MARK 9:34 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) [ref]But they didn’t reply because while they were walking, they had been talking about which of them is the best.

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, cyan:dative/indirect 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 But they were silent, for they had been arguing with one another on the way about who was greatest.

UST However, while the apprentices were walking, they had been arguing with each other about which one of them was the most important. So, they did not answer Jesus.

BLB And they were silent, for along the road they had been discussing with one another which was greatest.

AICNT But they were silent; for on the way they had discussed with one another who was the greatest.

OEB But they were silent; for on the way they had been arguing with one another which was the greatest.

WEBBE But they were silent, for they had disputed with one another on the way about who was the greatest.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.

LSV And they were silent, for they reasoned with one another in the way who is greater;

FBV But they didn't say anything because they had been arguing over who was the most important.

TCNT But they were silent, because on the way they had been arguing with one another about who was greater.

T4T But they did not reply. They were ashamed to reply because, while they were traveling, they had been arguing with each other about which one of them would be the most important when Jesus became king.

LEB But they were silent, because they had argued with one another on the way about who was greatest.

BBE But they said nothing: because they had had an argument between themselves on the way, about who was the greatest.

Moff They said nothing, for on the road they had been disputing about which of them was the greatest.

Wymth But they remained silent; for on the way they had debated with one another who was the chief of them.

ASV But they held their peace: for they had disputed one with another on the way, who was the greatest.

DRA And sitting down, he called the twelve, and saith to them: If any man desire to be first, he shall be the last of all, and the minister of all.

YLT and they were silent, for with one another they did reason in the way who is greater;

Drby And they remained silent, for by the way they had been reasoning with one another who [was] greatest.

RV But they held their peace: for they had disputed one with another in the way, who was the greatest.

SLT And they were silent; for they discussed to one another in the way, who the greatest.

Wbstr But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.

KJB-1769 But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.

KJB-1611 But they held their peace: For by the way they had disputed among themselues, who should be the greatest.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from capitalisation)

Bshps And they helde their peace: For by the way, they had reasoned among them selues, who shoulde be the chiefest.
(And they held their peace: For by the way, they had reasoned among themselves, who should be the chiefest.)

Gnva And they helde their peace: for by the way they reasoned among themselues, who should bee the chiefest.
(And they held their peace: for by the way they reasoned among themselves, who should be the chiefest. )

Cvdl But they helde their tuges: For they had disputed by the waye amonge them selues, who shulde be ye greatest.
(But they held their tuges: For they had disputed by the way among themselves, who should be ye/you_all greatest.)

TNT And they helde their peace: for by the waye they reasoned amonge the selves who shuld be the chefest.
(And they held their peace: for by the way they reasoned among the selves who should be the chefest. )

Wycl And he sat, and clepide the twelue, and seide to hem, If ony man wole be the firste among you, he schal be the laste of alle, and the mynyster of alle.
(And he sat, and called the twelve, and said to hem, If any man will be the first among you, he shall be the last of all, and the minister of alle.)

Luth Sie aber schwiegen; denn sie hatten miteinander auf dem Wege gehandelt, welcher der Größte wäre.
(They/She but silence; because/than they/she/them had together on/in/to to_him ways traded, which the/of_the Größte were.)

ClVg Et residens vocavit duodecim, et ait illis: Si quis vult primus esse, erit omnium novissimus, et omnium minister.[fn]
(And residens he_called twelve, and he_said to_them: When/But_if who/any wants primus to_be, will_be of_all latest/last, and of_all minister. )

9.34 Et residens, etc. Illi euntes disputabant de principatu, et ipse sedens docet humilitatem. Principes enim laborant, humiles quiescunt. Desiderium gloriæ vult humilitate sanare, et primo simplici monet imperio, mox innocentiæ puerilis exemplo.

9.34 And residens, etc. Those going disputabant from/about principality, and exactly_that/himself sitting teaches humility. Leaders because they_work_hard, humbles quiescunt. Desiderium of_glory wants humility to_heal, and at_first simple advises command, soon innocence childrenlis example.

