Mark 16: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Three women come to Jesus' tomb early on the first day of the week to put spices on his body, find the large stone rolled away, and are told by a young man in a white robe that Jesus has risen and is going ahead of the disciples to Galilee. They run away trembling and say nothing to anyone. The chapter then reports that Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, to two men walking in the country, and to the eleven, whom he rebuked for not believing and then sent out to preach to everyone, with signs promised for those who believe. It ends with Jesus taken up into heaven and the disciples preaching everywhere.

Claim by Claim

1. 16:1
   • The sabbath was over.
   • Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought fragrant spices.
   • They bought the spices so that they might come and anoint him.
2. 16:2
   • Very early on the first day of the week they came to the tomb.
   • They came at the rising of the sun.
3. 16:3
   • They said among themselves, asking who would roll the stone away for them from the entrance of the tomb.
4. 16:4
   • They looked up.
   • They saw that the stone had been rolled away.
   • The stone was very large.
5. 16:5
   • They entered the tomb.
   • They saw a young man sitting on the right side.
   • The young man was clothed in a long white robe.
   • They were alarmed.
6. 16:6
   • He said to them not to be alarmed.
   • He said they were seeking Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.
   • He said Jesus has risen.
   • He said Jesus is not there.
   • He told them to look at the place where they had laid him.
7. 16:7
   • He told them to go and tell his disciples and Peter.
   • He said Jesus goes before them into Galilee.
   • He said they would see Jesus there.
   • He said this was as Jesus had told them.
8. 16:8
   • They went out quickly and fled from the tomb.
   • They were trembling and astonished.
   • They said nothing to anyone.
   • They were afraid.
9. 16:9
   • Jesus rose early on the first day of the week.
   • He appeared first to Mary Magdalene.
   • He had cast seven demons out of Mary Magdalene.
10. 16:10
    • She went and told those who had been with him.
    • Those who had been with him were mourning and weeping.
11. 16:11
    • They heard that Jesus was alive.
    • They heard that he had been seen by her.
    • They did not believe it.
12. 16:12
    • After that he appeared in a different form to two of them.
    • The two were walking and going into the country.
13. 16:13
    • The two went and told it to the rest.
    • The rest did not believe them either.
14. 16:14
    • Afterward he appeared to the eleven as they were reclining at a meal.
    • He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart.
    • He reproached them because they had not believed those who had seen him after he was risen.
15. 16:15
    • He said to them to go into all the world.
    • He said to preach the gospel to every creature.
16. 16:16
    • Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.
    • Whoever does not believe will be condemned.
17. 16:17
    • These signs will accompany those who believe.
    • In his name they will cast out demons.
    • They will speak with new tongues.
18. 16:18
    • They will pick up serpents.
    • If they drink anything deadly, it will not harm them.
    • They will lay hands on the sick.
    • The sick will recover.
19. 16:19
    • The Lord finished speaking to them.
    • He was taken up into heaven.
    • He sat down at the right hand of God.
20. 16:20
    • They went out and preached everywhere.
    • The Lord worked with them.
    • The Lord confirmed the word by the signs that accompanied it.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

16:1

The Sabbath ran from Friday evening to Saturday evening, and neither shopping nor the handling of a corpse was done during it, so the women had to wait until it ended. Anointing a body with sweet-smelling spices and oils was a normal act of respect for the dead and a way of covering the smell of decay; it was not embalming and did nothing to preserve the body. "Mary the mother of James" is one of several women named Mary, distinguished here by her son, the ordinary way of telling apart people with very common names.

16:2

Days of the Jewish week had no names except the seventh, the Sabbath, so "the first day of the week" simply means the day after it, our Sunday. Since a day was reckoned from sunset, this is the morning of the third day counting from the Friday of the burial, by an inclusive count that treats Friday as day one.

