Mark 3:1-6, The Man with a Withered Hand (The Study of Mark)

     1 And he went into the Synagogue again. And a man was there having a withered1 hand. 2 And they2 were watching him closely3 to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he says to the man who has the withered hand, “Get up among the midst of them4.” 4 And he says to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath, to save life5, or to kill life?” But they were silent. 5 And looking around at them with anger, feeling sorry for the stubbornness6 of their hearts, he says to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out and his hand was healed7. 6 And the Pharisees went out and immediately began making plans8 with the Herodians against him; how they might destroy him.

Introduction

This is the second of two events that happened on the same Sabbath.  The first event was the picking of grain on the Sabbath.

1 ἐξηραμμένην (withered) Dried up from paralysis or withered like a tree branch cut from the tree.

2 ”They” are the Pharisees. They had just witnessed the “plucking of the grain” on the Sabbath, so they were very happy with Jesus already. It may have been that the “plucking the grain” incident happened as they were on their way to the Synagogue.

3 παρετήρουν αὐτὸν (watching him closely) or “observed him closely”.

4 ἔγειρε εἰς τὸ μέσον (Get up among the midst of them) 

Greek: “Rise up into the middle”. Jesus wanted to make sure that everyone was going to see what he was going to do.

5 ψυχὴν (life) This is also used for “soul”.

6 πωρώσει (stubbornness) 

Greek: “hardness”. From BDAG, “State or condition of complete lack of understanding.”

7 ἀπεκατεστάθη (was healed) 

Greek: “was restored”

8 συμβούλιον ἐδίδουν (making plans)

Greek: “giving council” The Pharisees (religious leaders) decided to form an alliance with the Herodians (Government). The Government would have been the only ones who would have had the authority to put Jesus to death.

The Greek

     Μάρκον 3·1 Καὶ εἰσῆλθεν πάλιν εἰς τὴν συναγωγήν. καὶ ἦν ἐκεῖ ἄνθρωπος ἐξηραμμένην ἔχων τὴν χεῖρα. 2 καὶ παρετήρουν αὐτὸν εἰ τοῖς σάββασιν θεραπεύσει αὐτόν, ἵνα κατηγορήσωσιν αὐτοῦ. 3 καὶ λέγει τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τῷ τὴν ξηρὰν χεῖρα ἔχοντι· ἔγειρε εἰς τὸ μέσον. 4 καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· ἔξεστιν τοῖς σάββασιν ἀγαθὸν ποιῆσαι ἢ κακοποιῆσαι, ψυχὴν σῶσαι ἢ ἀποκτεῖναι; οἱ δὲ ἐσιώπων. 5 καὶ περιβλεψάμενος αὐτοὺς μετ ̓ ὀργῆς, συλλυπούμενος ἐπὶ τῇ πωρώσει τῆς καρδίας αὐτῶν λέγει τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ· ἔκτεινον τὴν χεῖρα. καὶ ἐξέτεινεν καὶ ἀπεκατεστάθη ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ. 6 καὶ ἐξελθόντες οἱ Φαρισαῖοι εὐθὺς μετὰ τῶν Ἡρῳδιανῶν συμβούλιον ἐδίδουν κατ ̓ αὐτοῦ ὅπως αὐτὸν ἀπολέσωσιν.