Mark 3:20-35
3:20 and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat.
3:21 When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.”
3:22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.”
3:23 And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan?
3:24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
3:25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
3:26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come.
3:27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.
3:28 “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter;
3:29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”–
3:30 for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
3:31 Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him.
3:32 A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.”
3:33 And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”
3:34 And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!
3:35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
[20] Καὶ ἔρχονται εἰς οἶκον· καὶ συνέρχεται πάλιν ὄχλος, ὥστε μὴ δύνασθαι αὐτοὺς μηδὲ ἄρτον φαγεῖν.
[21]καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐξῆλθον κρατῆσαι αὐτόν· ἔλεγον γὰρ ὅτι ἐξέστη.
[22]καὶ οἱ γραμματεῖς οἱ ἀπὸ ῾Ιεροσολύμων καταβάντες ἔλεγον ὅτι Βεελζεβοὺλ ἔχει, καὶ ὅτι ἐν τῷ ἄρχοντι τῶν δαιμονίων ἐκβάλλει τὰ δαιμόνια.
[23]καὶ προσκαλεσάμενος αὐτοὺς ἐν παραβολαῖς ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς· πῶς δύναται σατανᾶς σατανᾶν ἐκβάλλειν;
[24]καὶ ἐὰν βασιλεία ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτὴν μερισθῇ, οὐ δύναται σταθῆναι ἡ βασιλεία ἐκείνη·
[25]καὶ ἐὰν οἰκία ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτὴν μερισθῇ, οὐ δύναται σταθῆναι ἡ οἰκία ἐκείνη.
[26]καὶ εἰ ὁ σατανᾶς ἀνέστη ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτὸν καὶ μεμέρισται, οὐ δύναται σταθῆναι, ἀλλὰ τέλος ἔχει.
[27]οὐδεὶς δύναται τὰ σκεύη τοῦ ἰσχυροῦ εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν αὐτοῦ διαρπάσαι, ἐὰν μὴ πρῶτον τὸν ἰσχυρὸν δήσῃ, καὶ τότε τὴν οἰκίαν αὐτοῦ διαρπάσει.
[28]᾿Αμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι πάντα ἀφεθήσεται τοῖς υἱοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὰ ἁμαρτήματα καὶ αἱ βλασφημίαι ὅσας ἐὰν βλασφημήσωσιν.
[29]ὃς δ᾿ ἂν βλασφημήσῃ εἰς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ῞Αγιον, οὐκ ἔχει ἄφεσιν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ἀλλ᾿ ἔνοχός ἐστιν αἰωνίου κρίσεως· [30]ὅτι ἔλεγον, πνεῦμα ἀκάθαρτον ἔχει.
[31]῎Ερχονται οὖν ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔξω ἑστῶτες ἀπέστειλαν πρὸς αὐτὸν φωνοῦντες αὐτόν.
[32]καὶ ἐκάθητο περὶ αὐτὸν ὄχλος· εἶπον δὲ αὐτῷ· ἰδοὺ ἡ μήτηρ σου καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοί σου ἔξω ζητοῦσί σε.
[33]καὶ ἀπεκρίθη αὐτοῖς λέγων· τίς ἐστιν ἡ μήτηρ μου ἢ οἱ ἀδελφοί μου;
[34] καὶ περιβλεψάμενος κύκλῳ τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸν καθημένους λέγει· ἴδε ἡ μήτηρ μου καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοί μου·
[35] ὃς γὰρ ἂν ποιήσῃ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὗτος ἀδελφός μου καὶ ἀδελφή μου καὶ μήτηρ ἐστί.
Comments
The motif of house and household (εἰς οἶκον) announced in v. 20 is developed in such a way as to lead associatively, in the parable, first to the image of a house divided against itself and broken into (vv. 25, 27, οἰκία) and then, to the question of family members.
