Mark 10:46-52
Christ heals blind Bartimaeus
10:46They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.
10:47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
10:48Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
10:49Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.”
10:50So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.
10:51Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.”
10:52Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
[46]Καὶ ἔρχονται εἰς ῾Ιεριχώ. καὶ ἐκπορευομένου αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ ῾Ιεριχὼ καὶ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ ὄχλου ἱκανοῦ, ὁ υἱὸς Τιμαίου Βαρτιμαῖος τυφλὸς ἐκάθητο παρὰ τὴν ὁδὸν προσαιτῶν.
[47]καὶ ἀκούσας ὅτι ᾿Ιησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖός ἐστιν, ἤρξατο κράζειν καὶ λέγειν· υἱὲ Δαυῒδ ᾿Ιησοῦ, ἐλέησόν με.
[48]καὶ ἐπετίμων αὐτῷ πολλοὶ ἵνα σιωπήσῃ· ὁ δὲ πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἔκραζεν· υἱὲ Δαυΐδ, ἐλέησόν με.
[49]καὶ στὰς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπε· φωνήσατε αὐτόν· καὶ φωνοῦσι τὸν τυφλὸν λέγοντες αὐτῷ· θάρσει, ἔγειρε· φωνεῖ σε.
[50]ὁ δὲ ἀποβαλὼν τὸ ἱμάτιον αὐτοῦ ἀναστὰς ἦλθε πρὸς τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν.
[51]καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς· τί σοι θέλεις ποιήσω; ὁ δὲ τυφλὸς εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ῥαββουνί, ἵνα ἀναβλέψω.
[52]καὶ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ὕπαγε, ἡ πίστις σου σέσωκέ σε. καὶ εὐθέως ἀνέβλεψε, καὶ ἠκολούθει τῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ.
Comments
A lone cry and voice and a collective voice can be heard in this passage.
[47] τυφλὸς: the standard adj. for ‘blind’ (already in Homer); derived from τύφομαι, ‘I am filled with smoke’ (Chantraine s.v.). Repeated in vv. 49 & 51.
προσαιτῶν: προσαιτῶ, abs., ‘to beg’; ‘to be a beggar’ (cl. Gk poetry & prose: LSJ s.v.).
[48] κράζειν: κράζω, of ravens and frogs, ‘croak’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v.); generally, ‘scream, shriek’; ‘bawl, shout’ (cl. Gk poetry), freq. in LXX. Bartimaeus is crying out raucously. Cf. 48, ἔκραζεν, impf.
[49] στὰς: ἵσταμαι, pass.- mid. vc., intr. sense, ‘stop, halt’ (LSJ s.v. ἵστημι, Β. II.1). Jesus stopped in his tracks.
φωνήσατε αὐτόν· καὶ φωνοῦσι τὸν τυφλὸν: φωνέω, c. acc. pers., ‘call by name, call’ (cl. poetry: LSJ s.v. II.1); in LXX, c. acc. pers., ‘to invite in’ (Muraoka s.v. 2). The meaning here is based on both of these strands, hence ‘summon, direct someone to come’ (EDNT s.v. 2b). The repetition of the vb suggests that unspecified persons (one after another in a chain) complied with Jesus’ directions; by the time the message reached Bartimaeus it was in the form ‘Hey, he’s summoning/ inviting you’ or ‘Hey, blind man, he’s summoning you.’ He is not summoned by name. In keeping with the import of the vb φωνέω, the blind man does not merely go to Jesus but joins him on the way (52, ἠκολούθει τῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ).
[51] ἵνα ἀναβλέψω: the Greek is ‘in order that I may look up (and see)’.
[52] καὶ εὐθέως ἀνέβλεψε: ‘and straightaway he looked up (and saw)’. The adv. εὐθέως denotes instantaneous healing. If we look at the parallelism in the syntax of vv. 49-50 and 51-2 we notice human beings acting in compliance with the commands of Jesus: ‘He told them to summon the blind man, and they summoned him’ ~ ‘He said, “Go forth, for your faith has healed you”, and at once he saw and followed Jesus’.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 