After explaining the parable of the seeds regarding what the kingdom is the Divine is like.
Mark 4:27 And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.
Mark 4:27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.
And he might sleep and he might awaken, night and day, and this seed sprouted and will multiply itself. How? He hasn't seen [it] himself.
We can now know what a sprout will become.
This is a very entertaining verse, clearly one meant to be spoken, not read. Its many "ands" appears to be rhetorical devices to stretch out the story before the punchline. In some senses, it is very jumbled with its verbs almost all in different tenses. This mixture of tenses is not reflected in the translations.
This verse has a unique word for Jesus translated as "grow up/grows." The meaning of "to lengthen." This bit of word play describes what Jesus is doing in the story by using a long of "ands." The tense of this verb, which seems odd because the man is described in the present. However, in the Listeners Heard, you can see how it works that way.
And the last phrase is the punchline. The word translated as "know" is actually the past perfect for of "to know." It means literally "he hasn't seen." The last word repeats the subject in the form of a pronoun, emphasizing it. This only works in English if we add the understood object "it" before "himself."
- CW --Confusing Word -- The "rise" does not capture the word's specific meaning.
- CW --Confusing Word -- The "grow up" does not capture the word's specific meaning.
- MW -- Missing Word -- This subject pronoun duplicates information in the verb so it needs a "himself" after "he" for emphasis.
- WW --Wrong Word -- The word translated as "whether" should be something more like "and."
- MW -- Missing Word -- This verb is a subjunctive, which requires a "should" or "might" when outside of a when/if clause.
- WW --Wrong Word -- The word translated as "or" should be something more like "and."
- CW --Confusing Word -- The "gets up" does not capture the word's specific meaning.
- MW - Missing Word -- The word "and" is not shown in the English translation.
- MW -- Missing Word -- This verb is a subjunctive, which requires a "should" or "might" when outside of a when/if clause.
- CW --Confusing Word -- The "grows" does not capture the word's specific meaning.
- IW - Inserted Word -- The word "though" doesn't exist in the source.
- MW -- Missing Word -- This subject pronoun duplicates information in the verb so it needs a "himself" after "he" for emphasis.
And - The Greek word translated as "and" is used as the conjunction "and", but it also is used to add emphasis ("also").
should - This comes from the mood of the following verb which indicates a possibility of something happening.
sleep, "Sleep" is a verb that means "to lie down to sleep", "to sleep," and "to lie asleep." The tense here is present. This is a little unusual for stories, which are usually in a tense indicating something that happens at a point in time, past, present, or future.
and - The Greek word translated as "and" is used as the conjunction "and", but it also is used to add emphasis ("also").
rise - (CW) The word for "rise" means "awaken" and is the same word Jesus uses to describe God raising the dead and false prophets arising. While its primary meaning is “awaken," “rouse,” or “stir up,” in various forms and, in different contexts, it means “wake up,” “stay awake,” and “to be awake.” It can also mean “to stir yourself,” “excite yourself,” or to “be excited” by passion.” It also forms various idioms. For example, when used with “ears” it means “prick up your ears.” It also means “raise” or “erect,” but usually in the context of constructing buildings. It is only consistently translated as “raise” in the NT and later works based on it.
night - "Night" is the Greek noun that means "night", "midnight", and is a metaphor for darkness.
and - The Greek word translated as "and" is used as the conjunction "and", but it also is used to add emphasis ("also").
day, - The Greek word translated as "day" also means "time," in general, and refers specifically to the "daytime."
and - The Greek word translated as "and" is used as the conjunction "and", but it also is used to add emphasis ("also").
the -- The word translated as "the" is the Greek definite article, "the," which usually precedes a noun. Without a noun, it has the sense of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those") than the English "the." See this article for more. Here, the sense is "this," referring to the specific seed that was tossed.
seed - The word "seed" means "seed," "sowing," "harvest," and "crop". It is Jesus's symbol for the beginning or kernel of knowledge.
should - This comes from the mood of the following verb which indicates a possibility of something happening.
spring - - "Spring" is a verb that means "to sprout," "to bud," and "to grow." It is a metaphor for "to come to light," "to shoot forth," and "to be born."
and - The Greek word translated as "and" is used as the conjunction "and", but it also is used to add emphasis ("also").
grow up, - (CW) "Grow up" is from a unique verb for Jesus to us. It means "to lengthen," "to make long," "to prolong," "to grow tedious," "stretch out a syllable," and "to multiply by some factor." It also means "to multiply by some factor," which is the likely meaning here given the context.
he - The word translated as "he" is the Greek word commonly translated as third-person pronouns in English. However, this word appears after the verb as the punchline of the verse. Since the verb itself contains the information that the subject is singular this word seems unnecessary except for emphasis.
knoweth - The word translated as "he knoweth" means primarily "to see" and is used to mean "know' as we use the word "see" to mean "know" in English. The tense is most likely the future, but it could be the present or the tense indicating something happening at a specific time but for those tenses it would be in the form of possibility, "might see" or "might know."
not The Greek word translated as "not" is the Greek negative used to deny objective facts, not opinions. It makes a negative statement of fact. Adding "really" to the sentence captures the same idea.
how. The word translated as "how" has a very broad meaning, translating as "how", "when", "where", "just as", "like," and related words.
missing "himself" -- (MW) The subjective pronoun repeats the information in the verb so it should be repeated in English like "He himself." .However, here it comes as the end of the sense so maybe a "not he himself" words better.
