Mark 13:24-37
13:24 “But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,
13:25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
13:26 Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory.
13:27 Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
13:28 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.
13:29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.
13:30 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.
13:31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
13:32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
13:33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come.
13:34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch.
13:35 Therefore, keep awake–for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn,
13:36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.
13:37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”
[24]᾿Αλλ᾿ ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις, μετὰ τὴν θλῖψιν ἐκείνην ὁ ἥλιος σκοτισθήσεται, καὶ ἡ σελήνη οὐ δώσει τὸ φέγγος αὐτῆς,
[25]καὶ οἱ ἀστέρες ἔσονται ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πίπτοντες, καὶ αἱ δυνάμεις αἱ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς σαλευθήσονται.
[26]καὶ τότε ὄψονται τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐρχόμενον ἐν νεφέλαις μετὰ δυνάμεως πολλῆς καὶ δόξης.
[27]καὶ τότε ἀποστελεῖ τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπισυνάξει τοὺς ἐκλεκτοὺς αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων ἀνέμων, ἀπ’ ἄκρου τῆς γῆς ἕως ἄκρου τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.
[28]᾿Απὸ δὲ τῆς συκῆς μάθετε τὴν παραβολήν. ὅταν αὐτῆς ὁ κλάδος ἤδη γένηται ἁπαλὸς καὶ ἐκφύῃ τὰ φύλλα, γινώσκετε ὅτι ἐγγὺς τὸ θέρος ἐστίν·
[29]οὕτω καὶ ὑμεῖς, ὅταν ἴδητε ταῦτα γινόμενα, γινώσκετε ὅτι ἐγγύς ἐστιν ἐπὶ θύραις.
[30]ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι οὐ μὴ παρέλθῃ ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη μέχρις οὗ πάντα ταῦτα γένηται.
[31]ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ παρελεύσονται, οἱ δὲ ἐμοὶ λόγοι οὐ μὴ παρελεύσονται.
[32]Περὶ δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης ἢ τῆς ὥρας οὐδεὶς οἶδεν, οὐδὲ οἱ ἄγγελοι ἐν οὐρανῷ, οὐδὲ ὁ υἱός, εἰ μὴ ὁ πατήρ.
[33]Βλέπετε, ἀγρυπνεῖτε καὶ προσεύχεσθε· οὐκ οἴδατε γὰρ πότε ὁ καιρός ἐστιν.
[34]ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἀπόδημος, ἀφεὶς τὴν οἰκίαν αὐτοῦ, καὶ δοὺς τοῖς δούλοις αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐξουσίαν, καὶ ἑκάστῳ τὸ ἔργον αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῷ θυρωρῷ ἐνετείλατο ἵνα γρηγορῇ.
[35]γρηγορεῖτε οὖν· οὐκ οἴδατε γὰρ πότε ὁ κύριος τῆς οἰκίας ἔρχεται, ὀψὲ ἢ μεσονυκτίου ἢ ἀλεκτοροφωνίας ἢ πρωΐ·
[36]μὴ ἐλθὼν ἐξαίφνης εὕρῃ ὑμᾶς καθεύδοντας.
[37]ἃ δὲ ὑμῖν λέγω, πᾶσι λέγω· γρηγορεῖτε.
Comments
The first four verses (vv. 24-7) are replete with astronomical and meteorological terms, including the ‘four winds’, i.e. the four cardinal points, an expression first attested in the LXX. Meteorology is anciently a guide in seasonal work, as in Hesiod’s ‘farmer’s almanac’, the Works and Days (8th c. BC), and the OT. Jesus intimates the critical season that heralds more than the cereal harvest, to say the mundane least.
[24] τὴν θλῖψιν: θλῖψις, ἡ, lit., ‘pressure’, ‘oppression’; the fig. sense ‘(great) affliction’ is common in LXX and NT. Here, as often elsewhere in NT, the context is eschatological.
[25] ἔσονται ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πίπτοντες: a periphrastic koine future ‘with the thought of continuity emphasised’ (Nunn, Short syntax, p. 80). The Engl. tr. is accurate: ‘the stars will be falling’. The periphrasis typically consists of the future of εἶναι (ἔσονται) + the pres. part. (πίπτοντες).
