatly surprised the apprentices. They told Jesus, “It must be that God does not actually rescue anyone!”

BLB And they were exceedingly astonished, saying among themselves, "Then who is able to be saved?"

AICNT And they were exceedingly astonished, saying to themselves, “And who can be saved?”

OEB ‘Then who can be saved?’ they exclaimed in the greatest astonishment.

WEBBE They were exceedingly astonished, saying to him, “Then who can be saved?”

WMBB (Same as above)

NET They were even more astonished and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?”

LSV And they were astonished beyond measure, saying to themselves, “And who is able to be saved?”

FBV The disciples were even more confused. “Then who on earth can be saved?” they asked one another.

TCNT They were completely astonished at this and said to [fn]one another, “Who then can be saved?”

10:26 one another 95.8% ¦ him WH 2.3%

T4T The disciples were very astonished. So they said to each other, “If that is so, ◄it will be unlikely that anyone will be saved {that God will save anyone}!/will God save anyone?► [RHQ]”

LEB And they were very astounded, saying to one another, “And who can be saved?”

BBE And they were greatly surprised, saying to him, Who then may have salvation?

Moff They were more astounded than ever; they said to themselves, "Then who ever can be saved?"

Wymth They were astonished beyond measure, and said to one another, "Who then *can* be saved?"

ASV And they were astonished exceedingly, saying unto him, Then who can be saved?

DRA Who wondered the more, saying among themselves: Who then can be saved?

YLT And they were astonished beyond measure, saying unto themselves, 'And who is able to be saved?'

Drby And they were exceedingly astonished, saying to one another, And who can be saved?

RV And they were astonished exceedingly, saying unto him, Then who can be saved?

SLT And they were struck with amazement, excessively, saying to themselves, And who can be saved.

Wbstr And they were astonished beyond measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?

KJB-1769 And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?

KJB-1611 And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselues, Who then can be saued?
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above)

Bshps And they were astonyed out of measure, saying betwene them selues: who then can be saued?
(And they were astonished out of measure, saying between themselves: who then can be saved?)

Gnva And they were much more astonied, saying with themselues, Who then can be saued?
(And they were much more astonished, saying with themselves, Who then can be saved? )

Cvdl Yet were they astonnyed ye more, and sayde amonge the selues: Who can the be saued?
(Yet were they astonished ye/you_all more, and said among the selves: Who can the be saved?)

TNT And they were astonnyed out of measure sayinge betwene them selves: who then can be saved?
(And they were astonished out of measure saying between themselves: who then can be saved? )

Wycl And thei wondriden more, and seiden among hem silf, And who may be sauyd?
(And they wondered more, and said among himself, And who may be saved?)

Luth Sie entsetzten sich aber noch viel mehr und sprachen untereinander: Wer kann denn selig werden?
(They/She horrified itself/yourself/themselves but still many more and said each_other: Who can because/than blessed become?)

ClVg Qui magis admirabantur, dicentes ad semetipsos: Et quis potest salvus fieri?[fn]
(Who more they_were_amazed, saying to themselves: And who/any can safe to_be_done? )

10.26 Et quis potest. Cum plures sint pauperes quam divites, non hoc dixissent nisi in divitum numero intellexissent cunctos qui divitias adipisci vellent.

10.26 And who/any can. Since many let_them_be the_poor how rich, not/no this to_have_saidnt except in/into/on rich number I_understoodssent together who/which riches adipisci to_wantnt.

UGNT οἱ δὲ περισσῶς ἐξεπλήσσοντο, λέγοντες πρὸς αὐτόν, καὶ τίς δύναται σωθῆναι?
(hoi de perissōs exeplaʸssonto, legontes pros auton, kai tis dunatai sōthaʸnai?)

SBL-GNT οἱ δὲ περισσῶς ἐξεπλήσσοντο λέγοντες πρὸς ⸀ἑαυτούς· Καὶ τίς δύναται σωθῆναι;
(hoi de perissōs exeplaʸssonto legontes pros ⸀heautous; Kai tis dunatai sōthaʸnai;)

RP-GNT Οἱ δὲ περισσῶς ἐξεπλήσσοντο, λέγοντες πρὸς ἑαυτούς, Καὶ τίς δύναται σωθῆναι;
(Hoi de perissōs exeplaʸssonto, legontes pros heautous, Kai tis dunatai sōthaʸnai;)

TC-GNT Οἱ δὲ περισσῶς ἐξεπλήσσοντο, λέγοντες πρὸς [fn]ἑαυτούς, Καὶ τίς δύναται σωθῆναι;
(Hoi de perissōs exeplaʸssonto, legontes pros heautous, Kai tis dunatai sōthaʸnai; )

10:26 εαυτους 95.8% ¦ αυτον WH 2.3%

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs, red:words differ (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 10:17–31: Jesus taught about entering the kingdom of God

A young man asked Jesus how he could obtain eternal life. Jesus gave an answer that was well known to Jews. He told the man to obey God’s commands. The man said that he had been obeying God’s commands since he was a child.

