Vorkosigan

Sheesh! Thanks, I now have a better grip on why scholars so often try to make Mark dumb.

Peter Kirby

Neil--I didn't know you were an evangelist. I will have to check out this LibraryThing! Perhaps, it will let me annotate which of my books are in which boxes? (That's right, no proper bookshelves--my books are in boxes in the garage!)

The main problem from a pecuniary perspective is that the sale at Amazon doesn't credit the Internet Infidels. Is there an option to toto-ize LibraryThing, and give the Amazon cookie to the referring site (Infidels)? (Since it is a cookie, the main thing would be that the cookie is set for Infidels and isn't overwritten by LibraryThing. IS LibraryThing an Amazon associate?)

If so, perhaps a link could be made that one passes through, picking up an Amazon cookie for Infidels, and then proceeds to the LibraryThing page. We could even write this on the IIDB/Infidels side of thing...as long as LibraryThing doesn't overwrite with its own Amazon cookie.

regards,
Peter Kirby

neilgodfrey

Peter, I am not a techie. I was given the job of metadata specialist because i am not a techie and was seen as potentially able to keep the techies in line for their non-techie end-users. I only know enough to know when to refer a question to a techie for a more qualified answer. Best ask your questions of Tim Spalding or Abby via the LibraryThing site.

As for annotating boxed books, no problem. LibraryThing is still beta though, and you might have to check out if you can search on your particular annotation -- at this stage and if not, it might mean you have to be methodical in how you enter certain notes -- alphabetically frex.

(LibraryThing is not "an Amazon associate" if you mean by that a corporate extension of amazon. I'm more in tune with library exchanges via the z39.50 protocol which has been extended by librarything to the new web generation. Check with Tim or Abby.)

Peter Kirby

Amazon associates aren't corporate extensions of Amazon. They are sites like the Infidels and, yes, LibraryThing, that get revenue from linking to Amazon for book sales. (And although LibraryThing is new, I am betting that a hefty chunk of its revenues is coming from the "librarythin08-20" Amazon associate id.)

A potential concern here is that of "double dipping"--I am paying for the privilege of posting my library, annotations, and recommendations to LibraryThing--and thus enhancing its service to users also--which is fine. The double dip comes in when LibraryThing, and noone else, gets the Amazon cookie.

What I would suggest is that LibraryThing develop an associate program of its own--and that people who link to LibraryThing, as an associate, have the Amazon links (for people referred to LibraryThing by that associate) rewritten to go to the Amazon account of their choice, such as TheSecularWeb or PeterKirby. LibraryThing can even keep all of the subscription revenues, as long as it rewrites the links in perpetuity for the person who was referred to LibraryThing that way.

Has LibraryThing offered any incentive to people to link to LibraryThing besides "it's neat"? Of course it should be successful with that alone, but for the Toto's and Peter Kirby's of the world, it might make sense to encourage LibraryThing linkage with a reward too.

Don't believe me? I have a site called Early Christian Writings, which, I will disclose, generates an average of $500 a quarter from Amazon book sales. Now I could go to the trouble of rewriting all the Amazon links as LibraryThing links, but not only would this be a bother, it would cost me about $5 a day to do. That's my lunch money!

On the other hand, if LibraryThing let me "keep my customer"--keep the revenues from Amazon for the people linked to the book--I would be happy to refer them to become also a user and perhaps customer of LibraryThing. This would even be better for me, because while an Amazon cookie stays for 24 hours, my LibraryThing cookie could stay for a longer period--say 30 days--and become permanently associated with the user if they sign up for LibraryThing on my recommendation.

Right now, though, to link to LibraryThing would be like writing a check for $2000 USD every year to LibraryThing. Not something I'd want to do.

regards,
Peter Kirby

PS-- The nice thing about this kind of associate program is that it requires very little handson management by LibraryThing (you could say 'none'). All the checks and so on would be written by Amazon, AbeBooks, and the like. All LibraryThing has to do is to remember that the person who referred the user to LibraryThing is the one who should be credited with the book sale, rewriting the Amazon/AbeBook/etc links appropriately.

Peter Kirby

I've opened a thread at LibraryThing.

regards,
Peter Kirby

jgibson000

Try, for starters, R.T. France, The Gospel of Mark : A Commentary on the Greek Text (or via: amazon.co.uk). Grand Rapids, Mich.; Carlisle : W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2002, S. 685

Then go on to explore the bibliography (and comments) that appear in C.A. Evans Mark 8:27-16:20. (or via: amazon.co.uk) Dallas : Word, Incorporated, 2002 (Word Biblical Commentary 34B), S. 540 (below).


APPENDED NOTE
THE TEXTUAL EVIDENCE FOR THE ENDING OF MARK
The purpose of this note is not to argue again for what is the virtually unanimous verdict of modern textual scholarship,40 that the authentic text of Mark available to us ends at 16:8, but rather to set out as simply and clearly as possible (which inevitably will mean some oversimplification) the data which have contributed to that consensus.41

A. Textual Evidence
1. The text ends at 16:8 in the major fourth-century codices אand B and in a number of MSS of versions, notably the fourth-century Sinaitic Syriac. Clement of Alexandria and Origen do not appear to have known any text beyond v. 8, and Eusebius and Jerome both state that the traditional Londer Ending (vv. 9–20) was not found in the majority of the Greek MSS available to them. The earliest form of the Eusebian canons (deriving from Ammonius, early third century) made no provision for readings in Mark beyond 16:8.

2. OL Codex Bobbiensis omits the last six words of v. 8 and goes on instead not with vv. 9–20 but with the Shorter Ending which briefly reports (in thirty-four words) how the women took the news to the disciples and how Jesus then sent out by them to all the world ‘the holy and immortal proclamation of eternal salvation. Amen’. It includes no account of a resurrection appearance of Jesus, though this is no doubt implied by the statement that αὐτὸς ὁ Ἰησοῦς sent out the gospel proclamation (and a few MSS add ἐφάνη).

3. Without amending v. 8, two seventh-century fragments (099, 0112), two eighth-century MSS (L and Ψ), and a few later uncials use the same Shorter Ending, but then follow it also with some or all of the Longer Ending. The same is found in a few Coptic and Ethiopic MSS and in the margin of the Harcleian Syriac (the main text of which has only the Longer Ending).

4. A number of later minuscule MSS (f1 22 etc.) give the Longer Ending but mark it off with marginal signs or comments to indicate that its textual status is doubtful.

5. The remaining MSS and versions (which are of course the vast majority, but on the whole are later than those mentioned above) contain the Longer Ending (vv. 9–20), continuing after v. 8 without comment. It was known at least as early as Tatian and Irenaeus in the latter part of the second century.

6. The fifth-century codex W, one of the earliest MSS to have the Longer Ending, has a substantial addition of eighty-nine words (the ‘Freer logion’) at the beginning of v. 15, described by B. M. Metzger as having an ‘obvious and pervasive apocryphal flavour’,42 which consists of a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples concerning the ending of the period of Satan’s power and the truth and righteousness now made available through Christ’s death. Jerome records the same additional words and says they were found in some Greek MSS.

