Mark 8:9-11

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Mark 8:9 sn The parallel in Matt 15:32-39 notes that the 4,000 were only men, a point not made explicit in Mark.
2. Mark 8:9 tn The words “who ate” are not in the Greek text but have been supplied for clarity.
3. Mark 8:9 sn Mark 8:1-10. Many commentators, on the basis of similarities between this account of the feeding of the multitude (8:1-10) and that in 6:30-44, have argued that there is only one event referred to in both passages. While there are similarities in language and in the response of the disciples, there are also noticeable differences, including the different number present on each occasion (i.e., 5,000 in chap. 6 and 4,000 here). In the final analysis, the fact that Jesus refers to two distinct feedings in 8:18-20 settles the issue; this passage represents another very similar incident to that recorded in 6:30-44.
4. Mark 8:10 sn See the note at Mark 1:19 for a description of the first-century fishing boat discovered in 1986 near Tiberias on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.
5. Mark 8:10 sn The exact location of Dalmanutha is uncertain. It is mentioned nowhere else in the NT. The parallel passage in Matt 15:39 reads either “Magdala” (which is on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee) or “Magadan” (which is the better attested reading but is otherwise unknown). A small anchorage north of Magdala and west of Capernaum investigated in 1970 during a period of low lake levels in the Sea of Galilee has been suggested as the possible location of Dalmanutha (M. Nun, “Ancient Anchorages and Harbors in the Sea of Galilee,” Nature and Land 5 (1971): 212-19) but there is no scholarly consensus.
6. Mark 8:11 sn See the note on Pharisees in 2:16.
7. Mark 8:11 tn Grk “seeking from him.” The participle ζητοῦντες (zētountes) shows the means by which the Pharisees argued with Jesus.
8. Mark 8:11 sn What exactly this sign would have been, given what Jesus was already doing, is not clear. But here is where the fence-sitters reside, refusing to commit to him.