The Fallible Study Bible

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Mark10:13–16

Jesus Blesses the Children

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Mark 10:13–16 — Jesus Blesses the Children. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

13

Now people were bringing the little children to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them, and the disciples rebuked those who brought them.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai prosepheron paidia autō hina hapsētai autōn de hoi mathētai epetimēsan autois

Word by word12 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiNowG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
προσέφερονprosepheron[people] were bringingG4374
√ προσφέρω — to bear towards, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
προσφέρω: to bear towards, to bring to Imperfect, so the action is left open and repeating. The same verb carries Israel's sacrificial vocabulary elsewhere, and here what is borne toward Him is children, brought for nothing but contact with Him. No motive is stated in the Greek; Henry infers one from the setting, that they did not need “bodily cures, nor were they capable of being taught,” yet their guardians “believed that Christ's blessing would do their souls good.”
παιδίαpaidia[the] little childrenG3813
√ παιδίον — a childling (of either sex), iNounAccusative Neuter Plural
παιδίον: a childling, of either sex A common word (49 verses) that Mark has just used in the Capernaum scene of 9:36, and which he will repeat at v. 14 and, singular, at v. 15. The lexical weight is the diminutive: not sons and heirs but small dependents, defined by being carried.
αὐτῷautōto [Jesus]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἵναhinaforG2443
√ ἵνα — compare G3588 (ὁ))Conjunction
ἅψηταιhapsētaiHim to place His handsG680
√ ἅπτομαι — properly, to attach oneself to, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Middle3rd Person Singular
ἅπτομαι: properly, to attach oneself to Aorist middle subjunctive under ἵνα: the purpose of the whole procession is a touch. Cambridge supplies the sourced custom behind the request, that Hebrew mothers sought such a blessing from the presidents of the synagogues, and quotes the Talmud on the father laying hands on his child's head and leading him to the elders. The request is therefore ordinary piety, not superstition, and Maclaren insists “Christ did not think of it as a mere superstition.”
αὐτῶνautōnon themG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Neuter 3rd Person Plural
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μαθηταὶmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
ἐπετίμησανepetimēsanrebukedG2008
√ ἐπιτιμάω — to tax upon, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἐπιτιμάω: to tax upon, to rebuke Aorist, a single sharp act. This is the verb of authoritative censure that the Gospels otherwise aim at unclean spirits, at wind and sea, and at Peter; the disciples now aim it at parents with infants. The Verifier confirms the same lexeme standing in the parallel at Matthew 19:13 and Luke 18:15, so the rebuke is not Mark's private colour but the shared memory of the church.
αὐτοῖςautois[those who brought them]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Dative of the persons rebuked, left unspecified by the Greek and supplied in English.
14

But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and told them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de ho Iēsous Idōn ēganaktēsen kai eipen autois Aphete ta paidia erchesthai pros me mē kōlyete auta gar hē basileia tou Theou estin tōn toioutōn