Night - "Night" is the Greek noun that means "night", "midnight", and is a metaphor for darkness.
and - The Greek word translated as "and" is used as the conjunction "and", but it also is used to add emphasis ("also").
day, - The Greek word translated as "day" also means "time," in general, and refers specifically to the "daytime."
whether - (WW) The Greek word translated as "whether" is used as the conjunction "and", but it also is used to add emphasis ("also").
he -- This is from the third-person, singular form of the verb.
missing "should" or "might"-- (MW) A helping verb is necessary because the following verb is a verb of possibility, a subjunctive, something that "should" or "might" occur. The helping verb is not needed in a clause beginning with an "if" or a "when."
sleeps, "Sleeps" is a verb that means "to lie down to sleep", "to sleep," and "to lie asleep." The tense here is present. This is a little unusual for stories, which are usually in a tense indicating something that happens at a point in time, past, present, or future.
or - (WW) The Greek word translated as "or" is used as the conjunction "and", but it also is used to add emphasis ("also").
gets up - (CW) The word for "gets us" means "awaken" and is the same word Jesus uses to describe God raising the dead and false prophets arising. While its primary meaning is “awaken," “rouse,” or “stir up,” in various forms and, in different contexts, it means “wake up,” “stay awake,” and “to be awake.” It can also mean “to stir yourself,” “excite yourself,” or to “be excited” by passion.” It also forms various idioms. For example, when used with “ears” it means “prick up your ears.” It also means “raise” or “erect,” but usually in the context of constructing buildings. It is only consistently translated as “raise” in the NT and later works based on it.
missing "and " -- (MW) The untranslated word and" is used as the conjunction "and", but it also is used to add emphasis ("also").
the -- The word translated as "the" is the Greek definite article, "the," which usually precedes a noun. Without a noun, it has the sense of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those") than the English "the." See this article for more. Here, the sense is "this," referring to the specific seed that was tossed.
seed - The word "seed" means "seed," "sowing," "harvest," and "crop". It is Jesus's symbol for the beginning or kernel of knowledge.
missing "should" or "might"-- (MW) A helping verb is necessary because the following verb is a verb of possibility, a subjunctive, something that "should" or "might" occur. The helping verb is not needed in a clause beginning with an "if" or a "when."
sprouts - - "Sprout" is a verb that means "to sprout," "to bud," and "to grow." It is a metaphor for "to come to light," "to shoot forth," and "to be born."
and - The Greek word translated as "and" is used as the conjunction "and", but it also is used to add emphasis ("also").
grow , - (CW) "Grow " is from a unique verb for Jesus to us. It means "to lengthen," "to make long," "to prolong," "to grow tedious," "stretch out a syllable," and "to multiply by some factor." It also means "to multiply by some factor," which is the likely meaning here given the context.
though -- (IW) There is nothing that can be translated as "though" in the Greek source.
he - The word translated as "he" is the Greek word commonly translated as third-person pronouns in English. However, this word appears after the verb as the punchline of the verse. Since the verb itself contains the information that the subject is singular this word seems unnecessary except for emphasis.
does -- This English helping verb is used to create questions, commands, negative statements, and smooth word flow in translation from Greek
not The Greek word translated as "not" is the Greek negative used to deny objective facts, not opinions. It makes a negative statement of fact. Adding "really" to the sentence captures the same idea.
knows - The word translated as "he knows" means primarily "to see" and is used to mean "know' as we use the word "see" to mean "know" in English. The tense is most likely the future, but it could be the present or the tense indicating something happening at a specific time but for those tenses it would be in the form of possibility, "might see" or "might know."
how. The word translated as "how" has a very broad meaning, translating as "how", "when", "where", "just as", "like," and related words.
missing "himself" -- (MW) The subjective pronoun repeats the information in the verb so it should be repeated in English like "He himself." .However, here it comes as the end of the sense so maybe a "not he himself" words better.
καὶ [1089 verses](conj/adv) "And" is kai, which is the conjunction joining phrases and clauses, "and," or "also." After words implying sameness, "as" (the same opinion as you). Used in series, joins positive with negative "Not only...but also." Also used to give emphasis, "even," "also," and "just."
καθεύδῃ [12 verses]( verb 3rd sg pres subj act/mp ) "Should sleep" is katheudo, which means "to lie down to sleep," "to sleep," and "to lie asleep." - The term used for "slept" is a Greek verb which means not just to sleep, but "to lie down in sleep." However, it is in the form of an infinitive, which, when introduced by an article, acts like a noun, therefor, "the sleeping" or "falling asleep."
