The Fallible Study Bible

The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible

Mark11:1–11

The Triumphal Entry

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Mark 11:1–11 — The Triumphal Entry. 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.

1

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent out two of His disciples

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai hote engizousin eis Hierosolyma eis Bēthphagē kai Bēthanian pros to oros tōn Elaiōn apostellei dyo tōn autou mathētōn

Word by word19 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὅτεhoteAsG3753
√ ὅτε — at which (thing) too, iAdverb
ἐγγίζουσινengizousinthey approachedG1448
√ ἐγγίζω — to make near, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἐγγίζω: to make near, to draw near Mark opens the Passion week with a present tense, not a past. The verb is a verb of approach rather than arrival: through vv. 1 to 10 Jesus is always drawing near and never yet inside, and only v. 11 supplies the entering (εἰσῆλθεν). Cambridge marks the tense; the Verifier ties the whole scene to Matthew 21:1 and Luke 19:29 by the shared disciples-and-two motif.
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ἹεροσόλυμαHierosolymaJerusalemG2414
√ Ἱεροσόλυμα — Hierosolyma (iNounAccusative Neuter Plural
Ἱεροσόλυμα: Jerusalem The goal named first and reached last. Mark states the destination in v. 1, then delays it for ten verses of preparation, procession and shouting, so that the actual entry in v. 11 lands in near silence.
εἰςeis[and came] toG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ΒηθφαγὴBēthphagēBethphageG967
√ Βηθφαγή — fig-houseNounAccusative Feminine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ΒηθανίανBēthanianBethanyG963
√ Βηθανία — date-houseNounAccusative Feminine Singular
πρὸςprosatG4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
ὄροςorosMountG3735
√ ὄρος — perhaps akin to G142 (αἴρω)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
ὄρος: a mountain, a hill Mark locates the sending on the Mount of Olives, the ridge from which, Pulpit notes, “the finest view of Jerusalem is gained.” The mount is not scenery: it is the place where Israel’s king once went up weeping away from the city (2 Samuel 15:30) and the place where the Lord’s feet are set in Zechariah 14:4. Mark supplies the location and leaves the resonance unstated.
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Plural
ἘλαιῶνElaiōnof OlivesG1636
√ ἐλαία — an olive (the tree or the fruit)NounGenitive Feminine Plural
ἐλαία: an olive (the tree or the fruit) Genitive plural: “of the Olives.” The olive, the fig (Bethphage) and the date palm (Bethany) crowd this one verse, and the fruit of each will matter before the chapter ends.
ἀποστέλλειapostellei[Jesus] sent outG649
√ ἀποστέλλω — set apart, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἀποστέλλω: to set apart, to send forth The verb of commissioning, used throughout the Gospels of apostolic sending, is here spent on an errand for a donkey. Mark gives the two disciples the vocabulary of mission and the task of a stable. The same verb is put into their mouths in v. 3 about the animal itself.
δύοdyotwoG1417
√ δύο — "two"AdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
τῶνtōnofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
μαθητῶνmathētōndisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounGenitive Masculine Plural
μαθητής: a learner, a disciple Genitive plural. Mark does not name them; Gill guesses “perhaps Peter and John,” Cambridge argues the minuteness of vv. 4 to 6 suggests Peter was one, Pulpit records Bede’s guess of Peter and Philip and then admits “we know nothing certain on this point.” ⚙ The honest position is the one Pulpit reaches.
2

and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai legei autois Hypagete eis tēn kōmēn tēn katenanti hymōn kai euthys eisporeuomenoi eis autēn heurēsete pōlon dedemenon eph’ hon oudeis anthrōpōn oupō ekathisen lysate auton kai pherete

