Mark 16:1-8
16:1 When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
16:2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
16:3 They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”
16:4 When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.
16:5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.
16:6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.
16:7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”
16:8 So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid.
[1] Καὶ διαγενομένου τοῦ σαββάτου Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ καὶ Μαρία ἡ τοῦ ᾿Ιακώβου καὶ Σαλώμη ἠγόρασαν ἀρώματα ἵνα ἐλθοῦσαι ἀλείψωσιν αὐτόν.
[2] καὶ λίαν πρωῒ τῆς μιᾶς σαββάτων ἔρχονται ἐπὶ τὸ μνημεῖον, ἀνατείλαντος τοῦ ἡλίου.
[3] καὶ ἔλεγον πρὸς ἑαυτάς· τίς ἀποκυλίσει ἡμῖν τὸν λίθον ἐκ τῆς θύρας τοῦ μνημείου;
[4] καὶ ἀναβλέψασαι θεωροῦσιν ὅτι ἀποκεκύλισται ὁ λίθος· ἦν γὰρ μέγας σφόδρα.
[5] καὶ εἰσελθοῦσαι εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον εἶδον νεανίσκον καθήμενον ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς, περιβεβλημένον στολὴν λευκήν, καὶ ἐξεθαμβήθησαν.
[6]ὁ δὲ λέγει αὐταῖς· μὴ ἐκθαμβεῖσθε· ᾿Ιησοῦν ζητεῖτε τὸν Ναζαρηνὸν τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον· ἠγέρθη, οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε· ἴδε ὁ τόπος ὅπου ἔθηκαν αὐτόν.
[7] ἀλλ᾿ ὑπάγετε εἴπατε τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ τῷ Πέτρῳ ὅτι προάγει ὑμᾶς εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν· ἐκεῖ αὐτὸν ὄψεσθε, καθὼς εἶπεν ὑμῖν.
[8] καὶ ἐξελθοῦσαι ἔφυγον ἀπὸ τοῦ μνημείου· εἶχε δὲ αὐτὰς τρόμος καὶ ἔκστασις, καὶ οὐδενὶ οὐδὲν εἶπον· ἐφοβοῦντο γάρ.
Comments
We have no account of the Resurrection per se, only of what preceded and followed it, a lacuna which exercised painters in the Renaissance and elicited prescriptive artistic guidelines from the western Church in the 16th century. According to specialists in Mark’s literary style and in manuscripts, his Gospel ends at v. 8, the ending of today’s pericope. The remaining bits are considered to be spurious, having been added by another author several decades later. Did St Mark intend to close his Gospel at v. 8, leaving us with a ‘cliff-hanger’ (in the words of one expert), and an ingenious one at that? Or was the rest of the original somehow lost? The abrupt closure is more striking because the last sentence ends with the causal particle γάρ (‘because’). Although such closure can occur in classical Greek (Plato, tragedy, and comedy) in elliptical sentences in stichomythia (the exchange of single lines), it is even rarer for γάρ to be the last word in an ancient book. (For γάρ in statements, see J. Denniston, Greek Particles, 56 ff. Wm. L. Lane, The Gospel of Mark, Grand Rapids, MI, 1974, p. 583n6 notes that Musonius Rufus, the 1st c. AD Stoic, concluded his Discourse XII with γάρ.)
[1] διαγενομένου τοῦ σαββάτου: absolute gen. temporal part. (2nd aor.) < διαγίνομαι (later form of the cl. διαγίγνομαι), ‘Ι elapse, intervene’ (cl. Gk prose: LSJ). The prefix δια- connotes completion.
ἀρώματα: ἄρωμα, τὸ, ‘aromatic herb or spice’ (cl. Gk prose); unknown etym. Blessed Theophylact of Ochrid (11th c.), in his Explanation, p. 140 observes that the spices in question were myrrh, which would cover up the stench of decay and also dry out the corpse, thus preserving it. (Lane, ibid., p.585 notes however that mummification was not a Jewish custom.) In Orthodox tradition these three women are known as the ‘Myrrh-bearers’.
[2] λίαν πρωῒ: λίαν, an adv., ‘very, exceedingly’, modifying another adv., πρωῒ, ‘early in the day’, ‘in the morning’ (LSJ).
ἔρχονται ἐπὶ τὸ μνημεῖον: ἔρχονται, ‘they go’, historical (or dramatic) present, used for narrative vividness and frequent in oral discourse.