UGNT οἱ δὲ ἐσιώπων, πρὸς ἀλλήλους γὰρ διελέχθησαν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, τίς μείζων.
(hoi de esiōpōn, pros allaʸlous gar dieleⱪthaʸsan en taʸ hodōi, tis meizōn.)

SBL-GNT οἱ δὲ ἐσιώπων, πρὸς ἀλλήλους γὰρ διελέχθησαν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τίς μείζων.
(hoi de esiōpōn, pros allaʸlous gar dieleⱪthaʸsan en taʸ hodōi tis meizōn.)

RP-GNT Οἱ δὲ ἐσιώπων· πρὸς ἀλλήλους γὰρ διελέχθησαν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, τίς μείζων.
(Hoi de esiōpōn; pros allaʸlous gar dieleⱪthaʸsan en taʸ hodōi, tis meizōn.)

TC-GNT Οἱ δὲ ἐσιώπων· πρὸς ἀλλήλους γὰρ διελέχθησαν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, τίς μείζων.
(Hoi de esiōpōn; pros allaʸlous gar dieleⱪthaʸsan en taʸ hodōi, tis meizōn. )

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

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 9:33–37: Jesus told his disciples that they must be humble

A person’s status in society was important in Jewish society. While they traveled to Capernaum, the disciples argued among themselves about which one of them was the highest in status in Jesus’ ministry (9:34).

Some of them probably thought that Peter was highest in status. They based this on his confession and the statements that Jesus made about him (8:28–30; Matthew 16:17–19). James and John may have thought that they themselves should be highest (10:35–40). But a high status often causes a person to become proud. So Jesus showed that being truly humble was the way to become high in status in the society of God’s kingdom.

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

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

Greatness in the Kingdom (GW)

Who Is the Greatest? (NIV)

The followers of Jesus must be humble

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 18:1–5 and Luke 9:46–48.

9:34a

But they were silent,

But they did not answer him,
They said nothing, (NJB)

But: The conjunction But indicates a contrast. The contrast is that Jesus expected the disciples to answer his question, but the disciples did not answer.

In some languages, no conjunction is necessary here. For example, the GW says:

They were silent.

they were silent: The phrase they were silent indicates that the disciples did not answer Jesus.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

they would not answer him (GNT)

They said nothing (NJB)

9:34b

for on the way they had been arguing

because while they were walking on the road, they had argued
because they were ashamed to tell him that while walking they had argued among themselves

for: The conjunction for introduces the reason that the disciples were quiet. In some languages, it will be more natural to put 9:34b before 9:34a. See the General Comment on 9:34a–c below for an example.

on the way: The BSB uses the phrase on the way to translate the same Greek phrase that is translated as “on the way” in 9:33c. You may want to use the same phrase in both places. If it is more natural in your language, you can omit this second mention of it.

they had been arguing about: It is implied that the disciples were ashamed of the topic that they had been arguing about. So they did not want to answer Jesus. You may need to make this information explicit. For example:

they did not want Jesus to know that they had argued about…

they were ashamed to tell him that they had argued concerning…

9:34c

about which of them was the greatest.

about who was the greatest/highest in rank/status.
about which of them was most important.

which of them: The context implies that the word which of them refers to which one among the disciples. The NIV11 translates this as:

who

the greatest: The word greatest refers to having the highest status. The disciples wanted to know who among them was the most important person.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

the most important

greatest in rank

highest in status/name

more important than all the others

General Comment on 9:34a–c

In this verse, 9:34b–c expresses the reason for the result in 9:34a. In some languages, it may be more natural to change the order of these clauses. For example:

^34bBut they were ashamed to tell him that on the road, they had argued ^34cabout who was the greatest. ^34aSo they kept quiet.

^34bOn the road, they had argued ^34cabout who was the greatest. ^34aSo they kept quiet out of shame.

Parallel MARK 9:34

Section 9:33–37: Jesus told his disciples that they must be humble

9:34a

9:34b

9:34c

General Comment on 9:34a–c