Marco 1:1-6

1 IL principio dell’evangelo di Gesù Cristo, Figliuol di Dio.

2 Secondo ch’egli è scritto ne’ profeti: Ecco, io mando il mio Angelo davanti alla tua faccia, il qual preparerà la tua via d’innanzi a te.

3 Vi è una voce d’uno che grida nel deserto: Acconciate la via del Signore, addirizzate i suoi sentieri.

4 Giovanni battezzava nel deserto, e predicava il battesimo della penitenza, in remission de’ peccati.

5 E tutto il paese della Giudea, e que’ di Gerusalemme, uscivano a lui, ed eran tutti battezzati da lui nel fiume Giordano, confessando i lor peccati.

6 Or Giovanni era vestito di pel di cammello, avea una cintura di cuoio intorno a’ lombi, e mangiava locuste, e miele salvatico.

Marco 1:1-6 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.