τὸ μνημεῖον: derived from μιμνήσκω, ‘remind’; by LXX the sg. = ‘tomb’. The noun is repeated in vv. 3 and 5.
[4] θεωροῦσιν ὅτι ἀποκεκύλισται: ‘they see that the stone has been rolled back’ (lit. ‘rolled away’) from the opening of the tomb; ‘they see’ is another historical present, cf. v. 2.
μέγας σφόδρα: σφόδρα, adv., ‘very much, exceedingly’ (cf. λίαν above) is here construed with an adj. In such cases in cl. Gk σφόδρα follows the adj. (LSJ s.v.).
[5] ἐξεθαμβήθησαν: θαμβοῦμαι (έομαι), pass. vc., ‘I am astounded and awestruck’, a koine usage (in Homer the active θαμβῶ has the same meaning). Cf. the command, μὴ ἐκθαμβεῖσθε in v. 6.
[6] ὁ δὲ λέγει αὐταῖς: ‘he tells them’, another historic present used to dramatic effect, cf. vv. 2 and 4 above.
ἠγέρθη, οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε· ἴδε: ἠγέρθη, pass. aor. < ἐγείρομαι, ‘I wake’ (Homer & cl. pr. & poetry: LSJ s.v.II.1); in NT, ‘I am raised (up)’ (Bauer, s.v. ἐγείρω). ‘Ηe has been raised’ is a ‘theological or divine passive’ (J. R. Donahue & D. J. Harrington, The Gospel of Mark, Collegeville, MINN., 2002, p. 458). Jesus was raised, the opposite of sitting, which is what the young man in white is doing (v. 5, καθήμενον).
ἠγέρθη sums up the unwitnessed action between the posting of a guard at the tomb and the arrival of Mark’s three women.
ὧδε· ἴδε: ὧδε, ‘here’ (late Gk in this sense) and ἴδε, ‘behold!’ (aor. imper. < unattested εἴδω, ‘Ι see’) rhyme. ἴδε, like ἰδού (cf. the Hebrew hinneh הִנֵּה ), is used absolutely and is deictic, i.e. it dramatically points at something. Cf. the French voilá.
[7] ἀλλ᾿ ὑπάγετε εἴπατε: in cl. Gk prose and poetry (and already in Homer), ἀλλά can introduce a command or exhortation in the imper., usually 2nd pers. It has an intimate tone (‘Oh, but do…’) (Denniston, pp. 13-14). ὑπάγετε εἴπατε, two imperatives, ‘Do, go tell…’ ὑπάγω, intr., in cl. Gr. means ‘I go away’, but only becomes standard in the sense ‘I go, go forth’ in Hellenistic Greek (frequent in NT, esp. in miracle accounts).
προάγει ὑμᾶς εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν: ‘has a head start, is ahead of you on the way to Galilee ’. προάγω < πρό (‘before’) +ἄγω (‘lead’) c. acc. pers. is LXX syntax, and means ‘go before, go ahead of someone’ (Muraoka s.v.). As they speak, Jesus is heading towards Galilee (in the present tense).
[8] εἶχε δὲ αὐτὰς τρόμος καὶ ἔκστασις, καὶ οὐδενὶ οὐδὲν εἶπον· ἐφοβοῦντο γάρ: τρόμος, ‘trembling, quaking’ usually from fear (apparently a poetic word: LSJ).
ἔκστασις, ‘distraction of the mind’, the state of being beside oneself, of being distraught (cl. Gk prose: LSJ). As used by pseudo-Longinus (1st c. AD?), the noun refers to the ‘electric shock effect’ of sublime literature on a reader (Long. 1.4). In Mark the visitors are astounded before the sublime occurrence of the Resurrection. A Hippocratic work (Hp. Coac. 65) recognises ‘silent ecstasy’.
οὐδενὶ οὐδὲν εἶπον: the two negatives in the same clause confirm each other (Smyth, Grammar, par. 2761). Mark stresses that the women said NOTHING.
ἐφοβοῦντο γάρ: the last words of the Gospel –or the last surviving words — explain why the women were reduced to silence: ἐφοβοῦντο, ‘they were afraid’, impf. < φοβοῦμαι. In Homer the pass. and middle voice = ‘I am put to flight, routed’; in cl. Gk the same voices = ‘I am frightened’, as here. One is tempted to imagine the women ready to flee in panic.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 