Mark 6.20.
Text Instead of ēporei ‘he was puzzled’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has epoiei ‘he was doing.’
Exegesis ephobeito (cf. 4.40) ‘he held (John) in awe,’ ‘he feared,’ ‘he respected.’
eidōs auton andra dikaion kai hagion ‘knowing him (to be) a righteous and holy man’: the participle eidōs ‘knowing’ is causal: ‘because he knew.’
dikaios (cf. 2.17) ‘righteous,’ ‘just,’ ‘upright.’
hagios (only place in Mark used of a man) ‘holy.’
sunetērei (only here in Mark) ‘he kept safe,’ ‘he protected’: i.e. from Herodias.
kai akousas autou polla ēporei ‘and when he heard him he was much perplexed’: the majority of translations take polla ‘much,’ ‘often’ with the principal verb ēporei ‘he was puzzled’: BFBS, however, takes it with the participle akousas ‘he often heard him’ (cf. Kilpatrick, The Bible Translator 7.8, 1956).
aporeō (only here in Mark) ‘be undecided,’ ‘be puzzled’ (from a privative ‘not’ and poros ‘passage’: literally, ‘without a way’). The verb may mean ‘raise questions’ (cf. Liddell & Scott I.2), which is suggested for this passage by Field (Notes, 29f.); cf. Arndt & Gingrich.
kai hēdeōs autou ēkouen ‘yet he heard him gladly,’ ‘yet he liked to hear him.’
hēdeōs (only here in Mark) ‘gladly,’ ‘with pleasure.’
Translation Feared in this context means ‘had a great deal of respect for,’ ‘had honor for him,’ or ‘saw him big’ (as in some languages).
For righteous see 2.17. In this context some languages have rather interesting expressions: ‘did what he should’ (Eastern Otomi), ‘walked straight’ (Popoluca), ‘was a man with a good heart’ (Huichol), ‘his life was straight’ (Black Bobo), and ‘was completely good’ (Huave). (This last expression does not imply sinless perfection.)
Holy has been discussed (see 1.7) in connection with the word Spirit. When applied to persons there may need to be certain adaptations, e.g. ‘good’ (Black Bobo), ‘without sin’ (Huichol), and ‘uncontaminated’ (Vai).
Kept him safe may be translated as ‘kept him from being harmed.’
Perplexed is equivalent to ‘worried,’ e.g. ‘his heart was gone’ (Tzeltal), ‘hard chased’ (Piro), ‘his mind was killing him’ (Navajo), ‘his stomach rose up’ (Gurunse), ‘he was very irresolute’ (lit., ‘it was all wrong with him’) (Indonesian), and ‘his heart was very divided’ (Javanese).
Robert G. Bratcher and Eugene Albert Nida, A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark, Originally Published: A Translator's Handbook on the Gospel of Mark, 1961., UBS handbook series; Helps for translators (New York: United Bible Societies, 1993], c1961), 195.
Ver. 20.—The words in the Authorized Version are, When he heard him, he did many things (πολλὰ ἐποίει), and heard him gladly. But according to the best authorities the reading should be (πολλὰ ἠπόρει), he was much perplexed. In St. Luke, as stated above, we have (διηπόρει), “he was much perplexed.” Nor is there any inconsistency in the next clause in St. Mark, if we accept this reading.
The Pulpit Commentary: St. Mark Vol. I, ed. H. D. M. Spence-Jones (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2004), 246.
He did many things. This translation is based upon an erroneous reading. The Greek text is not polla epoiei (πολλα ἐποιει) which would be “did many things,” but polla ēporei (πολλα ἠπορει). The verb is aporeō (ἀπορεω) from poros (πορος) “way” and Alpha privative, which makes the word mean “without a way.” The verb thus means “to be without resources, to be in straits, to be embarrassed, not to know which way to turn, to be perplexed.” This was Herod’s state of mind when he heard John.
Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament : For the English Reader (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997, c1984), Mk 6:20.