Word by word25 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsous[when] JesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἸδὼνIdōnsaw thisG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
ὁράω: to see, to attend to Aorist participle. Pulpit reads the syntax as a single simultaneous scene: “The Greek shows that there was no interval between the acts of the parents and the disciples, and our Lord's seeing it.”
ἠγανάκτησενēganaktēsenHe was indignantG23
√ ἀγανακτέω — akin to the base of G43 (ἀγκάλη))VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἀγανακτέω: to be greatly grieved, indignant A rare verb (7 verses). In Matthew and Luke it belongs to people who are wrong to feel it: the ten at the request of the sons of Zebedee, the chief priests at children shouting in the temple, a synagogue ruler at a sabbath healing, the disciples at the ointment. Mark alone turns it on the Lord, and the only thing that provokes it here is a barrier put between children and Himself. Barnes gives the double ground, that it was “a pleasure to Him to receive and bless little children,” and that the disciples were acting where no commission had been given.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εἶπενeipentoldG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἌφετεApheteLetG863
√ ἀφίημι — an intensive form of , to go)VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
ἀφίημι: to send forth, release, leave The imperative that undoes the rebuke of v. 13 word for word. Benson hears it as invitation rather than mere tolerance: “Now, and at other convenient times, for I am pleased, rather than offended, to see them brought to me.”
τὰtatheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
παιδίαpaidialittle childrenG3813
√ παιδίον — a childling (of either sex), iNounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἔρχεσθαιerchesthaicomeG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbPresent Infinitive Middle or Passive
ἔρχομαι: to come or go Present infinitive, middle or passive in form: the children are to be allowed a continuing coming. The object of that coming is πρός με, to Me, and the verb is the one the Gospels use for coming to Christ in faith.
πρόςprostoG4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
μεmeMeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative 1st Person Singular
μὴmē[and] {do} notG3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
κωλύετεkōlyetehinderG2967
√ κωλύω — to estop, iVerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
κωλύω: to estop, hinder, forbid Present imperative under μή, so a demand to desist. The word belongs to obstruction of access, and in Acts it is the question asked over baptism, what hinders. Here the hindrance is not a rule but people, and the people are His own disciples.
αὐτάautathemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Neuter 3rd Person Plural
γὰρgarForG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
ἡhētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
βασιλείαbasileiakingdomG932
√ βασιλεία — properly, royalty, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
βασιλεία: royalty, rule, kingdom Properly kingship before territory. Mark has the phrase “kingdom of God,” not Matthew's “of heaven,” and the genitive Θεοῦ keeps the owner in view: this is God's reign, not a realm the childlike have built.
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΘεοῦTheouof GodG2316
√ θεός — figuratively, a magistrateNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἐστὶνestinbelongsG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
Present indicative of εἰμί governing a genitive: the construction of ownership, not of membership.
τῶνtōntoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Plural
τοιούτωνtoioutōnsuch [as these]G5108
√ τοιοῦτος — truly this, iDemonstrative PronounGenitive Neuter Plural
τοιοῦτος: such as this, of this kind The pivot of the verse, and the guard against sentimentality. Cambridge's gloss is the sober reading: the saying shows “that it is not children only, but the disposition of children which obtains the kingdom.” Gill records the early versional attempts at the same nuance, Syriac “as these,” Arabic “like to these,” Persic “like to these little children.” Pulpit takes it more literally, “of such little children as these,” and the two readings should be left standing side by side, because the Greek word carries both.
15

Truly I tell you, anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

amēn legō hymin hos an mē dexētai tēn basileian tou Theou hōs paidion ou mē eiselthē eis autēn