Jesus then told the young man that he still needed to do one thing (10:21). He needed to give away his riches and follow Jesus. But the young man did not follow Jesus’ advice. The man was rich (10:22). He valued his riches too highly to give them up to follow Jesus.

Jesus used the young man as an example to explain that it is hard for rich people to devote themselves to God and his kingdom (10:23–25). He said that unless God makes it possible, neither a rich person nor anyone else is able to enter heaven (10:27).

Jesus promised that those who had left their possessions and family behind to serve him would receive great rewards (10:29–31).

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 taught that riches make it difficult to obtain eternal life

A Rich Young Man’s Question (NCV)

The rich young man (NJB)

Riches hinder rather than help in seeking to enter the kingdom of God

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 19:16–30 and Luke 18:18–30.

Paragraph 10:23–27

The events in 10:23–31 probably happened immediately after the events in 10:17–22. In some languages, it is natural to begin this part of the story with a time word or phrase. For example, the NET has “Then.”

In other languages, a time word or phrase is not necessary. Introduce this part of the story in a natural way in your language.

10:26a

They were even more astonished

Then the disciples were even more surprised than before,
When his followers heard this, they were even more astonished.

They were even more astonished: The phrase even more astonished means “even more surprised than they had been before.” This refers back to the fact that the disciples were amazed in 10:24a.

The clause They were even more astonished expresses the result of what Jesus said in the previous sentence. In some languages it may be necessary to make explicit the reason for this result. For example:

When they heard this, the disciples were more astonished than ever.

10:26b

and said to one another, “Who then can be saved?”

and said to one another, “In that case, who can possibly be saved?”
They said to each other, “If it is like that, then we^(excl) do not know how God will rescue any people from their sins so that they can enter his kingdom!”

said to one another: There is a textual issue here:

Some Greek manuscripts have to one another. The disciples spoke aloud to each other. For example, the NIV says:
said to each other (BSB, NIV, GNT, NJB, NRSV, GW, CEV, JBP, NET, REB, NCV, KJV)
Other Greek manuscripts have to him. The disciples spoke to Jesus. For example, the RSV says:
said to him (RSV, NASB, ESV)

It is recommended that you follow option (1). But if the major language version follows option (2), you may want to follow that.

Who then can be saved?: This is probably a rhetorical question. It is an emphatic way of saying “If that is true, we do not understand how anyone can be saved!” It expresses the disciples’ surprise at what Jesus said in 10:25. It does not express a strong belief that God will not save anyone.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

As a rhetorical question. For example:
How can anyone ever be saved? (CEV)
Can it be that anyone will be saved?
As a statement. For example:
Then we do not know how anyone can possibly be saved!

then: In this context, the Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as then means “in that case” or “if that is so/true.”

be saved: The verb be saved is passive. If it is more natural in your language to use an active verb and supply a subject, you may say:

Who then will God save?

The Greek verb that the BSB translates as be saved means “to be rescued or preserved from harm.” In this context it refers to being allowed to enter the kingdom of God (10:23–25).

In some languages, it may be necessary to make explicit what the person was saved from. For example:

saved from being shut out of God’s kingdom

rescued from judgment and allowed to enter God’s kingdom

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

οἱ & περισσῶς ἐξεπλήσσοντο, λέγοντες

they & exceedingly ˓were_being˒_astonished saying

If your language does not use this passive form, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. If you need to say who did the action, it is clear from the context that it was what Jesus said. Alternate translation: [what the disciples heard astonished them greatly, and they said]

Note 2 topic: translate-textvariants

πρὸς αὐτόν

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: οἱ Δέ περισσῶς ἐξεπλήσσοντο λέγοντες πρός αὐτόν Καί τίς δύναται σωθῆναι)

Some ancient manuscripts read to him. The ULT follows that reading. Other ancient manuscripts read “to themselves.” 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, you may wish to use the reading of the ULT.

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion

καὶ τίς δύναται σωθῆναι?

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: οἱ Δέ περισσῶς ἐξεπλήσσοντο λέγοντες πρός αὐτόν Καί τίς δύναται σωθῆναι)

The disciples are using the question form to express their astonishment. If you would not use the question form for this purpose in your language, you could translate this as a statement or an exclamation. Alternate translation: [So it seems that no one is able to be saved.] or [So no one is able to be saved!]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

τίς δύναται σωθῆναι

who ˓is˒_able ˓to_be˒_saved

If your language does not use this passive form, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. If you need to say who would do the action, it is clear from the context that it would be God. Alternate translation: [who can receive salvation] or [whom will God save]

Parallel MARK 10:26

Section 10:17–31: Jesus taught about entering the kingdom of God

Paragraph 10:23–27

10:26a

10:26b