What Does Mark 4:36 Mean?
And letting go of the crowd, they took him along just as he was in the boat, and other small boats were with 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 when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.THE KEY
The release that begins this crossing belongs to the same Greek word-family that names forgiveness and liberty.
THE MEANING
A crossing can begin with release: the crowd is let go while Jesus is received into the boat as he is. Other boats remain with him, so movement and company occupy the same scene. Letting go does not mean the journey is empty.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that once a crowd is sent away, what remains is isolation; other boats are still with him.
THE ROOT
ἀφέντες
aphentes
GROWS FROM
ἵημι
hiēmi
To send or let go; with ἀπό (apo, away or from), the verb means to send away, leave, or let go.
“letting go of” in this verse is aphentes. English “sent away” can sound like a logistical detail, but the Greek verb ἀφίημι also means to let go and forgive. The same word-family gives ἄφεσις, “release” or “forgiveness,” so release is already shaping the scene before the crossing continues.
ALSO GROWS
aphiēmi: Let go, leave, release; also forgive.
ἀφίημι
The verse’s form ἀφέντες comes from this verb, which also supplies the New Testament’s language of forgiveness as release.
aphesis: Release, dismissal, forgiveness, or liberty.
ἄφεσις
This related noun carries the same release into forgiveness and the freeing of captives.
παραλαμβάνουσιν
paralambanousin
GROWS FROM
λαμβάνω
lambanō
To take, receive, or grasp; joined with παρά (para, beside or alongside), παραλαμβάνω means to take along or receive alongside.
“took along” in this verse is paralambanousin. The verb holds taking and receiving together: they take Jesus along in the boat, and the phrase “as he was” leaves him unaltered in the scene. English “took” can conceal this sense of receiving.
ALSO GROWS
lambanō: Take, receive, or grasp.
λαμβάνω
This is the base verb beneath the action of taking Jesus into the voyage.
paralambanō: Take along or receive alongside.
παραλαμβάνω
This is the verb used in the verse: they take him along with them in the boat.
THE PATTERN
Release opens a way forward, whether it frees a people, a captive, or a debtor.
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told the Great House, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may dance a feast to me in the wilderness.And release our debts, as we also release our debtors.The breath of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the emptied. He has sent me to heal the shattered in heart, to herald release to the captives, and the return of sight for the blind, to send the crushed away into release.THE THREAD
The breath of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the emptied. He has sent me to heal the shattered in heart, to herald release to the captives, and the return of sight for the blind, to send the crushed away into release.The Greek word-family behind Mark’s “sent away” appears here in “deliverance” and “liberty.” The movement that lets the crowd go is joined to the larger scriptural language of release.
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