Word by word18 · parsed
ἀμὴνamēnTrulyG281
√ ἀμήν — properly, firm, iHebrew Word
ἀμήν: firm, so be it A Hebrew oath particle left standing untranslated in the Greek text, marking what follows as sworn testimony rather than comment. Its presence signals that v. 15 is not an aside about children but a threshold condition for everyone, which is exactly how Pulpit reads it: “Observe the ‘verily’ with which our Lord introduces these words.”
λέγωlegōI tellG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
ὑμῖνhyminyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
ὃςhosanyone whoG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ἂνan. . .G302
√ ἄν — (what-, where-, wither-, who-)soeverParticle
μὴmēvvvG3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
δέξηταιdexētaidoes not receiveG1209
√ δέχομαι — to receive (in various applications, literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Subjunctive Middle3rd Person Singular
δέχομαι: to receive, to welcome Aorist middle subjunctive after ὃς ἄν, an open indefinite condition covering anyone at all. The kingdom is the thing received, which quietly settles the direction of the transaction, and the commentators divide only on the object: Barnes and Poole read “the gospel,” Gill “the Gospel, and the mysteries of it,” Ellicott the reign itself received “after the manner of a child.”
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
βασιλείανbasileiankingdomG932
√ βασιλεία — properly, royalty, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΘεοῦTheouof GodG2316
√ θεός — figuratively, a magistrateNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ὡςhōslikeG5613
√ ὡς — which how, iAdverb
ὡς: how, as, like The comparison particle that carries the whole burden of the verse. It compares manner, not nature, so the text does not say the disciple becomes a child but that he receives as one.
παιδίονpaidiona little childG3813
√ παιδίον — a childling (of either sex), iNounNominative Neuter Singular
παιδίον: a childling Nominative singular: the child is the model receiver. Benson fills the comparison with content and anchors it in the Psalter, “the humility and meekness, the simplicity and teachableness, of a little child, (see Psalm 131:2.)” Maclaren refuses to fill it with innocence, since “as a matter of fact, children are not innocent, as all schoolmasters and nurses know,” and locates the point instead in dependence and trust.
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
Absolute negative, the first half of the emphatic double negation.
μὴmēvvvG3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
εἰσέλθῃeiselthēwill never enterG1525
√ εἰσέρχομαι — to enter (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
εἰσέρχομαι: to enter, literally or figuratively Aorist subjunctive under οὐ μή. Note the movement of the sentence: the kingdom must first be received before it can be entered, and Pulpit states that order outright, “We must first receive the kingdom into our affections before we can really enter into it.” The same verb is the one the rich man will hear in v. 23 to 25 about entering with difficulty, which sets this childlike reception directly opposite a full pair of hands.
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
αὐτήνautēnitG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Feminine 3rd Person Singular
16

And He took the children in His arms, placed His hands on them, and blessed them.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai enankalisamenos titheis tas cheiras ep’ auta kateulogei auta

Word by word9 · parsed
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐναγκαλισάμενοςenankalisamenosHe took [the children] in His armsG1723
√ ἐναγκαλίζομαι — to take in one's arms, iVerbAorist Participle MiddleNominative Masculine Singular
ἐναγκαλίζομαι: to take into one's arms A word of the arm's bend, and in the New Testament a word of Mark's alone. Cambridge records the whole of its use: “Twice we read of our Lord taking into His arms, and both times they were children whom He embraced, and both times the scenes are recorded only by St Mark (Mark 9:36, Mark 10:16).” Cambridge also draws the excess: “He ever giveth more than men ask or think. He had been asked only to touch the children.”
τιθεὶςtitheisplacedG5087
√ τίθημι — to place (in the widest application, literally and figurativelyVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
τίθημι: to place, to set Present participle against the surrounding aorist and imperfect: the laying on of hands is drawn out and repeated. Gill notes that the order matters and that the Ethiopic version reverses it, putting the blessing before the hands, “contrary to the natural order of the words, and things.”
τὰςtas[His]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Plural
χεῖραςcheirashandsG5495
√ χείρ — the hand (literally or figuratively (power)NounAccusative Feminine Plural
χείρ: the hand, figuratively power The hand that was asked only to touch (v. 13, ἅψηται) now rests in formal benediction. Pulpit defines the gesture: “The imposition of hands implies a formal benediction; the invoking of Divine grace upon them.”
ἐπ’ep’onG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
αὐτάautathemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Neuter 3rd Person Plural
κατευλόγειkateulogei[and] blessedG2127
√ εὐλογέω — to speak well of, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
εὐλογέω: to speak well of, to bless Imperfect, so the blessing is extended rather than pronounced once, and the surface verb is the intensified compound κατευλόγει. Benson reads the content of it as intercession, “Recommending them in a solemn manner to the blessing and favour of his heavenly Father.” Nothing in the Greek names what was said; the text records only that He kept blessing them.
αὐτὰautathemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Neuter 3rd Person Plural

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The imperfect tense of a queue, and a rebuke aimed the wrong way — Mark 10:13