B. Literary Considerations
1. Most of the content of the Longer Ending (vv. 9–20) echoes, usually in abbreviated form, elements in the resurrection stories of Matthew, Luke, and John, as follows:
v. 9
Appearance to Mary of Magdala
Jn. 20:11–17 (with Lk. 8:2)
v. 10
Mary of Magdala as messenger
Jn. 20:18
vv. 11, 13
Disciples’ unbelief
Lk. 24:11, 41
vv. 12–13
Walk to Emmaus
Lk. 24:13–35
v. 14
Appearance to the eleven
Lk. 24:36–49; Jn. 20:19–23
v. 14
Rebuke of unbelief
Jn. 20:24–29 [?]
v. 15
Evangelistic commission
Mt. 28:19; Lk. 24:47
v. 19
Ascension
Lk. 24:50–51 (together with the ‘sitting at the right hand’ theology of Hebrews etc.)

The parts of the Longer Ending not accounted for in this list are those which go beyond the resurrection appearances as such to describe the subsequent preaching and activity of the church. Thus in v. 16 we have a summary of a basic baptismal soteriology, which has the flavour of Johannine dualism (and possibly draws on the baptism element in Mt. 28:19–20), in vv. 17–18 some of the ‘signs’ which are related in Acts are summarised, and v. 20 is virtually a summary of the whole book of Acts in a nutshell. In the whole of the Longer Ending the only element which is not easily accounted for on the basis of familiarity with the other gospels and Acts is the emphasis in v. 18 on handling poisonous snakes and drinking poison: the former perhaps reflects the single instance of (involuntary) snake-handling in Acts 28:3–6,43 but the expectation of these two activities as regular ‘signs’ is the one distinctive contribution which the Longer Ending makes. In all other respects vv. 9–20 have something of a ‘secondhand’ flavour, and look like a pastiche of elements drawn from the other gospels and Acts.

2. It is hard to characterise the style of the Longer Ending as a whole since it is such a mixture of elements from other sources, but it certainly reads very differently from Mark’s lively and expansive narrative, and contains a notable concentration of words not used elsewhere in Mark.44 In particular, both v. 20 and the main part of the Shorter Ending read more like pious committee summaries of the post-Easter task and experiences of the church than like the way Mark writes in his gospel.

3. Neither ending follows naturally after v. 8 since both contradict its closing statement (unless the last six words of v. 8 are omitted, as in Codex Bobbiensis but nowhere else). The Longer Ending has further problems in that v. 9 begins with Jesus as subject yet without naming him, when the subject of v. 8 was the women and Jesus was not present in the preceding scene, and goes on to introduce Mary of Magdala as if she had not already been mentioned in 15:40, 47 and 16:1.

For these reasons, the almost unanimous conclusion of modern scholarship is that both the Shorter and Longer Endings, in their different ways, represent well-meaning attempts, probably sometime in the second century,45 to fill the perceived gap left by the ‘unfinished’ ending at 16:8, in the case of the Longer Ending by drawing eclectically on what had by then become the familiar traditions of the post-apostolic church, and that these endings, particularly the longer, established themselves in general usage so that by the fourth century they appeared in many MSS, though by no means yet all (so Eusebius and Jerome). As time went on, the text concluding at 16:8 was increasingly forgotten, and virtually all later MSS included one (or occasionally both) of the endings. This is an intelligible historical process which accounts as economically as possible for the various data listed above.