καὶ [1089 verses](conj/adv) "And" is kai, which is the conjunction joining phrases and clauses, "and," or "also." After words implying sameness, "as" (the same opinion as you). Used in series, joins positive with negative "Not only...but also." Also used to give emphasis, "even," "also," and "just."
ἐγείρηται [42 verses]( verb 3rd sg pres subj mp ) "Rise" i is egeiro, which means "to awaken," "to stir up," and "to rouse." -- The word for "arise" means "awaken" and is the same word Christ uses to describe God raising the dead and false prophets arising. -
νύκτα [11 verses] ( noun sg fem acc ) "Night" is from nyx, which means "night," "midnight," and is a metaphor for darkness. -
καὶ (conj/adv) "And" is kai, which is the conjunction joining phrases and clauses, "and," or "but." After words implying sameness, "as" (the same opinion as you). Used in series, joins positive with negative "Not only...but also." Also used to give emphasis, "even", "also," and "just."
ἡμέραν, [96 verses] ( noun sg fem acc ) "Day" is hemera, which, as a noun, means "day" "a state or time of life," "a time (poetic)," "day break" and "day time." It is also and also has a second meaning, of "quiet," "tame (animals)," "cultivated (crops)," and "civilized (people)."
καὶ (conj/adv) "And" is kai, which is the conjunction joining phrases and clauses, "and," or "but." After words implying sameness, "as" (the same opinion as you). Used in series, joins positive with negative "Not only...but also." Also used to give emphasis, "even", "also," and "just."
ὁ [821 verses](article sg masc nom) "The" is the Greek definite article, hos, ("the").
σπόρος [4 verses] (noun sg masc nom) "Seed" is sporos, which means "sowing", "seed-time", "seed", "harvest", "crop", and "offspring".
βλαστᾷ [2 verses]( verb 3rd sg imperf ind act ) "Spring" is from blastano, which means "to sprout," "to bud," and "to grow." It is a metaphor for "to come to light," "to shoot forth," and "to be born."
καὶ (conj/adv) "And" is kai, which is the conjunction joining phrases and clauses, "and," or "but." After words implying sameness, "as" (the same opinion as you). Used in series, joins positive with negative "Not only...but also." Also used to give emphasis, "even", "also," and "just."
μηκύνηται [1 verse]( verb 3rd sg fut ind mid or verb 3rd sg pres subj mp or verb 3rd sg aor subj mid ) "Grow up" is from mekuno, which means "to lengthen," "to make long," "to prolong," "to grow tedious," "stretch out a syllable," and "to multiply by some factor."
ὡς (167 verses](adv/conj) "How" is hos, an adverb which means to "thus," "as," "how," "when," "where," "like," "just as," "so far as," "as much as can be," "that," "in order that," "nearly (with numbers)," and "know that." -- The word translated as "as" has a very broad meaning, translated as "when," "where," "just as," "like," and related words.
οὐκ [269 verses](adv) "Not" is ou , the negative adverb for facts and statements, negating both single words and sentences. The other negative adverb, μή applies to will and thought; οὐ denies, μή rejects; οὐ is absolute, μή relative; οὐ objective, μή subjective. -- The Greek word translated as "not" is the Greek negative used to deny objective facts, not opinions. It means "no," "not," or"no truly." It makes a negative statement of fact. Adding "really" to the sentence captures the same idea. When a negative precedes the verb, it affects the whole clause. When it precedes other words, its force is limited to those words.
οἶδεν [38 verses]( verb 3rd sg perf ind act ) "Know" is oida which has the sense of "to know." This listing is not a root word, but the past perfect tense of eido, which means "to see," "to examine," "to perceive," "to behold," "to know how to do," "to see with the mind's eye," and "to know." That which "has been seen" is that which is "known." This is a somewhat legalistic idea because the truth can only be established by eyewitnesses. -- The word translated as "know" means primarily "to see" and is used to mean "know' as we use the word "see" to mean "know" in English. It is the past perfect tense so "have seen" but it is translated as the present tense of "know." What someone "has seen" is what they "know" in the present. Since the past perfect of "see" forms the present tense of "know" the pluperfect tense used here, which indicates an action completed before some other action in the past, is used as the simple past tense, "knew."
αὐτός. [20 verses](adj sg masc nom) "He" is autos, which means is the singular adjective used as the subject pronoun. It also means "one's true self," that is, "the soul" as opposed to the body and "of one's own accord." -- The word translated as "he" is the Greek word commonly translated as third-person pronouns in English. Though the form is masculine, it refers to a person in general as our generic "he" does or did until recently. The word means "the same" when used as an adjective.
The word translated as "grow up" means "to lengthen," which Jesus does in the verb by using a long of "ands." It also means "to multiply by some factor," which is the likely meaning here given the contect.