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They kept this saying to themselves, questioning what the “rising from the dead” meant.
Mark 9:10 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.
  • BSB So they kept this matter to themselves, discussing what it meant to rise from the dead.
  • NKJV So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant.
  • NASB They seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what rising from the dead meant.
  • NLT So they kept it to themselves, but they often asked each other what he meant by “rising from the dead.”

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

The disciples keep the matter to themselves, puzzling over what rising from the dead means. They still do not grasp Jesus' coming death and resurrection.

Overview

Though they expected a general resurrection at the last day, the idea of the Messiah personally dying and rising was foreign to them. Their confusion shows how thoroughly the cross overturned their expectations. It highlights that full understanding would come only after the events themselves and the giving of the Spirit.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 13

  • Acts 17:18Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also were conversing with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign deities,” because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.
  • John 2:19–22Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
  • John 16:17–19Some of his disciples therefore said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you won’t see me, and again a little while, and you will see me;’ and, ‘Because I go to the Father’?”
  • Luke 18:33–34They will scourge and kill him. On the third day, he will rise again.”
  • Luke 24:25–27He said to them, “Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
  • Luke 24:7–8saying that the Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again?”
  • John 16:29–30His disciples said to him, “Behold, now you speak plainly, and speak no figures of speech.
  • John 12:16His disciples didn’t understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him, and that they had done these things to him.
  • John 12:33–34But he said this, signifying by what kind of death he should die.
  • Luke 2:50–51They didn’t understand the saying which he spoke to them.
  • Matt 16:22Peter took him aside, and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you.”
  • Mark 9:32But they didn’t understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.
  • Gen 37:11His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Mark videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Mark 9:10YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on MarkMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'

How Mark 9:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.