But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.
Parallel translations
- WEB But they didn’t understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.
- KJV But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.
- BSB But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him about it.
- 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 2:50They didn’t understand the saying which he spoke to them.
- John 16:19Therefore Jesus perceived that they wanted to ask him, and he said to them, “Do you inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you won’t see me, and again a little while, and you will see me?’
- Luke 18:34They understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they didn’t understand the things that were said.
- Luke 9:45But they didn’t understand this saying. It was concealed from them, that they should not perceive it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.
- 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.
- Mark 9:10They kept this saying to themselves, questioning what the “rising from the dead” meant.
- Mark 8:17–18Jesus, perceiving it, said to them, “Why do you reason that it’s because you have no bread? Don’t you perceive yet, neither understand? Is your heart still hardened?
- Mark 7:18He said to them, “Are you also without understanding? Don’t you perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside can’t defile him,
- John 4:27At this, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, “What are you looking for?” or, “Why do you speak with her?”
- Mark 8:33But he, turning around, and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you have in mind not the things of God, but the things of men.”
- Mark 16:14Afterward he was revealed to the eleven themselves as they sat at the table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they didn’t believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
- Luke 24:45Then he opened their minds, 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.