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Mark 16

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The Empty Tomb Discovered 1–8

1
And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. ​
2
And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. ​
3
And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?
4
And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.
5
And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.
6
And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. ​
7
But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you. ​
8
And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid. ​

Appearances to His Disciples 9–13

9
Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. ​
10
And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
11
And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. ​
12
After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country.
13
And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.

The Great Commission and the Ascension 14–20

14
Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. ​
15
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. ​
16
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. ​
17
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; ​
18
They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. ​
19
So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. ​
20
And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Mark 16

Verse 1

sweet spices — Aroma, spices bought ‘that they might come and anoint him’. The three named are those of 15:40, two also in 15:47. John records that Nicodemus had already brought ‘a mixture of myrrh and aloes’ and that the body was wound ‘in linen clothes with the spices’ (John 19:39–40); Jesus had said of Bethany’s anointing, ‘aforehand to anoint my body to the burying’ (Mark 14:8).

Verse 2

the first day of the week — All four Gospels date the discovery on this day (Matt 28:1; Luke 24:1; John 20:1). It is ‘the morrow after the sabbath’ on which the priest waved the firstfruit sheaf (Lev 23:11), and Christ is ‘the firstfruits of them that slept’ (1 Cor 15:20).

Verse 6

Be not affrighted — Ekthambeo is a word of Mark’s own: 9:15, 14:33 (‘sore amazed’, in Gethsemane) and here and in v.5 only. ‘He is risen’ answers the words of 8:31 and 9:31, and Paul gives the same order of events: ‘he was buried, and… he rose again the third day according to the scriptures’ (1 Cor 15:4).

Verse 7

tell his disciples and Peter — Peter is named apart, after his three denials (Mark 14:66–72). ‘As he said unto you’ points back to Mark 14:28, ‘after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.’ Paul lists that Christ ‘was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve’ (1 Cor 15:5).

Verse 8

neither said they any thing to any man — Tromos and ekstasis, trembling and amazement, are the women’s response, and the verse ends with ‘they were afraid’. Matthew says they left ‘with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word’ (Matt 28:8), and Luke that they ‘told all these things unto the eleven’ (Luke 24:9).

Verse 9

out of whom he had cast seven devils — Mary Magdalene is named in Luke 8:2 as the woman ‘out of whom went seven devils’. She is the first to whom he appears; John 20:14–16 tells that she ‘saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus’ until he spoke her name.

Verse 11

believed not — Apisteo, to disbelieve, used in Mark only here and in v.16. Luke records the same response to the women’s report: ‘their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not’ (Luke 24:11). The residue of the disciples answer likewise in v.13: ‘neither believed they them’.

Verse 14

upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart — Oneidizo is the verb of 15:32, where those crucified with him ‘reviled’ him. Sklerokardia, hardness of heart, occurs in Mark only here and at 10:5, and in Matt 19:8. The ground of the rebuke is that ‘they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen’.

Verse 15

preach the gospel to every creature — Ktisis, creation, the word of Col 1:23, ‘the gospel… which was preached to every creature which is under heaven’. The command widens the earlier word, ‘the gospel must first be published among all nations’ (Mark 13:10), and runs parallel to Matt 28:19, ‘teach all nations’.

Verse 16

He that believeth and is baptized — Belief comes first, and baptism follows it. The second half names only unbelief: ‘shall be damned’ is katakrino, to condemn, the word of 10:33, ‘they shall condemn him to death’. John 3:18 puts the same: ‘he that believeth not is condemned already’.

Verse 17

signs shall follow them that believe — Acts records the signs named here: devils cast out ‘in the name of Jesus Christ’ (Acts 16:18; 8:7) and speaking with tongues (Acts 2:4). ‘New’ tongues is kainos, new in kind; Acts 2:4 says ‘other tongues’. The verse opens a pair with v.20, ‘signs following’.

Verse 18

take up serpents — Jesus gave the seventy ‘power to tread on serpents and scorpions’ (Luke 10:19). Paul shook a viper ‘off… into the fire, and felt no harm’ (Acts 28:5), and laid hands on the sick father of Publius and ‘healed him’ (Acts 28:8). Thanasimos, ‘deadly thing’, occurs only here.

Verse 19

sat on the right hand of God — Jesus had said, ‘ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power’ (Mark 14:62), and had cited Ps 110:1, ‘Sit thou on my right hand’ (Mark 12:36). ‘Received up’ is analambano, the verb of Acts 1:2, ‘the day in which he was taken up’, and 1 Tim 3:16, ‘received up into glory’.

Verse 20

the Lord working with them — Sunergeo, to work together, the verb of Rom 8:28, ‘all things work together for good’. ‘Confirming’ (bebaioo) is the word of Heb 2:3–4, ‘confirmed unto us by them that heard him… God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders’. The signs ‘following’ close the section opened in v.17.