Mark opens with an unfinished action: προσέφερον is imperfect, and Pulpit insists on it, “literally - were bringing.” People keep arriving; nobody is named as the subject. Cambridge supplies the likeliest identification, “These probably were certain parents, who honoured Him and valued His benediction,” and grounds the request in documented custom: Hebrew mothers sought such a blessing from the presidents of the synagogues, and the Talmud, as Cambridge quotes it, describes a father laying hands on his child's head and then leading him to the elders one by one. What the crowd wants is stated minimally, ἵνα ἅψηται αὐτῶν, that He might touch them; Pulpit is careful that the fuller “lay his hands on them and pray” belongs to Matthew, not here. Against that, the disciples use ἐπετίμησαν, the verb of authoritative censure that the Gospels aim at demons and storms. Pulpit supplies the motive as a guess, marked as one, “Perhaps because they thought it unworthy of so great a Prophet.” Maclaren's diagnosis is sharper and worth holding: the twelve “were a great deal more tender of His dignity than He.” ⚙ The offence is not irreverence. It is reverence with a doorkeeper's instinct.

ii. The one indignation Mark grants Him — Mark 10:14

ἠγανάκτησεν occurs in only 7 verses of the New Testament, and Ellicott supplies the distribution that makes it burn: “The word, as used by our Lord, is peculiar to St. Mark; St. Matthew uses it of the disciples,” and of the chief priests. Everywhere else it is the indignation of people in the wrong. Pulpit gives the force, “literally, he was moved with indignation,” and notes the text critical point that removes the connective, “The copulative καὶ is not to be found in the best authorities. The omission adds force and vividness to the words.” Two imperatives then land back to back and undo v. 13 exactly: Ἄφετε, release them, the verb of letting go and forgiving, and μὴ κωλύετε, a present prohibition, stop obstructing. Gill locates the fault precisely in the disciples' presumption, that they “ought first, to have known their master's will,” and Barnes adds that “they were doing what they were not commanded to do.” The ground is a genitive of ownership, τῶν τοιούτων ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ. Cambridge presses the pronoun: “Rather, to such belongs the Kingdom of God. He says not of these, but of such.” Pulpit takes the same words more literally, “of such little children as these,” and Gill preserves the old versional attempts, Syriac “as these,” Arabic “like to these.” ⚙ The Greek τοιοῦτος genuinely bears both, and the honest course is to leave the two readings in tension rather than let either erase the other.

iii. Received before entered, and the arms that outgive the request — Mark 10:15-10:16

Verse 15 is sworn: the interlinear tags ἀμὴν as a Hebrew word left untranslated inside the Greek, and Gill names its function, “A form of speech used when our Lord was about to asseverate a thing.” Two grammatical facts carry the saying. First, παιδίον is nominative, so the child is the model receiver, not the thing received. Second, the kingdom is the object of δέξηται, a welcoming verb, and only then of εἰσέλθῃ under the double negative οὐ μὴ, the strongest refusal Greek can build. Pulpit states the order the syntax implies: “We must first receive the kingdom into our affections before we can really enter into it.” On the content of the likeness the voices divide usefully. Benson lists humility, meekness, simplicity, teachableness and sends the reader to Psalm 131:2; Barnes has “teachable, mild, humble, and free from prejudice and obstinacy”; Geneva narrows it to “In our malice we must become as children”; Maclaren flatly refuses innocence, since “children are not innocent, as all schoolmasters and nurses know,” and puts dependence and trust in its place. Then v. 16 answers the request of v. 13 with more than was asked. Cambridge: “He ever giveth more than men ask or think. He had been asked only to touch the children.” Ellicott prefers “folded them in His arms” and notes the verb is Mark's alone; Cambridge observes that both of its occurrences are children in Mark's Gospel. The tenses tell the rest: aorist embrace, present τιθεὶς laying hands head after head, imperfect κατευλόγει, He kept blessing them. Benson reads the blessing as intercession, “Recommending them in a solemn manner to the blessing and favour of his heavenly Father.” ⚙ Mark does not record a single word of it.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Offered as the tool's own fallible reading, to be tested. The argument of this pericope runs on grammar, not on sentiment. Every verb attached to the children is passive in effect: they are carried (imperfect προσέφερον), they are the object of a requested touch, they are released, they are folded in, hands are laid on them, they are kept being blessed. They do nothing. The one thing they contribute is that they were brought and did not resist. That, and not innocence, is what ὡς παιδίον holds up, and the nominative case of παιδίον in v. 15 is what secures it: the child is the pattern of receiving, and δέχομαι is the verb of a guest accepting what is handed over. So the kingdom in v. 15 is a gift welcomed before it is a place entered, and the order is not reversible. Read this way, the disciples' rebuke and the rich man's coming a few verses later are one error twice: both assume access is something managed, either by gatekeepers or by assets. The contrary judgment, that the pericope is about actual infants and their standing rather than about adult discipleship, is not a rival but the other half, and the word τοιούτων will bear it. Where this synthesis will not follow the tradition is in the leap several of these voices make from the gesture to a sacrament. Maclaren's caution should govern: “The question, what does baptism mean, must be determined by examination of texts which speak about baptism; not by a side-light from a text which speaks about something else.” Barnes and Pulpit both take that side-light, and their conclusions are their own. What the text gives is narrower and heavier: the Lord was indignant, once in Mark, at people who stood between the helpless and Himself.