Evans

P. Two Endings (16:9–20)
Bibliography

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Farmer, W. R. The Last Twelve Verses of Mark. SNTSMS 25. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1974. Fegley, H. N. “An Exegetical Study on Mark 16,17–20.” Lutheran Church Review 11 (1891) 241–50. Fuller, R. H. “Longer Mark: Forgery, Interpolation, or Old Tradition?” In Protocol of the Eighteenth Colloquy, 7 December 1975, The Center for Hermeneutical Studies in Hellenistic and Modern Culture. Ed. W. Wuellner. Berkeley: The Center for Hermeneutical Studies in Hellenistic and Modern Culture, 1976. 1–11. Goodspeed, E. J. “The Original Conclusion of the Gospel of Mark.” AJT 9 (1905) 484–90. ———. “The Original Conclusion of Mark.” Exp 45 (1919) 155–60. Gourgues, M. À la droite de Dieu: Résurrection de Jésus et actualisation du Psaume 110:1 dans le Nouveau Testament. EBib. Paris: Gabalda, 1978. 199–208. Gregory, C. R. “Das Freer-Logion.” Theologisches Literatur Blatt 29 (1908) 74–75. Grimme, H. “Harmonie zwischen Anfang und Schluss des Markus-evangeliums.” TQ 126 (1946) 276–89. Guy, H. A. The Origin of the Gospel of Mark. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1954. 157–63. Haacker, K. “Bemerkungen zum Freer-Logion.” ZNW 63 (1972) 125–29. Harnack, A. “Neues zum unechten Marcusschluss.” TLZ 33 (1908) 168–70. Harris, J. R. “On the Alternative Ending of St. Mark’s Gospel.” JBL 12 (1893) 96–103. Hartmann, G. Der Aufbau des Markusevangeliums mit einem Anhang: Untersuchungen zur Echtheit des Markusschlusses. NTAbh 17. Münster: Aschendorff, 1936. Hay, D. M. Glory at the Right Hand: Psalm 110 in Early Christianity. SBLMS 18. Nashville; New York: Abingdon, 1973. 42–45, 104–15. Helzle, E. “Der Schluss des Markusevangeliums (Mk 16,9–20) und das Freer-Logion (Mk 16,24 W), ihre Tendenzen und ihr gegenseitiges Verhältnis.” TLZ 85 (1960) 470–72. Herklotz, F. “Zu Mk 16,9–20.” BZ 15 (1918–19) 149–50. Horst, P. W. van der. “Can a Book End with γάρ? A Note on Mark xvi.8.” JTS n.s. 23 (1972) 121–24. Hubbard, B. J. The Matthean Redaction of a Primitive Apostolic Commissioning: An Exegesis of Matthew 28:16–20. SBLDS 19. Missoula, MT: SBL, 1974. 137–49. Hug, J. La finale de l’Évangile de Marc (Mc 16, 9–20). EBib. Paris: Gabalda, 1978. Jeremias, J. “The Freer Logion.” In Gospels and Related Writings. Vol. 1 of New Testament Apocrypha. Ed. W. Schneemelcher. Rev. ed. Cambridge: James Clarke; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1991. 248–49. Katz, P. “The Early Christians’ Use of Codices instead of Rolls.” JTS n.s. 44 (1945) 63–69. Kenyon, F. G. “Papyrus Rolls and the Ending of St. Mark.” JTS n.s. 40 (1939) 56–57. Kevin, R. O. “The Lost Ending of the Gospel according to Mark: A Criticism and a Reconstruction.” JBL 45 (1926) 81–103. Kilpatrick, G. D. “Some Thoughts on Modern Textual Criticism and the Synoptic Gospels.” NovT 19 (1977) 275–92 (repr. in G. D. Kilpatrick. The Principles and Practice of New Testament Textual Criticism: Collected Essays. Ed. J. K. Elliott. BETL 96. Leuven: Peeters and Leuven UP, 1990. 80–97). Knox, W. L. “The Ending of St. Mark’s Gospel.” HTR 35 (1942) 13–23. Koch, H. “Der erweite Markusschluss und die kleinasiatischen Presbyter.” BZ 6 (1908) 266–78. Koester, H. “Response to Reginald Fuller’s Paper.” In Protocol of the Eighteenth Colloquy, 7 December 1975, The Center for Hermeneutical Studies in Hellenistic and Modern Culture. Ed. W. Wuellner. Berkeley: The Center for Hermeneutical Studies in Hellenistic and Modern Culture, 1976. 29–32. Kolenkow, A. B. “Response to Reginald Fuller’s Paper.” In Protocol of the Eighteenth Colloquy, 7 December 1975, The Center for Hermeneutical Studies in Hellenistic and Modern Culture. Ed. W. Wuellner. Berkeley: The Center for Hermeneutical Studies in Hellenistic and Modern Culture, 1976. 33–34. Legault, A. “Christophanies et angélophanies dans les récits évangéliques de la résurrection.” ScEs 21 (1969) 443–57. Liese, H. “In Ascensione Domini (Mc 16,14–20).” VD 12 (1932) 129–34. Lightfoot, R. H. The Gospel Message of St. Mark. Oxford: Clarendon, 1950. 80–97. Linnemann, E. “Der (wiedergefundene) Markusschluss.” ZTK 66 (1969) 255–87. Linton, O. “Der vermisste Markusschluss.” TBl 8 (1929) 229–34. Lubsczyk, H. “Kyrios Jesus: Beobachtungen und Gedanken zum Schluss des Markusevangeliums.” In Die Kirche des Anfangs. FS H. Schürmann, ed. R. Schnackenburg et al. ETS 38. Leipzig: St. Benno, 1977. 133–74, esp. 146–73. Mader, J. “Der Markusschluss.” BZ 3 (1905) 269–72. Maly, K. “Mk 16,14–20.” Dienst am Wort 3 (1966) 85–90. Martin, J. P. P. Partie pratique. Vol. 2 of Introduction ê la critique textuelle du Nouveau Testament. Paris: Maisonneuve freres et C. Leclerc, 1884. 1–554. Metzger, B. M. “The Ending of the Gospel according to Mark in the Ethiopic Manuscripts.” In Understanding the Sacred Text. FS M. S. Enslin, ed. J. Reumann. Valley Forge, PA: Judson, 1972. 165–80 (repr. in B. M. Metzger. New Testament Studies: Philological, Versional, and Patristic. NTTS 10. Leiden: Brill, 1980. 127–47). ———. The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration. 3rd ed. Oxford; New York: Oxford UP, 1992. 226–29. Mirecki, P. A. “The Antithetic Saying in Mark 16:16.” In The Future of Early Christianity. FS H. Koester, ed. B. A. Pearson. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991. 229–41. Mitton, C. L. “Some Further Studies in St. Mark’s Gospel.” ExpTim 87 (1975–76) 297–301. Nauck, W. “Die Bedeutung des leeren Grabes für den Glauben an den Auferstandenen,” ZNW 47 (1956) 243–67. Osborne, G. R. The Resurrection Narratives: A Redactional Study. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1984. Ottley, R. R. “ἐφοβοῦντο γάρ, Mark xvi 8.” JTS o.s. 27 (1926) 407–9. Petersen, N. R. “When Is the End Not the End? Literary Reflections on the Ending of Mark’s Narrative.” Int 34 (1980) 151–66. Pokorný, P. “‘Anfang des Evangelium’: Zum Problem des Anfangs und des Schlusses des Markusevangeliums.” In Die Kirche des Anfangs. FS H. Schürmann, ed. R. Schnackenburg. ETS 38. Leipzig: St. Benno, 1977. 115–31, esp. 117–20. Powell, E. The Unfinished Gospel: Notes on the Quest for the Historical Jesus. Westlake Village, CA: Symposium Books, 1994. Reedy, C. J. “Mk 8:31–11:10 and the Gospel Ending: A Redactional Study.” CBQ 34 (1972) 188–97. Rigaux, B. Dieu l’a ressuscité: Exégèse et théologie biblique. Studii Biblici Franciscani Analecta 4. Gembloux: Duculot, 1973. Roberts, C. H. “The Ancient Book and the Ending of St. Mark.” JTS o.s. 40 (1939) 253–57. Rohrbach, P. Der Schluss des Markusevangeliums, der Vier-Evangelien-Kanon und die kleinasiatischen Presbyter. Berlin: Georg Nauck, 1894. Roloff, J. Kerygma und der irdische Jesus. 184. Rördam, T. S. “What Was the Lost Ending of Mark’s Gospel?” HibJ 3 (1905) 769–90. Schearer, W. C. “The Last Twelve Verses of St. Mark’s Gospel.” ExpTim 5 (1893) 227–28. Schmidt, H. “Zur Frage des urprünglichen Markusschlusses.” TSK 80 (1907) 487–513. Schmithals, W. “Der Markusschluss, die Verklärungsgeschichte und die Aussendung der Zwölf.” ZTK 69 (1972) 379–411. Schneider, G. “Die Missionsauftrag Jesu in der Darstellung der Evangelien.” In Mission im Neuen Testament. Ed. K. Kertelge. QD 93. Freiburg: Herder, 1982. 71–92, esp. 72–81. Schwarz, G. “Zum Freer Logion—Ein Nachtrag.” ZNW 70 (1979) 119. Scott Moncrieff, C. E. “The Lost Ending of Mark.” Theology 12 (1926) 218–20. Scrivener, F. H., ed. Bezae Codex Cantabrigiensis. Cambridge: Deighton, Bell, 1864. 325 (contains the first part of the long ending, i.e., vv 9–15). Stagg, F. “Explain the Ending of the Gospel of Mark, Mark 16:17–18.” In What Did the Bible Mean? Ed. C. Frazier. Nashville: Broadman, 1971. 122–25. Streeter, B. H. The Four Gospels: A Study of Origins. Rev. ed. London: Macmillan, 1930. 333–60. Taylor, C. “Some Early Evidence for the Twelve Verses St. Mark 16,9–20.” Exp 4.8 (1893) 71–80. 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Zahn, T., and Resch, A. “The Authorship of the Last Verses of Mark.” Exp 4.10 (1894) 219–32. Zwemer, S. M. “The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel of Mark.” EvQ 17 (1945) 13–23.