16:3

A tomb of this kind was a chamber cut into rock with a low doorway, closed by a heavy stone set into a groove or wedged into the opening. Moving one took several strong people, which is why three women on their own wonder aloud who will do it.

16:4

The King James puts the clause about size after the news that the stone had been moved, which can read as though the stone rolled away because it was large. The sense is the reverse: the stone was enormous, and that is why the women had worried and why finding it moved was startling.

16:5

"Affrighted" is the 1611 word for badly frightened, stronger than the modern "alarmed." Mark does not use the word angel here; he says simply "a young man" in a long white robe, white clothing being the standard mark of a messenger from God in writing of this period.

16:6

"Jesus of Nazareth" identifies him by his home village in Galilee, the usual way of distinguishing one man from another where the name Jesus was extremely common. The Greek behind "he is risen" is a passive form, literally "he was raised," though English translations have long rendered it as an active "he is risen."

16:7

"Go your way" is simply old English for "go"; it carries no sense of going off separately. Naming Peter apart from "his disciples" is pointed: a few days earlier Peter had denied three times that he knew Jesus (Mark 14:66-72).

16:8

In the King James "amazed" is much stronger than it is now; the Greek word means driven out of one's senses. The oldest surviving Greek manuscripts of Mark stop at this verse, ending with frightened women saying nothing, and the last sentence in Greek breaks off on the word "for," an abrupt close that has been debated for centuries.

16:9

Verses 9 to 20 are missing from the earliest and most reliable manuscripts of Mark, and other ancient copies carry a different, shorter ending instead. Most modern Bibles print them but mark them off for this reason. The King James, working from later manuscripts, includes them without comment. Where the King James says "devils," the Greek word is "demons." The text says only that seven demons were driven out of Mary Magdalene; it does not say what her affliction was, and the widespread notion that she had been a prostitute appears nowhere in any of the Gospels.

16:12

"In another form" means his appearance was different, so that the two did not recognize him. Luke 24 tells the same walk into the country at greater length.

16:13

"The residue" here means the rest of the group, an older sense of the word. It does not mean leftovers or remains.

16:14

"The eleven" is the group of twelve close followers minus Judas. "Sat at meat" means were at a meal; diners at a formal meal reclined on their sides rather than sitting on chairs. "Upbraided" means rebuked sharply. "Hardness of heart" in this idiom is stubborn refusal to be persuaded, not cruelty.

16:15

"Gospel" translates a Greek word meaning an announcement of good news, the kind of report a herald brings back from a battle or about a new ruler. "Every creature" renders a phrase meaning the whole created order; in context it means every human being everywhere.

16:16

Baptism was immersion in water, a public washing that marked a person's entry into the group. "Damned" in 1611 English meant condemned, the verdict of a court passing sentence; the narrower modern sense of eternal punishment had not yet taken over the word, and the Greek verb here is the ordinary one for being condemned.

16:17

"In my name" means on his authority, acting as his agent, the way an official acts in the name of a king. "Devils" again translates the Greek word for demons. "Tongues" means languages; the phrase is about speaking in languages not previously theirs.

16:18

"Take up" is the plain verb for picking something up, and the sentence does not say whether the snakes are handled deliberately or encountered by accident. "Any deadly thing" means deadly poison.

16:19

"Received up" is a passive: he was taken up, not that he took himself. The seat at a ruler's right hand was the place of highest honor and delegated power, so "sat on the right hand of God" is a statement about rank and authority rather than a description of physical position.

16:20

The King James "with signs following" means by means of the signs that accompanied the message, not signs that came afterward as a separate event. "Amen" is a Hebrew word meaning roughly "truly" or "let it be so," used to close a statement; it was often added by copyists at the end of a book.

Where the Manuscripts Differ

Worth knowing before you stand up: a listener following a modern translation may not have this verse in front of them.

16:9

The oldest surviving manuscripts of Mark end at verse 8. These last twelve verses appear in later copies, and most modern Bibles print them with a note saying so.