Footnotes

1. Mark 7:31 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
2. Mark 7:31 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3. Mark 7:31 sn The Decapolis refers to a group of towns (originally consisting of ten; the Greek name literally means “ten towns”) whose region (except for Scythopolis) lay on the east side of the Jordan River. Although frequently seen as a league of independent city states organized by the Roman general Pompey, contemporary sources do not support such a view. Rather their unity came from their Greek (Hellenistic) culture and religions, which set them apart from surrounding areas.
4. Mark 7:33 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5. Mark 7:33 tn Grk “his”; the referent (the deaf man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6. Mark 7:33 sn After spitting, he touched his tongue. It was not uncommon in Judaism of the day to associate curative powers with a person’s saliva. The scene as a whole reflects Jesus’ willingness to get close to people and have physical contact with them where appropriate. See W. L. Lane, Mark (NICNT), 267 n. 78.
7. Mark 7:34 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
8. Mark 7:34 sn The author’s parenthetical note gives the meaning of the Aramaic word Ephphatha.
9. Mark 7:35 tn Grk “his”; the referent (the man who had been a deaf mute) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10. Mark 7:36 tn Grk “but as much as he ordered them, these rather so much more proclaimed.” Greek tends to omit direct objects when they are clear from the context, but these usually need to be supplied for the modern English reader. Here what Jesus ordered has been clarified (“ordered them not to do this”), and the pronoun “it” has been supplied after “proclaimed.”