Mark 13:20

ἐκολόβωσεν. Lit. “amputated,” and so “curtailed”; in 2 Samuel 4:12 of cutting off hands and feet. God has decided to shorten the days, and they are regarded as shortened.

κύριος. Elsewhere in Mk this use of Κύριος without the art. is found only in quotations; Mark 1:3; Mark 11:9; Mark 12:11; Mark 12:29-30; Mark 12:36. It is freq. in Luke 1:2. The duration of “those days” is not indicated.

οὐκ ἂν ἐσώθη πᾶσα σάρξ. Hebraistic. The negative belongs to the verb and πᾶσα σάρξ is one term; “the whole of mankind would have been not saved” = “no flesh would have been saved.” In other words, οὐ πᾶς = “no one,” not (as in class. Grk) “not every one.” Cf. Luke 1:37; Romans 3:20; 1 Corinthians 1:29; Galatians 2:16. “All flesh” is a common Hebraism for the human race; Luke 3:6; John 17:2; Acts 2:17; etc. The siege lasted only from April or May to September, but the loss of life was immense; and it would have been greater, but for “the elect,” whose presence and prayers secured a shortening of the time of destruction. “The elect” probably means the believers who were true to their high calling. See the Apocalypse of Baruch xxi. 2, lxxxiii. 1–6; Enoch i. 1. The superfluous ἐξελέξατο is in Mk’s style; see on Mark 1:32; Mark 6:25. It is not in Mt.