They were carried, and they did not resist; that is the whole of their qualification.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

Mark's own doublet: the arms that only ever hold children verbal / quotation: confirmed

Mark 9:36 and Mark 10:16 are the two places in the New Testament where the Lord is said to take someone into His arms, and Cambridge states the fact plainly: “Twice we read of our Lord taking into His arms, and both times they were children whom He embraced, and both times the scenes are recorded only by St Mark.” Pulpit makes the same cross-reference for ἐναγκαλισάμενος, noting that the word “has already occurred in this Gospel at Mark 9:36.” The Verifier scores this Mark's strongest internal link and records the shared childling word. Both scenes answer the same disciple failure, a dispute about rank in 9:34 and a dispute about access here, with the same wordless gesture. Cambridge notes the connection at v. 14 as well: “Only lately the Lord had expressed His love towards little children in a very remarkable manner (Mark 9:36-37).”

Mark 9:36 · Mark 9:37

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G3813 παιδίον (in 49 vv), the top scoring candidate for this unit at 0.56; Mark 9:37 adds G5108 τοιοῦτος (in 55 vv). Cambridge and Pulpit both independently record that the embrace verb G1723 ἐναγκαλίζομαι links only these two verses, both in Mark. Shared vocabulary within one Gospel, not a quotation: both refs are New Testament.

ἀγανακτέω: the rare indignation, and who else feels it verbal / quotation: confirmed

ἀγανακτέω stands in only 7 verses, and the Verifier returns almost all of them as candidates for this unit. Ellicott supplies the reading of that distribution: “The word, as used by our Lord, is peculiar to St. Mark; St. Matthew uses it of the disciples (Matthew 20:24; Matthew 26:8) and of the chief priests (Matthew 21:15).” Add the ten indignant at James and John in Mark 10:41, the bystanders at the ointment in Mark 14:4, and the synagogue ruler indignant at a sabbath healing in Luke 13:14. ⚙ The pattern is consistent and worth stating carefully: in every other instance the indignation is directed by the religious or the loyal against someone receiving mercy or giving honour; here alone it belongs to the Lord, and its object is a barrier placed in front of the helpless. That is an observation about usage, not a claim of quotation.

Mark 10:41 · Mark 14:4 · Matthew 20:24 · Matthew 21:15 · Matthew 26:8 · Luke 13:14

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G23 ἀγανακτέω (in 7 vv), a rare lexeme, computed for every ref listed; Matthew 26:8 also shares G3101 μαθητής (in 247 vv). All refs are New Testament, so the link is shared vocabulary, not an Old Testament citation.