[20] Καὶ ἔρχονται εἰς οἶκον· καὶ συνέρχεται πάλιν ὄχλος: ‘And they come to a house [or household] and a crowd gathers [lit., comes together] again’. St Mk is fond of stringing together successive sentences (in parataxis) with the conjunction καί (‘and’). The present tense here is historic (or dramatic), common in koine, and enlivens the narrative. Cf. v. 31, ῎Ερχονται οὖν & v. 34, λέγει, also in the historic present. The unspecified house/ household is in the fishing village Capernaum in Galilee.
[21] καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐξῆλθον κρατῆσαι αὐτόν· ἔλεγον γὰρ ὅτι ἐξέστη: ‘and having heard, his kinsfolk went forth…’ The denominative prepositional phrase οἱ παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ means ‘kin’, which includes close and more remote relatives. ‘Having heard’ (ἀκούσαντες) presumably from eyewitnesses not necessarily well-intentioned towards Jesus.
‘his kinsfolk came forth to lay hold of him (κρατῆσαι αὐτόν). The aor. inf. denotes purpose. Κρατῶ (έω), ‘lay hold of, grasp’ c. gen. or, as here, c. acc. (in LXX: Muraoka s.v., 1). The same meaning (with a gen. or acc. object) occurs in the NT where the vb with acc. refers to ‘a more or less forcible seizing’ (EDNT, p. 314, s.v.3a). In this verse κρατῆσαι implies that ‘[t]he family of Jesus seek to take him in custody’ (ibid.).
ἔλεγον γὰρ ὅτι ἐξέστη: ‘for they [the others] were saying/ said that he ἐξέστη’, the latter is the aor. 2 of ἐξίσταμαι, pass. & mid. vc., intr., ‘be distraught, out of one’s wits’ (in cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. II.3). Lit., ‘to suffer a dislocation’; the lit. sense seems to be frequent in medical contexts. The unspecified informants said that Jesus had gone mad—had ‘lost it’. Cf. ἔκστασις in cl. Gk & NT, and Engl. ecstasy.
[22] Βεελζεβοὺλ ἔχει: ‘Beelzebub has [him]’, infests, possesses Jesus. Beelzebul is Ugaritic, cognate with ‘Baal’; poss. in Jesus’ time a colloquial term for a ‘demon-prince’ (Lane, Commentary on Mark, p. 141). In Aramaic the proper noun may have meant ‘Lord of Dung’ (Oxford guide to the Bible, p. 70, s.v. ‘Baal-zebub’).
[27] ἐὰν μὴ πρῶτον τὸν ἰσχυρὸν δήσῃ: ‘unless he first binds the powerful one.’ δήσῃ, 3rd pers. sg., aor. δέω, ‘Ι bind, tie, fetter’ (already in Homer & cl. Gk: LSJ s.v., A.1).
[28] ἀφεθήσεται τοῖς υἱοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὰ ἁμαρτήματα καὶ αἱ βλασφημίαι: ἀφεθήσεται, 3rd pers. sg., pass. vc., ἀφίημι (a cmpd vb), lit., ‘I send forth, discharge’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. A.1); fig., c. dat. pers. et acc. rei, ‘remit, release from a legal charge’ (LSJ s.v. 2c), hence (in LXX & NT), ‘I forgive’. Cf. v. 29, ἄφεσιν, ‘forgiveness’.
[34] καὶ περιβλεψάμενος κύκλῳ τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸν καθημένους λέγει: the repetition of the notion of ‘around, about’ may strike English speakers as redundant. The meaning here is ‘after looking all around in a circle at those seated around him’.
The mid. voice of the cmpd vb περιβλέπομαι (περί + βλέπομαι) is attested in post-cl. Gk. and means ‘I look round with a certain emotion’, e.g. inquisitively, etc., depending on the context (used absol. in this sense in LXX: Muraoka s.v.), but here the vb has an obj. (τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸν καθημένους).
[35] οὗτος ἀδελφός μου καὶ ἀδελφή μου καὶ μήτηρ ἐστί: the demonst. pron. οὗτος (‘THAT person’) is quite emphatic, referring back to the relative-conditional clause, ‘whoever does the will of God’ (ὃς γὰρ ἂν ποιήσῃ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ).
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 