Mark 4:24

24. [773][774][775][776][777][778] omit τοῖς�.

[773] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[774] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[775] Codex Ephraemi. 5th cent. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out, and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it; but a great deal of the original writing has been recovered; of Mark we have Mark 1:17 to Mark 6:31; Mark 8:5 to Mark 12:29; Mark 13:19 to Mark 16:20. In the National Library at Paris.

[776] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mark 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

[777] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mark 1:1 to Mark 10:15; Mark 10:30 to Mark 15:1; Mark 15:20 to Mark 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mark 16:8 and Mark 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[778] Codex Sangallensis. 9th or 10th cent. Contains the Gospels nearly complete, with an interlinear Latin translation. The text of Mark is specially good, agreeing often with CL. At St Gall.

24. καὶ ἔλεγεν. The imperf. may be conversational, or it may introduce another caution which He used to give them. Mt. omits.

Βλέπετε. Not quite in the same sense as in Mark 4:12, nor yet as in Mark 13:5; Mark 13:9; Mark 13:23; Mark 13:33, where it means “take heed,” “be on your guard.” Here it is rather Heed, “look at it carefully and see that you understand it.” A.V. and R.V. have “take heed,” which is misleading. Cf. Mark 7:14. Sight, the nobler sense, directs hearing—oculus, non auris, se movet (Beng.)—is not quite the point.

ἐν ᾧ μέτρῳ. “The spiritual profit which you receive from what you hear will depend upon your attention to it and apprehension of it: you will get proportionate return (μετρηθήσεται ὑμῖν), and you will receive a generous addition to it” (προστεθήσεται ὑμῖν). The disciple who heeds what he hears is bounteously repaid. This saying, like the one in Mark 4:22, seems to have been proverbial, and it is applied in quite other ways elsewhere (Matthew 7:2; Luke 6:38). “Let the wise man hear and increase in learning” (Proverbs 1:5); his insight will increase by being used. Bede says that he who loves the word will receive the power to understand what he loves; Euthymius, that the measure of one’s προσοχή is the measure of one’s γνῶσις. On the use of the passive to avoid using the Name of God see Dalman, Words, p. 224.