The synoptic triple: what Matthew omits and Luke keeps verbal / quotation: confirmed

The Verifier returns the parallels in both other Synoptics with heavy lexical overlap. Ellicott, Barnes and JFB all simply refer the reader to the parallel accounts, and Poole records the editorial situation: “This is reported both by Matthew and Luke, only they both omit what we here have, Mark 10:15.” That is only half right and Ellicott corrects it: “St. Matthew does not give the verse. St. Mark has it in common with St. Luke.” Cambridge adds Luke's sharper word for the children, “The ‘children’ in St Mark and St Matthew are ‘infants’ in St Luke 18:15,” and Pulpit notes that Luke uses the same touch verb as Mark while Matthew has “lay his hands on them and pray.”

Matthew 19:13 · Matthew 19:14 · Luke 18:15 · Luke 18:16 · Luke 18:17

basis: Verifier: Matthew 19:14 and Luke 18:16 share G3813 παιδίον (in 49 vv) and G932 βασιλεία (in 154 vv); Matthew 19:13 shares G2008 ἐπιτιμάω (in 29 vv) and G4374 προσφέρω (in 45 vv); Luke 18:15 shares G2008, G4374 and G680 ἅπτομαι (in 33 vv); Luke 18:17 shares G3813 and G932. Dense multi-lexeme overlap in a parallel narrative; all refs New Testament.

Become as little children: the same demand stated the other way structural / thematic: confirmed

Matthew 18:3 and 18:5 pair the childling word with the kingdom and with the same demonstrative τοιοῦτος that Mark 10:14 turns on, and the Verifier confirms all three lexemes. Where Mark 10:15 says the kingdom must be received as a little child receives, Matthew 18:3 states the condition as conversion and becoming. Benson quotes that form of the saying into his note here, “Except ye be converted and become like little children,” as does Maclaren. ⚙ The two formulations guard each other: Mark's δέχομαι keeps the kingdom a gift, Matthew's “become” keeps the recipient under a real command, and neither alone is the whole saying.

Matthew 18:3 · Matthew 18:5 · Mark 9:37 · Luke 9:48

basis: Verifier: Matthew 18:5 and Mark 9:37 share G3813 παιδίον (in 49 vv) and G5108 τοιοῦτος (in 55 vv); Matthew 18:3 shares G3813 and G932 βασιλεία (in 154 vv); Luke 9:48 shares G3813. Real verbal overlap, but the lexemes are common rather than rare and the sayings are differently worded, so the link is tiered structural rather than verbal.

Hands laid on a child's head: the patriarchal and priestly gesture structural / thematic: confirmed

Barnes states the provenance of the gesture without hedging: “It was common to lay the hands on the head of a person for whom a blessing was asked. See the case of Jacob, Genesis 48:14.” Jacob crosses his hands on Ephraim and Manasseh and pronounces a blessing over boys who do nothing but stand there; the Aaronic formula of Numbers 6:22-27 is the words that such a gesture carries, and ends with the Lord putting His name upon them. Cambridge documents the practice as living custom in the first century, quoting the Talmud on the father who lays hands on his child's head and then leads him to the elders. Pulpit defines what the act means: “The imposition of hands implies a formal benediction; the invoking of Divine grace upon them.” ⚙ In Mark 10:16 the one laying on hands is not a patriarch passing along a blessing he received, nor a priest pronouncing a name over Israel, but the one whose own hands are the blessing, and Mark records no words at all.

Genesis 48:14 · Genesis 48:16 · Numbers 6:27

basis: Cross Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's number is possible and no verbal tier is available. Recorded basis: the shared physical rite of laying hands on the head to convey blessing, with Barnes citing Genesis 48:14 explicitly at Mark 10:13 and Cambridge documenting the same rite as contemporary Jewish practice. Pattern link only; no quotation is claimed.

