What Does Mark 9:6 Mean?
For he did not know what to say, for they were beside themselves with fear.
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
For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid.THE KEY
The word “wist” comes from a Greek see-and-know root: Peter can witness the scene without yet knowing how to answer it.
THE MEANING
When fear overtakes you, you may not know what to say even while you are inside the moment. The verse holds that wordlessness alongside the encounter without resolving it into a neat explanation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that having no words means you have failed to meet a moment well; terror can leave a person unable to answer.
THE ROOT
ᾔδει
ēdei
GROWS FROM
ἰδ- (id-; reconstructed *ϝιδ-, wid-)
See, perceive; in οἶδα, the sense develops into knowing, as one who has seen.
The Greek word translated “wist” belongs to the see-and-know family. Peter is not absent from the scene: he sees it, but seeing has not yet become a clear understanding he can put into an answer.
ALSO GROWS
eîdon: I saw
εἶδον
This form preserves the root’s concrete sense of seeing beneath the knowing verb used for Peter.
oida: I know; I have seen
οἶδα
This is the verb behind “wist,” linking knowledge with perception.
idéa: Form, appearance
ἰδέα
This related word names what is seen, extending the same root from perception to the shape perceived.
ἔκφοβοι
ekphoboi
GROWS FROM
φοβ-
phob-
Fear or terror; the verb can also mean to frighten or put to flight.
“beside themselves with fear” in this verse is ekphoboi. The Greek word means terrified, not merely uneasy. Its word family carries both the feeling of fear and the force that can drive a person to recoil, showing why Peter cannot readily form a response.
ALSO GROWS
phobos: Fear, terror
φόβος
The noun names the fear that fills the disciples in this moment.
phobeō: Frighten, put to flight; fear
φοβέω
The verb gives fear a direction: it can unsettle and drive a person back.
THE PATTERN
When a divine encounter overwhelms a person, the body and voice respond before a clear explanation 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 he had spoken such words to me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became mute.And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he set his right hand upon me, saying, Do not be struck with awe. I am the first and the last.THE THREAD
And it came to pass, as they were separating from him, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here, and let us make three tents, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah, not knowing what he said.Luke uses the same Greek knowing verb, οἶδα (oida), that lies behind Mark’s “wist.” Mark shows fear stopping Peter’s answer before it forms; Luke shows him speaking without knowing what he says.
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