Translation
In the ancient MSS that contain the whole of Mark, we find four endings: (1) at 16:8, “for they were afraid”; (2) at 16:20, the so-called Long Ending; (3) at 16:8, plus the so-called Short Ending; and (4) at 16:20, plus the Short Ending. Many of the older MSS have asterisks and obeli marking off the Long or Short Endings as spurious or at least doubtful.

Long Endinga

9But when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. 10That woman, going, announced to those who had been with him,b as they were mourning and weeping. 11And they, having heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, did not believe.
12But after these things he appeared in another form to two of them as they were walking, going in the country. 13And when they returned, they reported to the rest; but they did not believe them.
14Later, he appeared to the eleven themselves as they reclined; and he reproached their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen him risen.c 15And he d said to them, “Having gone into all the world, preach the gospel e to every creature. 16The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned.f 17But these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new g tongues; 18[and with their hands] h they will pick up snakes, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
19Then the Lord Jesus,i after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.j 20But going out, they preached everywhere, while the Lord worked alongside and confirmed the message through the accompanying signs.k


Short Ending

lBut all that they had been told they reported briefly to those with Peter. But after these things, even Jesus himself m sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. Amen.n

Subscriptions
B: κατὰ Μᾶρκον, “according to Mark.”
א A C L W 33: εὐαγγΪλιον κατὰ Μᾶρκον, “Gospel according to Mark.”
D: εὐαγγΪλιον κατὰ Μᾶρκαν ἐτελΪσθη· ἄρχεται πράξεις ἀποστόλων, “Gospel according to Mark is finished; the Acts of the Apostles begins.”
71 251 470: τΪλος τοῦ κατὰ Μᾶρκαν εὐαγγελίου, “The end of the Gospel according to Mark.”
G S 28 128: τὸ κατὰ Μᾶρκαν εὐαγγΪλιον ἐξεδόθη μετὰ χρόνους ι ́ [or: ιβ̄] τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ [G: κυρίου] ἀναλήψεως, “The Gospel according to Mark was given ten [or twelve] seasons after the ascension of Christ [G: the Lord].”
483 484: τὸ κατὰ Μᾶρκαν εὐαγγΪλιον ἐξεδόθη μετὰ χρόνους ι ́ τῆς τοῦ ἀναλήψεως. καὶ ἐκηρύχθη ἐκ ῍Ρώμης ὑπὸ ΪΪτρου, “The Gospel according to Mark was given ten seasons after the ascension of Christ. And it was declared from Rome by Peter.”
13 124 346: εὐαγγΪλιον κατὰ Μᾶρκαν ἐγράφη ῥωμαιστῇ ἐν ῍Ρώμῃ μετὰ ιβ̄ ἔτη τῆς ἀναλήψεως τοῦ κυρίου, “The Gospel according to Mark was written in Latin in Rome twelve years after the ascension of the Lord.”
293: ἐγράφη ἰδεωχειρῶς αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου Μάρκου ἐν τῇ πρεσβυτΪρᾳ ῍Ρώμῃ μετὰ χρόνους δΪκα τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν ἀναλήψεως καὶ ἐξεδόθη παρὰ ΪΪτρου τοῦ πρωτοκορυφαίου τῶν ἀποστόλων τοῖς ἐν ῍Ρώμῃ οὖσι πιστοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, “It was written by Saint Mark’s very own hand, in the Roman presbytery, ten seasons after the ascension of our Christ and God; and it was given out from Peter, the leader of the apostles, to the faithful brothers in Rome.”
M X Θ Ϊ 69 476 481: no subscription.

Inscriptions
א B: κατὰ Μᾶρκον, “according to Mark.”
A C D L W F 33: εὐαγγΪλιον κατὰ Μᾶρκον, “Gospel according to Mark.”
G: τὸ κατὰ Μᾶρκον, “The [Gospel] according to Mark.”
80 89 128 241: τὸ κατὰ Μᾶρκον ἅγιον εὐαγγΪλιον, “The holy Gospel according to Mark.”
vg and a few OL MSS: incipit secundum Marcum, “[Here] begins [the Gospel] according to Mark.”

Notes
a. The question of the originality of these endings is addressed in the Form/Structure/Setting below. For descriptions of the MS evidence, see Westcott-Hort, Introduction 2:28–51; Metzger, TCGNT 1, 122–28.
10.b. A few late MSS read τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ, “to his disciples.”
14.c. A C* 33 and several later MSS add ἐκ νεκρῶν, “from the dead.” W adds:

κἀκεῖνοι ἀπελογοῦντο λΪγοντες ὅτι ὁ αἰὼν οὗτος τῆς ἀνομίας καὶ τῆς ἀπιστίας ὑπὸ τὸν σατανᾶν ἐστιν, ὁ μὴ ἐῶν τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν πνευμάτων ἀκάθαρτα τὴν ἀλήθειαν τοῦ θεοῦ καταλαβΪσθαι δύναμιν· διὰ τοῦτο ἀποκάλυψόν σου τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἤδη, ἐκεῖνοι ἔλεγον τῷ χριστῷ. καὶ ὁ χριστὸς ἐκείνοις προσΪλεγεν ὅτι πεπλήρωται ὁ ὅρος τῶν ἐτῶν τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ σατανᾶ, ἀλλὰ ἐγγίζει ἄλλα δεῖνα· καὶ ὑπὲρ ὣν ἐγὼ ἁμαρτησάντων παρεδόθην εἰς θανατὸν ἵνα ὑποστρΪψωσιν εἰς τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ μηκΪτι ἁμαρτήσωσιν ἵνα τὴν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ πνευματικὴν καὶ ἄφθαρτον τῆς δικαιοσύνης δόξαν κληρονομήσωσιν.

And those ones excused themselves, saying, “This age of lawlessness and unbelief is under Satan, who does not permit the truth and [reading καί] power of God to overcome the unclean things of the spirits. Therefore reveal your righteousness now.” [Thus] they were speaking to Christ. And Christ was replying to them, “The term of the years of the authority of Satan has been fulfilled, but other terrible things draw near. And in behalf of those who sinned I was delivered over to death, that they might return to the truth and no longer sin, in order that they might inherit the spiritual and incorruptible glory of righteousness which is in heaven.” (tr. adapted from Taylor, 614–15)

This agraphon, called the Freer Logion, is discussed by J. Jeremias, “The Freer Logion,” in New Testament Apocrypha, ed. W. Schneemelcher, rev. ed., 2 vols. (Cambridge: James Clarke; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1991) 1:248–49. Jeremias rightly views this logion as apocryphal, but primitive. He observes that it is replete with echoes of various NT (and OT) themes and passages.