The weaned child and the contrite: where Israel already learned this posture structural / thematic: confirmed

Benson does not leave the childlike temper undefined; he sends the reader to the Psalter, glossing “the humility and meekness, the simplicity and teachableness, of a little child, (see Psalm 131:2.)” Psalm 131 is the one place in Scripture where a grown man describes his own soul as a weaned child with its mother, having laid down the high and the great. Psalm 8:2 makes the mouths of infants the place where God establishes strength, and Isaiah 57:15 states the principle outright, that the High and Lofty One dwells with the contrite and lowly. ⚙ Read together with Mark 10:15, these say the demand of the Gospel is not novel: the Old Testament already knew that the kingdom's posture is smallness, and Mark's contribution is that the smallness now has an object, πρός με, to Me.

Psalm 131:1 · Psalm 131:2 · Psalm 8:2 · Isaiah 57:15

basis: Cross Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so shared Strong's numbers cannot be computed and a verbal tier is unavailable. Recorded basis: shared motif of the lowly or infant posture as the condition of God's nearness, with Benson citing Psalm 131:2 explicitly in his note on this passage. No quotation claimed; Psalm 8:2 and Isaiah 57:15 are this tool's extension of Benson's link and carry only thematic weight.

Shepherds who do not strengthen the weak typological

Ezekiel 34:4 indicts Israel's shepherds for failing precisely the weak, the sick and the scattered, and the Lord's answer there is to come and shepherd the flock Himself; Isaiah 40:11 says how, that He will gather the lambs in His arm and carry them. Benson reaches for exactly that language over Mark 10:16, calling Him “this compassionate Shepherd of Israel, thus gathering the lambs in his arms with all the tokens of tender affection,” and turns it into a charge to ministers about “the lambs of their flock.” ⚙ On that reading the disciples of v. 13 are standing, briefly, in the place of the shepherds Ezekiel condemns, and the indignation of v. 14 is the shepherd oracle enacted. This is a figural reading, offered as such: the shepherd typology itself is ancient and widely held, but its application to this specific rebuke is Benson's move and this tool's extension of it, and it should be weighed accordingly.

Ezekiel 34:4 · Isaiah 40:11

basis: Cross Testament (Greek to Hebrew), no shared Strong's possible. Figural link: the shepherd who gathers the lambs and the shepherds who fail the weak, read onto Mark 10:13-16. Benson supplies the shepherd and lambs language at this passage; the identification of the disciples with Ezekiel's negligent shepherds is novel to this synthesis and is marked as such.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The hands that are themselves the blessing ancient/widely-held

In the Old Testament texts the commentators reach for here, the one laying on hands invokes someone else. Jacob blesses in the name of the God who fed him (Genesis 48:15-16); Aaron's sons pronounce a formula whose subject is always the LORD, and Numbers 6:27 says that God is the one who blesses. Here, in Mark 10:16, the imperfect κατευλόγει has Jesus as its subject and the children as its direct object, with no invoked third party recorded. Benson still reads intercession into it, “Recommending them in a solemn manner to the blessing and favour of his heavenly Father,” and that may well be right; Barnes reads it as the Messiah conveying His own favour, “gave them the assurance of his favor as the Messiah.” Pulpit and Cambridge both note that He gives more than was requested: a touch was asked, and He folded them in, laid on hands, and blessed. ⚙ The unity of the two readings is the point of the scene: the one who intercedes with the Father and the one whose own embrace is the blessing are the same person. This is the ancient and widely held reading of Christ's benediction; the voices here differ on emphasis, not on substance.

Genesis 48:15 · Numbers 6:27 · Mark 10:16

“To Me”: the kingdom of God given by a man's own invitation ancient/widely-held

The two halves of v. 14 sit at an interval that only Christology closes. The command is Ἄφετε τὰ παιδία ἔρχεσθαι πρός με, let them come to Me, and the reason given is that τῶν τοιούτων ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ, the kingdom belongs to such. Mark keeps the divine genitive Θεοῦ and lets the invitation stand in the first person singular: coming to this man and holding God's kingdom are treated as one movement. Verse 15 then makes Him the one who fixes the terms of entry, sworn with the Hebrew ἀμὴν. Barnes glosses the kingdom as “the reign of God through a Mediator”; Poole reads it as “the grace of Christ in the gospel”; Gill as “the Gospel, and the mysteries of it.” Pulpit hears the implied claim in the scene itself and puts words to it, “It is not unworthy of my dignity to take little children into my arms and bless them.” ⚙ The same first person summons stands behind the invitation of Matthew 11:28, where the burdened are called to Him and not merely to God, though no commentator in this brief draws that link and it is offered here as a structural observation only. ⚙ That the Son admits to the Father's kingdom by calling people to Himself is the apostolic reading, attested across these commentators.

