What Does Mark 14:2 Mean?
But they said, Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.THE KEY
The crowd can change when violence happens without changing whether it will happen.
THE MEANING
Here, the plan to kill him remains; only its timing is adjusted to avoid a public uproar. The same pattern is alive wherever fear of others’ reaction controls when harm is carried out, while leaving the decision itself intact.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Delay can look like restraint, but postponing harm to avoid outrage does not mean the choice to do it has changed.
THE ROOT
θόρυβος
thórybos
GROWS FROM
θορυβ-
thorub-
Tumult, confused noise, or public commotion.
“uproar” in this verse is thórybos. The word names the disturbance the leaders expect from the people, not a change of heart about their plan. Its Greek word family also describes making an ado and being caught in commotion, linking the public noise they fear to the turmoil that can seize a crowd.
ALSO GROWS
thorubeō: To make a tumult or ado; to disturb.
θορυβέω
In Mark 5:39, this verb appears in Jesus’ question, “Why make ye this ado?” It shows the same word family describing commotion as something people make.
thorubeisthe: Be troubled or thrown into commotion; a middle/passive form of thorubeō.
θορυβεῖσθε
In Acts 20:10, the same form is translated “Trouble not yourselves.” The word family can describe people caught in the disturbance as well as the disturbance itself.
THE PATTERN
When fear of public reaction governs, people manage visibility and timing without changing what they intend.
Saul said to Samuel, I have missed the mark, for I have crossed over the mouth of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and heard and responded to their voice.The trembling of man sets a snare, but the one who leans his full weight on the LORD is set on high.Even so, many among the rulers also leaned their weight on him, but because of the separated ones they did not confess him, lest they be thrown out of the gathering.THE THREAD
And when he had entered, he said to them, "Why make this uproar and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeps."Mark 5:39 uses the same Greek word family, θορυβέω (thorubeō), meaning “make an ado” or “be troubled,” for the commotion around the girl. Here the uproar is the reaction the leaders fear; there the word names the noise surrounding an apparent death.
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