15.d. A few OL MSS read Iesus, “Jesus.”
15.e. The Peshitta reads “my gospel.”
16.f. W reads κατακριθεὶς οὐ σωθήσεται, “being condemned, will not be saved.”
17.g. C* L and a few later authorities omit καιναῖς, “new.”
18.h. Nestle-Aland27 and UBSGNT3c place these words in square brackets. They are not found in A D W and several later MSS.
19.i. W adds χριστός, “Christ.” An OL MS reads dominus Iesus Christus, “Lord Jesus Christ.”
19.j. A few late authorities read τοῦ πατρός, “the Father.”
20.k. A few late MSS read τΪλος, “[The] end,” or ἀμήν, “Amen.”
20.l. L reads φΪρεταί που καὶ ταῦτα, “Somewhere these things also are in circulation.” Other late MSS read ἐν ἄλλοις ἀντιγράφοις οὐκ ἐγράφη ταῦτα, “In other copies these things are not written”; or ἐν τισὶν ἀντιγράφων ταῦτα φΪρεται, “In some of the copies these things are in circulation.”
20.m. A few late MSS read ἐφάνη, “appeared,” or ἐφάνη αὐτοῖς, “appeared to them.” The text would then read: “Jesus himself appeared to them. By means of them he sent out, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable. . . .”
20.n. L and a few later authorities omit ἀμήν, “Amen.”

Form/Structure/Setting
Although scholars are almost evenly divided over the question of whether v 8 was the original conclusion of the Gospel of Mark (see Comment on 16:8), almost all regard both the so-called Long Ending (i.e., vv 9–20) and the Short Ending as textually spurious (Taylor, 610: “almost universally held conclusion”). Most think the longer passage is a late secondary conflation of traditions found in Matthew, Luke, John, and Acts, enriched with a few legendary details.

Perhaps the most interesting suggestion of authorship comes from H. H. Evans (St. Paul the Author), who has proposed that the Apostle Paul wrote Mark 16:9–20. This far-fetched proposal, however, has gained no following. (In another work, Evans also advanced the theory that Paul wrote Luke-Acts!) Conybeare (Exp 4.8 [1893] 241–53) suggested that Mark 16:9–20 was composed by the second-century apologist Aristion. Nineteenth-century contemporaries Burgon (Last Twelve Verses) and J. P. P. Martin (Partie pratique) argued that Mark 16:9–20 is authentic, while very recently Powell (The Unfinished Gospel) has suggested that Mark’s lost ending is preserved in John 21.

Farmer (Last Twelve Verses) finds the evidence for and against the originality of Mark 16:9–20 evenly divided. He is himself inclined to view it as original. According to his understanding of the synoptic relationships this means that the last twelve verses of Mark are a conflation of details found in Matthew and Luke. If the ending is genuine, then Farmer would have his best evidence for the posteriority of Mark. However, it is much more probable that the ending is not original, even if it does preserve some details that may have been part of the original ending.

Parts of Mark’s long ending appear to be based on various elements found in the other Gospels and Acts. Some of the most obvious elements are as follows:
V 11: Lack of belief (cf. Luke 24:11)
V 12: Two on the road (cf. Luke 24:13–35)
V 14: Reproach for unbelief (cf. John 20:19, 26)
V 15: Great Commission (cf. Matt 28:19)
V 16: Salvation/Judgment (cf. John 3:18, 36)
V 17: Speaking in tongues (cf. Acts 2:4; 10:46)
V 18: Serpents and poison (cf. Acts 28:3–5)
V 18: Laying hands on the sick (cf. Acts 9:17; 28:8)
V 19: Ascension (cf. Luke 24:51; Acts 1:2, 9)
V 20: General summary of Acts

The material appears to be abbreviated and/or summarized from these sources (cf. Pesch, 2:545–46: Mark 16:9–20 is “ein kompilatorisches Exzerpt von den Evangelien vorausliegenden Traditionen” [“a compiled excerpt from previously existing traditions in the Gospels”]; see also Metzger, TCGNT 1, 122–28; Thomas, JETS 26 [1983] 407–19). This point can be illustrated by comparing a portion of the spurious ending to Mark’s Gospel (Mark 16:12–13) to the much longer description of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–35). The whole Markan passage is provided, but only parallel fragments from Luke are provided:
Mark 16:12–13
Luke 24
μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα
καὶ ἰδού [v 13]
“but after these things”
“and behold”
δυσὶν ἐξ αὐτῶν
δύο ἐξ αὐτῶν [v 13]
“to two of them”
“two of them”
περιπατοῦσιν
περιπατοῦντες [v 17]
“as they were walking”
“while walking”
ἐφανερώθη ἐν ἑτΪρᾳ μορφῇ
μὴ ἐπιγνῶναι αὐτόν [v 16]
“he appeared in another form”
“not to recognize him”
πορευομΪνοις εἰς ἀγρόν
ἦσαν πορευόμενοι εἰς κώμην [v 13]
“going in the country”
“they were going to a village”
κἀκεῖνοι ἀπελθόντες
ὑπΪστρεψαν εἰς Ἰερουσαλήμ [v 33]
“and when they returned”
“they returned to Jerusalem”
ἀπήγγειλαν τοῖς λοιποῖς
καὶ εὗρον . . . τοὺς ἕ́νδεκα καὶ
“they reported to the rest”
τοὺς σὺν αὐτοῖς [v 33]

“and they found . . . the eleven

and those who were with them”

καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐξηγοῦντο τὰ ἐν τῇ

ὁδῷ [v 35]

“and they told what had happened

on the road”

ἀπήγγειλαν ταῦτα πάντα τοῖς

ἕνδεκα [v 9; cf. Matt 28:8]

“they told all these things to the eleven”
οὐδὲ ἐκείνοις ἐπίστευσαν.
βραδεῖς τῇ καρδίᾳ τοῦ πιστεύειν
“but they did not believe them”
[v 25; cf. Matt 28:17]

“slow of heart to believe”

All the elements in Mark 16:12–13 have their counterpart in the longer story in Luke 24. Most of the vocabulary in Mark 16:12–13 is found in Luke 24. Is the Markan passage a secondary summarizing pastiche, or is it a primitive, pre-synoptic tradition? Given the spurious status that most textual critics assign to the Longer Ending of Mark’s Gospel, not too many scholars would be seriously inclined to view Mark 16:12–13 as the original form of the story and to view Luke 24:13–35 as an expanded and embellished version.

Mark’s version of the Great Commission leaves one with the same impression. Verbal and conceptual parallels are as follows:

Mark 16:15–17
Matt 28:18–20
καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς
καὶ . . . ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς λΪγων
“and he said to them”
“and . . . he spoke to them, saying”
πορευθΪντες
πορευθΪντες
“having gone”
“having gone”
εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἅπαντα
πάντα τὰ ἔθνη
“into all the world”
“all nations”
πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει
πᾶσα ἐξουσία ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς
“to every creature”
“all authority in heaven and on earth”
βαπτισθείς
βαπτίζοντες
“[the one who] is baptized”
“baptizing”
ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου
εἰς τὸ ὄνομα . . . τοῦ υἱοῦ
“in my name”
“in the name . . . of the Son”

The parallels with Acts and the other Gospels, the high concentration of vocabulary found nowhere else in Mark, the absence of these verses in our oldest copies of Mark (e.g., א B) and in the earliest fathers (e.g., Clement of Alexandria and Origen), and the awkward connection between vv 8 and 9 have led most scholars to conclude that the Long Ending of Mark was not part of the original Gospel.