Mark 10:14 · Mark 10:15 · Matthew 11:28

Empty hands: the child and the rich man in one chapter novel

Mark sets two candidates for the kingdom side by side. Here the qualification is that one is carried and receives, δέξηται, with the child in the nominative as the pattern; a few verses on, the same verb εἰσέρχομαι returns for a man who has kept the commandments from his youth, and what is said of his entering is how hard it is for one holding much. Ellicott turns the saying on the twelve who had been “disputing who was the greatest in it,” which is the same disqualification in its third form. ⚙ The redemptive shape this discloses is that Christ's kingdom is distributed only to the empty handed, which is why the scene is set between a dispute about greatness and a refusal over possessions, and why the one place Mark applies ἀγανακτέω to the Lord (Ellicott's observation, not this tool's) is where someone tried to add a condition. ⚙ Reading Mark's chapter 10 as a deliberate triptych of access (children, possessions, rank) is this tool's own structural proposal; the individual observations behind it are the commentators', the arrangement is novel here.

Mark 10:15 · Mark 10:23 · Mark 10:37

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (c. 1905)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

⚙ Honesty notes for this unit. (1) Supplied English. BSB supplies a good deal that the Greek leaves open: the subject “people” in v. 13, the phrase “for Him to place His hands on them” where the Greek has only ἅψηται, “those who brought them” for a bare dative αὐτοῖς, and “His” before τὰς χεῖρας. Each is defensible; each is an interpretive decision and is flagged in the divergences. (2) Text critical items are the commentators', not this tool's. Pulpit reports that the connective καὶ in v. 14 is absent from the best authorities, and that the order of clauses in v. 16 follows them; Cambridge reports manuscript support for a present tense “he blesses them.” No manuscript has been inspected here. (3) Strong's mismatch in v. 16. The surface form is the strengthened compound κατευλόγει while the interlinear assigns G2127 εὐλογέω; the note records both rather than silently harmonising them. (4) Lexicon truncation. Several Strong's glosses arrive here cut off mid phrase (for example G680 “properly, to attach oneself to, i”, G1723 “to take in one's arms, i”). Glosses have been used only where the surviving text is unambiguous. (5) JFB is not quoted. All four of JFB's entries for this pericope are cross reference stubs directing the reader to Luke 18:15-17, with no substantive comment to excerpt; Poole's entries at vv. 14, 15 and 16 are likewise pointers, so his one substantive sentence is cited at v. 13 where his block note on 13 to 16 actually sits, even though its content belongs to v. 15. (6) Sacramental application. Barnes, Pulpit and (against them) Maclaren all argue infant baptism from or against this text. That debate is theirs; the quoted excerpts mark where it enters, and the sola reading declines to settle it from this passage. (7) Cross Testament links. The Genesis, Numbers, Psalms, Isaiah and Ezekiel threads cannot be verified by shared Strong's numbers, since the lexemes are Hebrew and this unit is Greek. They are tiered structural or typological and their bases say so. (8) The pullquote is not Scripture. The line “They were carried, and they did not resist; that is the whole of their qualification.” is ⚙ machine synthesis, fallible, and no part of any verse. (9) Where the commentators genuinely disagree, notably on whether τοιούτων in v. 14 means literal infants (Pulpit) or the childlike disposition (Cambridge, Gill), both readings are recorded and neither is resolved, because the Greek word supports both.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)