σαλευθήσονται: the pass. vc. σαλεύομαι in cl. Gk means ‘I am shaken to and fro, totter’ (LSJ s.v.), for instance, of the earth being shaken in an earthquake. Here the sky ‘quakes’.
[26] τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐρχόμενον ἐν νεφέλαις μετὰ δυνάμεως πολλῆς καὶ δόξης: ‘Son of Man’ has no equivalent concept in ancient Greece. His arrival in (or on) clouds can be matched in ancient Gk literature and religion: Zeus is the ‘cloud-gatherer’, as in the Homeric cmpd epithet, νεφεληγερέτα. Qua storm god Zeus is Indo-European, but has also been assimilated to the north Semitic weather-god Adad, ‘establisher of clouds’ (M. L. West, The east face of Helicon, Oxford, 1997, pp.114-15).
[27] τοὺς ἀγγέλους: ἄγγελος is a good example of semantic shift across time and religions. Already in Homer and in cl. Gk the noun means ‘messenger, envoy’. By the time of the LXX it means ‘angel’. Cf. v. 32, οἱ ἄγγελοι ἐν οὐρανῷ.
[28] ἐγγὺς τὸ θέρος ἐστίν: θέρος, ‘harvest season, summer’ is a critical season, or καιρός; see on v. 33 below.
[30] οὐ μὴ παρέλθῃ ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη: as noted in some of my other comments, in cl. Gk οὐ μὴ + aor. subj. expresses a strong negation of a future action or state, ‘by NO means’, ‘in NO way’. An alternative cl. form for emphatic negation is οὐ μὴ + future, as in v. 31 immed. below.
[31] ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ παρελεύσονται, οἱ δὲ ἐμοὶ λόγοι οὐ μὴ παρελεύσονται: the 2nd sentence implies two subtle contrasts. ‘The heavens and earth will pass away’ in the first sentence; in the second we note two contrasts. The poss. adj. ἐμοὶ lends strong emphasis; Mark could have used μου (οἱ λόγοι μου, ‘my words’), which would have been weaker. Jesus stresses, ‘MY words’. The second contrast is to do with the future; the double negative particles οὐ μὴ + future (παρελεύσονται) amount to ‘by NO means, under NO conditions will MY words pass away’. It is almost like saying, ‘the heavens and earth may pass away, but MY words WILL NOT.’
[33] οὐκ οἴδατε γὰρ πότε ὁ καιρός ἐστιν: in ὁ καιρός the definite article ὁ retains something of its original demonstrative force, ‘that (particular) time, occasion’. καιρός in cl. Gk usually has a temporal sense (with an underlying notion of proportionality): ‘exact or critical time, season, opportunity’ (LSJ s.v., III). The time or moment can be dangerous or more often, favourable. Either way it is decisive. (One may think of Lysippos’ late 4th c. BC bronze statue of the ephebic god Kairos striding on tiptoe and carrying a razor in his right hand. A pair of scales is balanced of the razor’s edge. The swiftness or precariousness of opportunity is sharper than a razor’s edge, according to an ancient interpretation of the sculpture.) Cl. Gk καιρός in the pericope ties in with the arrival of summer signalled by the sprouting fig branch in v. 28 above.
In the NT among many other senses, καιρός may connote ‘eschatological expectations’, as here where it affirms the ‘moment of Jesus’ parousia’ (EDNT s.v., pp. 233-4).
πότε ὁ καιρός ἐστιν, lit. ‘when the moment is’ is an example of the prophetic present which really is a future. There are cl. Gk. examples (treated in my previous comments in this blog). Another example is v. 35 below.
[34] τῷ θυρωρῷ ἐνετείλατο ἵνα γρηγορῇ: ἐνετείλατο, 3rd pers. sg. aor. < ἐντέλλομαι, mid. vc., ‘command someone to do something’, in cl. Gk. c. dat. pers. + inf. Here the inf. has been replaced by the purpose clause ἵνα γρηγορῇ, a common koine feature.
Γρηγορῶ (έω), ‘I am completely awake, vigilant’, is a koine verb. It is the opposite of καθεύδω, ‘I sleep, slumber’; see v. 36, καθεύδοντας.
[35] οὐκ οἴδατε γὰρ πότε ὁ κύριος τῆς οἰκίας ἔρχεται: see comment on present as prophetic future in v. 33 above.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 