Mark 1:21-34

21 And they went into Capernaum and immediately on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue.^[a]

A Man with an Unclean Spirit Healed

22 And they were amazed at his teaching, because he was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like the scribes.

23 And so then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit, and he cried out,

24 saying, "{Leave us alone},^[b] Jesus the Nazarene! Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!"

25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!"

26 And [after]^[c] convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, the unclean spirit came out of him.

27 And they were all amazed, so that [they began] to discuss with one another, saying, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He even commands the unclean spirits and they obey him."

28 And the report about him then went out everywhere in the whole surrounding region of Galilee.

Many at Capernaum Are Healed

29 And so then he departed from the synagogue [and]^[d] came into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.

30 Now Simon's mother-in-law was lying down, suffering with a fever, and at once they told him about her.

31 And he came [and]^[e] raised her up [by]^[f] taking hold of her^[g] hand, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

32 Now [when it]^[h] was evening, when the sun had set, they began bringing^[i] to him all those {who were sick}^[j] and those who were demon-possessed.

33 And the whole town was gathered together at the door.

34 And he healed many {who were sick}^[k] with various diseases and expelled many demons. And he did not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

Mark 1:21-34 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO MARK

This is the title of the book, the subject of which is the Gospel; a joyful account of the ministry, miracles, actions, and sufferings of Christ: the writer of it was not one of the twelve apostles, but an evangelist; the same with John Mark, or John, whose surname was Mark: John was his Hebrew name, and Mark his Gentile name, Ac 12:12,25, and was Barnabas's sister's son, Col 4:10, his mother's name was Mary, Ac 12:12. The Apostle Peter calls him his son, 1Pe 5:13, if he is the same; and he is thought to have wrote his Gospel from him {a}, and by his order, and which was afterwards examined and approved by him {b} it is said to have been wrote originally in Latin, or in the Roman tongue: so say the Arabic and Persic versions at the beginning of it, and the Syriac version says the same at the end: but of this there is no evidence, any more, nor so much, as of Matthew's writing his Gospel in Hebrew. The old Latin copy of this, is a version from the Greek; it is most likely that it was originally written in Greek, as the rest of the New Testament.

{a} Papias apud Euseb. Hist. l. 3. c. 39. Tertull. adv. Marcion. l. 4. c. 5. {b} Hieron. Catalog. Script. Eccles. p. 91. sect. 18.

Footnotes

• [a]. Some manuscripts have "he went into the synagogue and began to teach"
• [b]. Literally "what to us and to you"
• [c]. *Here "[after]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("convulsing") which is understood as temporal
• [d]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("departed") has been translated as a finite verb
• [e]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("came") has been translated as a finite verb
• [f]. *Here "[by]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("taking hold of") which is understood as means
• [g]. Literally "the"; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
• [h]. *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle ("was")
• [i]. The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here ("began bringing")
• [j]. Literally "who were having badly"
• [k]. Literally "who were having badly"