Comment on Long Ending

9 ἀναστὰς δὲ πρωιn πρώτῃ σαββάτου ἐφάνη πρῶτον Μαρίᾳ τῇ Μαγδαληνῇ, παρʼ ἧς ἐκβεβλήκει ἑπτὰ δαιμόνια, “But when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.” πρωΐ, “early,” is a favorite word in Mark; its usage here is inspired by 16:2: “And very early [λίαν πρωΐ] in the morning of the first day of the week they come to the tomb.” On ἐφάνη, “he appeared,” cf. Matt 2:13: “an angel of the Lord appeared [φαίνεται] to Joseph in a dream.” On Mary Magdalene, παρʼ ἧς ἐκβεβλήκει ἑπτὰ δαιμόνια, “from whom he had cast out seven demons,” cf. Luke 8:2: ἀφʼ ἧς δαιμόνια ἑπτὰ ἐξεληλύθει, “from whom seven demons had gone out” (and Comment on Mark 15:40).

10 ἐκείνη πορευθεῖσα ἀπήγγειλεν τοῖς μετ ʼ αὐτοῦ γενομΪνοις πενθοῦσι καὶ κλαίουσιν, “That woman, going, announced to those who had been with him, as they were mourning and weeping.” ἐκείνη, “that woman” (i.e., Mary Magdalene), goes τοῖς μετ ʼ αὐτοῦ γενομΪνοις, “to those who had been with him” (i.e., the disciples), so that she may fulfill the command of the young man encountered at the empty tomb (cf. 16:7). The language recalls John 20:18: ἔρχεται . . . ἀγγΪλλουσα τοῖς μαθηταῖς, “she goes . . . , announcing to the disciples.” The disciples are said to be πενθοῦσι καὶ κλαίουσιν, “mourning and weeping.” Following his denials, Peter ἔκλαιεν, “began to weep” (Mark 14:72). On πενθεῖν, “to mourn,” cf. Matt 9:15: “Can the wedding guests mourn [πενθεῖν] as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

11 κἀκεῖνοι ἀκούσαντες ὅτι ζῇ καὶ ἐθεάθη ὑπ ʼ αὐτῆς Ἢπίστησαν, “And they, having heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, did not believe.” ζῆν, “to be alive,” is found in Mark 5:23; 12:27, but the wording here may be indebted to Luke’s resurrection narrative (24:5: “Why do you seek the living [τὸν ζῶντα] among the dead?”; 24:23: “[they] did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive [ζῆν]”). θεάεσθαι, “to see,” which is found frequently in John, does not appear elsewhere in Mark (Taylor, 611). The response of unbelief, “they did not believe [Ἢπίστησαν],” is probably inspired by Luke 24:11: “but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe [Ἢπίστουν] them” (cf. Luke 24:41; Matt 28:17; John 20:25).

12 Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα δυσὶν ἐξ αὐτῶν περιπατοῦσιν ἐφανερώθη ἐν ἑτΪρᾳ μορφῇ πορευομΪνοις εἰς ἀγρόν, “But after these things he appeared in another form to two of them as they were walking, going in the country.” We have here a clear allusion to the story of the two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–35). In Luke’s story, Jesus appears to two men who are πορευόμενοι, “going” (24:13), to a village that is about seven miles from Jerusalem. When Jesus encounters them, they are out of the city in the country. Mark 16:12 says Jesus was ἐν ἑτΪρᾳ μορφῇ, “in another form,” which explains Luke 24:16: “But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.”

13 κἀκεῖνοι ἀπελθόντες ἀπήγγειλαν τοῖς λοιποῖς· οὐδὲ ἐκείνοις ἐπίστευσαν, “And when they returned, they reported to the rest; but they did not believe them.” This is precisely what the two men on the road to Emmaus do (cf. Luke 24:33–35). The second unbelieving response is probably inspired by the second unbelieving response in Luke 24:41 (cf. the first unbelieving response in Luke 24:11).

14 ὕστερον ε[δὲ] ἀνακειμΪνοις αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἕνδεκα ἐφανερώθη καὶ Ὢνείδισεν τὴν ἀπιστίαν αὐτῶν καὶ σκληροκαρδίαν, “Later, he appeared to the eleven themselves as they reclined; and he reproached their unbelief and hardness of heart.” Jesus appears to the eleven while they reclined, which again is inspired by the setting in Luke 24 (cf. 24:41, where Jesus requests something to eat). The risen Jesus rebukes the disciples, asking them, “Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts?” (Luke 24:38). On σκληροκαρδία, “hardness of heart,” cf. Mark 10:5. On ἀπιστία, “unbelief,” cf. Mark 6:6.

ὅτι τοῖς θεασαμΪνοις αὐτὸν ἐγηγερμΪνον οὐκ ἐπίστευσαν, “because they had not believed those who had seen him risen,” represents a later perspective. No doubt many in the early church marveled at the apostles’ reluctance to believe the first reports of the resurrection (cf. John 20:19, 24–29).
Codex W adds a lengthy insertion to v 14 (the so-called Freer Logion; see Note * above).

15 πορευθΪντες εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἅπαντα κηρύξατε τὸ εὐαγγΪλιον πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει, “Having gone into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature.” The Matthean Great Commission (Matt 28:18–20) has inspired this command. πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει, “to every creature,” is to be preferred to “to all creation” (so Cranfield, 473). Cf. the commission in ˒Abot 1:12: “Be of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving mankind and bringing them nigh to the Law.”

16 ὁ πιστεύσας καὶ βαπτισθεὶς σωθήσεται, “The one who believes and is baptized will be saved.” For an example of the combination of πιστεύειν, “to believe,” and σώζειν, “to save,” see Luke 8:50.

ὁ δὲ ἀπιστήσας κατακριθήσεται, “but the one who does not believe will be condemned.” Cf. John 3:18: “He who believes [ὁ πιστεύων] in him is not condemned [κρίνεται]; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God”; 3:36: “He who believes [ὁ πιστεύων] in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him”; 20:23: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

17 σημεῖα δὲ τοῖς πιστεύσασιν ταῦτα παρακολουθήσει, “But these signs will accompany those who believe.” The promise of accompanying (lit. “following”) signs is probably inspired by John 14:12: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes [ὁ πιστεύων] in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father”; and perhaps Acts 5:12: “Now many signs [σημεῖα] and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles.”

ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου δαιμόνια ἐκβαλοῦσιν, γλώσσαις λαλήσουσιν καιναῖς, “in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues.” In the book of Acts the disciples cast out demons (16:18) and speak in tongues (2:3–4; 10:46; 19:6; cf. 1 Cor 12:28).

18 ε[καὶ ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν] ὄφεις ἀροῦσιν κἂν θανάσιμόν τι πίωσιν οὐ μὴ αὐτοὺς βλάψῃ, “[and with their hands] they will pick up snakes, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them.” We may have here an allusion to Paul’s experience with the poisonous viper that the apostle shook off with no ill effect (Acts 28:3–6). In Luke 10:19 Jesus tells his disciples that they tread upon serpents (ὄφεων; i.e., unclean spirits). See T. Joseph 6:2, 7; T. Benj. 3:5; 5:2. Stories of suffering no ill effects from poison or deadly snakes begin to emerge in the second century.

ἐπὶ ἀρρώστους χεῖρας ἐπιθήσουσιν καὶ καλῶς ἕξουσιν, “they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Through the laying on of hands, Paul regains his sight (Acts 9:12, 17) and the Spirit is received (Acts 8:17; 19:6).
19 ὁ μὲν οὖν κύριος Ἰησοῦς μετὰ τὸ λαλῆσαι αὐτοῖς ἀνελήμφθη εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ θεοῦ, “Then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.” κύριος Ἰησοῦς, “Lord Jesus,” is found in Acts (1:21; 4:33; 7:59; etc.) and in Paul (Rom 14:14; 1 Cor 5:4, 5; 11:23), but never in the Gospels. ἀνελήμφθη εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, “was taken up into heaven,” is probably inspired by Luke’s version of the Ascension (cf. Luke 24:51; Acts 1:2, 11, 22; compare also 1 Tim 3:16). Cf. 2 Bar. 46:7: “I shall be taken up.”

20 ἐκεῖνοι δὲ ἐξελθόντες ἐκήρυξαν πανταχοῦ, “But going out, they preached everywhere.” ἐξελθόντες, “going out,” probably refers to departure from Galilee (pace Taylor, 613, who suggests departure from Jerusalem). The Long Ending surely presupposes the fulfillment of Mark 16:7: “He is going before you to Galilee.” Having seen the resurrected Jesus in Galilee, where he upbraided them for their lack of faith and then commissioned them, the disciples now obey the risen Jesus and ἐξελθόντες, “going out,” from Galilee, ἐκήρυξαν πανταχοῦ, “preached everywhere.” This language recalls Luke 9:6: “And they departed [ἐξερχόμενοι] and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere [πανταχοῦ].” Paul says in 1 Cor 4:17 that he teaches πανταχοῦ, “everywhere.”

τοῦ κυρίου συνεργοῦντος καὶ τὸν λόγον βεβαιοῦντος διὰ τῶν ἐπακολουθούντων σημείων, “while the Lord worked alongside and confirmed the message through the accompanying signs.” We have here a general summary of the activity of the disciples, assisted by the Lord, in the book of Acts. Parts of the language may find a parallel in Heb 2:3–4: “how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested [ἐβεβαιώθη] to us by those who heard him, while God also bore witness by signs [σημείοις] and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his own will.”
Comment on Short Ending

Some MSS preserve the so-called Short Ending to Mark (L Ψ 099 0112). Almost all of those that do also contain the Long Ending. The Short Ending too has no compelling claim to authenticity, for it contains a high precentage of non-Markan vocabulary and exhibits a rhetorical tone found nowhere else in Mark.

Ϊάντα δὲ τὰ παρηγγελμΪνα τοῖς περὶ τὸν ΪΪτρον συντόμως ἐξήγγειλαν, “But all that they had been told they reported briefly to those with Peter.” This sentence fulfills the expectation of Mark 16:7. The women have gone to the disciples and to Peter and have told them what the young man at the tomb had explained to them and had commanded.

Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀπὸ ἀνατολῆς καὶ ἄχρι δύσεως ἐξαπΪστειλεν διʼ αὐτῶν τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ ἄφθαρτον κήρυγμα τῆς αἰωνίου σωτηρίας, “But after these things, even Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.” The Matthean Great Commission (Matt 28:18–20) and the general thrust of the book of Acts are here presupposed. The lateness of the Short Ending is indicated by the devotional language employed (i.e., “the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation”).

ἀμήν, “Amen.” The Short Ending is brought to a conclusion with a prayerful, liturgical touch.

Taylor (614) rightly notes that the Short Ending, which represents a distinct tradition that perceived the need for a conclusion to the Gospel of Mark, came to be pushed aside in favor of the superior Long Ending.

Explanation

The two endings of Mark, which must be regarded as later, secondary endings, testify to the widespread belief that Mark’s narrative did not abruptly conclude with frightened, silent women at the tomb, ostensibly unwilling or unable to obey the mysterious young man who commanded them to tell the disciples and Peter that the risen Jesus would go before them in Galilee. These endings wish to confirm the resurrection of Jesus and at the same time to underscore the missionary directive.

Apart from a stunning manuscript discovery, we shall never be certain how Mark’s Gospel concluded. But the message of the book as a whole is plain enough: Jesus of Nazareth was God’s Son, who through extraordinary power, witnessed in miracle and in teaching, proclaimed the kingdom of God and willingly went to the cross to fulfill his mission. Because of the resurrection and the subsequent promise that the risen Christ will continue to lead his disciples, that mission may yet be fulfilled, and the Christian community may continue to proclaim with its Lord, “Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand!”

Vorkosigan

Thanks, Jeff. A ton of useful stuff therein.

Michael

jgibson000

My pleasure.

Jeffrey

jgibson000

Here are Metzger's remarks on the longer endings.

Jeffrey

*********

16.9–20 The Ending(s) of Mark

Four endings of the Gospel according to Mark are current in the manuscripts.

(1) The last twelve verses of the commonly received text of Mark are absent from the two oldest Greek manuscripts (א and B),1 from the Old Latin codex Bobiensis (itk), the Sinaitic Syriac manuscript, about one hundred Armenian manuscripts,2 and the two oldest Georgian manuscripts (written a.d. 897 and a.d. 913).3 Clement of Alexandria and Origen show no knowledge of the existence of these verses; furthermore Eusebius and Jerome attest that the passage was absent from almost all Greek copies of Mark known to them. The original form of the Eusebian sections (drawn up by Ammonius) makes no provision for numbering sections of the text after 16.8. Not a few manuscripts that contain the passage have scribal notes stating that older Greek copies lack it, and in other witnesses the passage is marked with asterisks or obeli, the conventional signs used by copyists to indicate a spurious addition to a document.

(2) Several witnesses, including four uncial Greek manuscripts of the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries (L Ψ 099 0112 al), as well as Old Latin k, the margin of the Harclean Syriac, several Sahidic and Bohairic manuscripts,4 and not a few Ethiopic manuscripts,5 continue after verse 8 as follows (with trifling variations): “But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after these things Jesus himself sent out through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.” All of these witnesses except itk also continue with verses 9–20.

