But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.
Parallel translations
- WEB But they didn’t understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.
- BSB But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him about it.
- NKJV But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.
- NASB But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.
- NLT They didn’t understand what he was saying, however, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.
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 do not understand and are afraid to ask. Their fear and confusion show how foreign a suffering Messiah was to their expectations.
Overview
Mark candidly records the disciples' incomprehension, a recurring theme that highlights human dullness to God's saving purpose. Their fear to ask may reflect both confusion and reluctance to face a hard truth. Only after the resurrection and the gift of the Spirit would they truly grasp that the cross was God's wisdom and power for salvation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Luke 2:50And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.
- John 16:19Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?
- Luke 18:34And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.
- Luke 9:45But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying.
- John 12:16These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.
- Mark 9:10And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.
- Mark 8:17–18And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?
- Mark 7:18And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
- John 4:27And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?
- Mark 8:33But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.
- Mark 16:14Afterward 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.
- Luke 24:45Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
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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 9:32 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.