What Does Mark 16:8 Mean?
And they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were gripped and beside themselves; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
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 they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.THE KEY
The empty tomb does not first make them eloquent; it displaces them so deeply that they flee, tremble, and fall silent.
THE MEANING
You can meet something that overturns your sense of what is possible and find your body trembling while words disappear. Amazement does not cancel fear; they can occupy the same moment, and silence can be the shape of that encounter.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a real encounter must make you instantly brave and articulate: fear and amazement can be present where something life-altering is seen.
THE ROOT
ἔκστασις
ekstasis
GROWS FROM
ἐξίστημι (existēmi; ἐκ, ek, “out of” + ἵστημι, histēmi, “stand”)
To put out of place; to stand outside one’s ordinary footing.
“were gripped and beside themselves” in this verse is ekstasis. English “amazed” can sound like surprise alone. ἔκστασις is tied to ἐξίστημι, “to stand out of place”: alongside trembling, the verse names a mind displaced from its familiar ground.
ALSO GROWS
existēmi: To displace, astonish, or be beside oneself.
ἐξίστημι
It gives the amazement in the verse the force of being moved out of one’s ordinary frame.
ekstasis: Astonishment; a state of being displaced or beside oneself.
ἔκστασις
This is the noun Mark uses for the women’s amazement, paired with their physical trembling.
τρόμος
tromos
GROWS FROM
τρέμω
tremō
To tremble or shake.
“trembled” in this verse is tromos. The Greek names τρόμος separately from ἔκστασις: one is trembling, the other is being thrown outside ordinary awareness. Together they show a shaking body and a dislocated perception before the verse gives fear as the reason for silence.
ALSO GROWS
tremō: To tremble or shake.
τρέμω
The verb names the bodily response carried by the noun in this verse.
entromos: Trembling; struck with fear.
ἔντρομος
This related form keeps the shaking response visible in other Greek expressions of fear.
ἐφοβοῦντο
ephobounto
GROWS FROM
φόβος
phobos
Fear or alarm.
“afraid” in this verse is ephobounto. The closing clause makes fear the reason for their silence. It follows the distinct words for trembling and amazement, so the Greek holds several layers of response instead of flattening them into one feeling.
ALSO GROWS
phobeomai: To fear or be afraid.
φοβέομαι
This is the verb behind “they were afraid,” naming the force that keeps words from coming.
phoberos: Fearsome; causing fear.
φοβερός
This adjective shows the same root describing what evokes alarm, as well as the experience of fearing.
THE PATTERN
When an encounter exceeds expectation, the body can register it before speech forms.
Moreover he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was in awe to look upon God.And when Zacharias saw him, he was shaken, and awe fell upon him.Trembling and astonished, he said, Lord, what do you want me to do? And the Lord said to him, Stand up, and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.THE THREAD
And at once the little girl rose and walked, for she was twelve years old. And they were beside themselves beyond measure.Mark uses the same word-family for the astonishment surrounding a girl rising from death: “they were astonished with a great astonishment.” In both scenes, amazement names the displacement that comes when death does not have the final word.
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