What Does Mark 14:35 Mean?
And he went ahead a little, and fell to the ground, and prayed that, if it is possible, the hour might pass by him.
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
And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.THE KEY
The English gives two motions, but Greek repeats one: he goes forward while asking that the hour go away.
THE MEANING
Your painful hour can be named plainly before God; the desire for it to pass does not have to be edited into calm acceptance. The verse holds both movements together: going forward a little while asking that the hour go away.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that an honest prayer must sound like acceptance: here the prayer plainly asks for the hour to pass.
THE ROOT
προελθὼν
proelthōn
GROWS FROM
ἔρχομαι
To come or go; prefixes specify direction or relation.
“went ahead” in this verse is proelthōn. Both Greek forms are compounds of ἔρχομαι (erchomai), meaning “to come” or “to go”: προέρχομαι (proerchomai) means “go forward,” while παρέρχομαι (parerchomai) means “pass by.” English makes them sound like separate motions, but the verse repeats the same seed: he goes a little forward while asking whether the hour can go by him.
ALSO GROWS
proerchomai: Go forward, advance.
προέρχομαι
This is the verb behind “went forward,” the first movement in the verse.
parerchomai: Pass by, pass away.
παρέρχομαι
This is the verb behind the prayer that the hour might “pass from him,” echoing the first movement with the same root.
THE PATTERN
Prayer can contain a direct wish for an affliction to pass while the affliction is still present.
And I say, Who will give me wings like a dove! Then I would fly away and settle.For this I urged the Lord three times, that it might step away from me.In the days of his flesh, he brought near prayers and clinging pleas, with a strong outcry and tears, to the one able to deliver him out of death, and he was heard because of his awe.THE THREAD
The heavens and the earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.“Pass away” here uses the same Greek verb, παρέρχομαι (parerchomai), as the hour that Jesus asks to pass from him. The shared root links a painful hour with what is transient, while the verse sets it beside what does not pass away.
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