(3) The traditional ending of Mark, so familiar through the AV and other translations of the Textus Receptus, is present in the vast number of witnesses, including A C D K W X Δ Θ �* Ψ 099 0112 f 13 28 33 al. The earliest patristic witnesses to part or all of the long ending are Irenaeus and the Diatessaron. It is not certain whether Justin Martyr was acquainted with the passage; in his Apology (i.45) he includes five words that occur, in a different sequence, in ver. 20 (τοῦ λόγου τοῦ ἰσχυροῦ ὃν ἀπὸ Ἰερουσαλὴμ οἱ ἀπόστολοι αὐτοῦ ἐξελθόντες πανταχοῦ ἐκήρυξαν).

(4) In the fourth century the traditional ending also circulated, according to testimony preserved by Jerome, in an expanded form, preserved today in one Greek manuscript. Codex Washingtonianus includes the following after ver. 14: “And they excused themselves, saying, ‘This age of lawlessness and unbelief is under Satan, who does not allow the truth and power of God to prevail over the unclean things of the spirits [or, does not allow what lies under the unclean spirits to understand the truth and power of God]. Therefore reveal your righteousness now’ — thus they spoke to Christ. And Christ replied to them, ‘The term of years of Satan’s power has been fulfilled, but other terrible things draw near. And for those who have sinned I was handed over to death, that they may return to the truth and sin no more, in order that they may inherit the spiritual and incorruptible glory of righteousness that is in heaven.’”
How should the evidence of each of these endings be evaluated? It is obvious that the expanded form of the long ending (4) has no claim to be original. Not only is the external evidence extremely limited, but the expansion contains several non-Markan words and expressions (including ὁ αἰὼν οὗτος, ἁμαρτάνω, ἀπολογ�*ω, ἀληθινός, ὑποστρ�*φω) as well as several that occur nowhere else in the New Testament (δεινός, ὅρος, προσλ�*γω). The whole expansion has about it an unmistakable apocryphal flavor. It probably is the work of a second or third century scribe who wished to soften the severe condemnation of the Eleven in 16.14.

The longer ending (3), though current in a variety of witnesses, some of them ancient, must also be judged by internal evidence to be secondary. (a) The vocabulary and style of verses 9–20 are non-Markan (e. g. ἀπιστ�*ω, βλάπτω, βεβαιόω, ἐπακολουθ�*ω, θεάομαι, μετὰ ταῦτα, πορεύομαι, συνεργ�*ω, ὕστερον are found nowhere else in Mark; and θανάσιμον and τοῖς μετʼ αὐτοῦ γενομ�*νοις, as designations of the disciples, occur only here in the New Testament). (b) The connection between ver. 8 and verses 9–20 is so awkward that it is difficult to believe that the evangelist intended the section to be a continuation of the Gospel. Thus, the subject of ver. 8 is the women, whereas Jesus is the presumed subject in ver. 9; in ver. 9 Mary Magdalene is identified even though she has been mentioned only a few lines before (15.47 and 16.1); the other women of verses 1–8 are now forgotten; the use of ἀναστὰς δ�* and the position of πρῶτον are appropriate at the beginning of a comprehensive narrative, but they are ill-suited in a continuation of verses 1–8. In short, all these features indicate that the section was added by someone who knew a form of Mark that ended abruptly with ver. 8 and who wished to supply a more appropriate conclusion. In view of the inconcinnities between verses 1–8 and 9–20, it is unlikely that the long ending was composed ad hoc to fill up an obvious gap; it is more likely that the section was excerpted from another document, dating perhaps from the first half of the second century.

The internal evidence for the shorter ending (2) is decidedly against its being genuine.6 Besides containing a high percentage of non-Markan words, its rhetorical tone differs totally from the simple style of Mark’s Gospel.
Finally it should be observed that the external evidence for the shorter ending (2) resolves itself into additional testimony supporting the omission of verses 9–20. No one who had available as the conclusion of the Second Gospel the twelve verses 9–20, so rich in interesting material, would have deliberately replaced them with a few lines of a colorless and generalized summary.

Therefore, the documentary evidence supporting (2) should be added to that supporting (1). Thus, on the basis of good external evidence and strong internal considerations it appears that the earliest ascertainable form of the Gospel of Mark ended with 16.8.7 At the same time, however, out of deference to the evident antiquity of the longer ending and its importance in the textual tradition of the Gospel, the Committee decided to include verses 9–20 as part of the text, but to enclose them within double square brackets in order to indicate that they are the work of an author other than the evangelist.8

Shorter Ending

For a discussion of the shorter ending, see the section (2) in the comments on verses 9–20 above. The reading Ἰησοῦς is to be preferred to the others, which are natural expansions. It is probable that from the beginning the shorter ending was provided with a concluding ἀμήν, and that its absence from several witnesses (L copbo ms ethmost ethmss) is due either to transcriptional oversight or, more probably, to the feeling that ἀμήν is inappropriate when verses 9–20 follow.

Variant Readings Within [Mark] 16.9–20

Since the passage 16.9–20 is lacking in the earlier and better manuscripts that normally serve to identify types of text, it is not always easy to make decisions among alternative readings. In any case it will be understood that the several levels of certainty ({A}, {B}, {C}) are within the framework of the initial decision relating to verses 9 to 20 as a whole.

16.14–15 ἐπίστευσαν. καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς {A}
For the addition preserved in W, see section (4) in the comments on verses 9–20 above.

16.17 λαλήσουσιν καιναῖς {B}
Although it is possible that καιναῖς may have been added in imitation of καινὴ διαθήκη and καινὸς ἄνθρωπος, it is more probable that it dropped out of several witnesses through homoeoteleuton with the following καὶ ἐν ταῖς [i. e. κἂν ταῖς].

16.18 [καὶ ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν] ὄφεις {C}
Although it is possible that the expression καὶ ἐν ταῖς χερσίν was added in imitation of the account in Ac 28.3–6, a majority of the Committee preferred to follow the Alexandrian group of witnesses. At the same time, in view of the absence of any good reason to account for the omission of the words from such witnesses as A Dsupp W Θ �* f 13 28 700 itc, dsupp, l, o, q vg syrp, pal al, it was thought appropriate to enclose them within square brackets.

16.19 κύριος Ἰησοῦς {C}
Among the several titles applied to Jesus by the Church, the use of κύριος standing alone appears to be a later development, more solemn than κύριος Ἰησοῦς.

16.20 σημείων. {B}
On the addition of ἀμήν in most witnesses, see the comment on Mt 28.20.

Metzger, Bruce Manning ; United Bible Societies: A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition a Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament (4th Rev. Ed.). London; New York : United Bible Societies, 1994, S. 102

Peter Kirby

I've really got to load my Logos Bible software onto my new machine! And...thanks Jeffrey!

regards,
Peter Kirby