Word by word28 · parsed
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
λέγειlegeisaidG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisto 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 PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ὙπάγετεHypageteGoG5217
√ ὑπάγω — to lead (oneself) under, iVerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
ὑπάγω: to lead (oneself) under, to depart A brisk verb of dispatch. Maclaren hears in the whole errand the manner of royal officers: they are to take the animal and answer, if challenged, exactly as a king’s servants would.
εἰςeisintoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
κώμηνkōmēnvillageG2968
√ κώμη — a hamlet (as if laid down)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
κώμη: a hamlet, a village Verifier: the same lexeme anchors Luke 19:30 and Matthew 21:2, both relatively uncommon (in 27 verses). Which village is unclear: Pulpit and Cambridge both say most likely Bethphage or an adjoining hamlet, and Gill lists Bethany or Nob as possibilities while dismissing Jerusalem “without any reason.” ⚙ Mark does not say.
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
κατέναντιkatenantiahead ofG2713
√ κατέναντι — directly oppositePreposition
ὑμῶνhymōnyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εὐθὺςeuthysas soonG2112
√ εὐθέως — directly, iAdverb
εἰσπορευόμενοιeisporeuomenoias you enterG1531
√ εἰσπορεύομαι — to enter (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Masculine Plural
εἰσπορεύομαι: to enter Present participle, middle or passive: the finding is to happen in the act of entering, not after a search. Mark’s prediction is precise enough that Poole builds a case for divine foreknowledge on it, and Maclaren answers with the possibility of a prior arrangement; the text itself reports only the accuracy.
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
αὐτὴνautēnitG846
√ 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
εὑρήσετεheurēseteyou will findG2147
√ εὑρίσκω — to find (literally or figuratively)VerbFuture Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
πῶλονpōlona coltG4454
√ πῶλος — a "foal" or "filly", iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
πῶλος: a foal, a colt A rare word: the Verifier finds it in only 11 verses of the whole canon, and every one of its other Gospel occurrences (Matthew 21:2, 21:5, 21:7; Luke 19:30, 19:33, 19:35; John 12:15) belongs to this one event. The rarity is what makes the synoptic link a genuinely verbal one. Cambridge quotes Geikie that the ass “was the symbol of peace,” over against the war horse Solomon imported.
δεδεμένονdedemenontied [there]G1210
√ δέω — to bind (in various applications, literally or figuratively)VerbPerfect Participle Middle or PassiveAccusative Masculine Singular
δέω: to bind Perfect passive: bound and still bound. Mark uses the participle twice (here and v. 4) and the answering verb λύω three times (vv. 2, 4, 5), so that a quarter of the episode is spent on one animal being loosed. ⚙ Mark is the Gospel in which binding and loosing are done to a beast before they are done to a man.
ἐφ’eph’onG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
ὃνhonwhichG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Masculine Singular
οὐδεὶςoudeisno oneG3762
√ οὐδείς — not even one (man, woman or thing), iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἀνθρώπωνanthrōpōn. . .G444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Plural
οὔπωoupōvvvG3768
√ οὔπω — not yetAdverb
οὔπω: not yet The small adverb carries the weight. Cambridge collects the law behind it: “Unused animals were put to sacred purposes. See Numbers 19:2 ; Deuteronomy 21:3 ; 1 Samuel 6:7 .” Pulpit cites the heifer “on which never came yoke,” and Poole adds the Philistines’ new cart and unyoked kine of 1 Samuel 6:7, with the blunter practical note that colts “when first backed” are “more unruly.”
ἐκάθισενekathisenhas ever satG2523
√ καθίζω — to seat down, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
καθίζω: to seat down, to sit Aorist. The verb is used here only to deny that anyone has ever done it, and then in v. 7 to say that Jesus did: ἐκάθισεν ἐπ’ αὐτόν. The same word in two verses is Mark’s whole claim about who this rider is.
λύσατεlysateUntieG3089
√ λύω — to "loosen" (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
λύω: to loosen, to untie Aorist imperative, one decisive act against a perfect-tense condition. The word will be repeated by the bystanders as a challenge in v. 5, so the command and the objection use identical vocabulary.
αὐτὸνautonitG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
φέρετεpheretebring [it here]G5342
√ φέρω — to "bear" or carry (in a very wide application, literally and figuratively, as follows)VerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
3

If anyone asks, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it and will return it shortly.’”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai ean tis eipē hymin Ti poieite touto eipate Hoti HO Kyrios echei chreian autou kai apostellei palin hōde auton euthys

Word by word21 · parsed
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐάνeanIfG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
τιςtisanyoneG5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Singular
εἴπῃeipēasksG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
ὑμῖνhyminG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
ΤίTiWhyG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
ποιεῖτεpoieiteare you doingG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
τοῦτοtoutothisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
εἴπατεeipatetell [him]G2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
ὍτιHotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ὉHOTheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΚύριοςKyriosLordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
κύριος: supreme in authority, lord The single most loaded word in the errand. On the human level it names a master who may requisition property; on Mark’s level it is the same word the crowd will shout in v. 9 (ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου). ⚙ Mark lets the word do double duty and never explains it.
ἔχειecheivvvG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἔχω: to hold, to have Paired with χρεία it makes the paradox: the one who has authority to commandeer is the one who has need. Maclaren calls this the whole blessed paradox of the earthly life of Jesus put into a handful of words.
χρείανchreianneedsG5532
√ χρεία — employment, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
χρεία: employment, need, want Strong’s root sense is employment or business, so the claim is nearer “the Lord has a use for it” than to any appeal for pity. Need, not entitlement, is still the only reason given: no threat, no price, no explanation of purpose reaches the owner, and Gill expects him to send the colt “with all readiness and cheerfulness, without the least hesitation.” ⚙ It is the one sentence in Mark that Jesus scripts for other men to speak about him.
αὐτοῦautouitG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀποστέλλειapostelleiwill returnG649
√ ἀποστέλλω — set apart, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἀποστέλλω: to send forth The same verb that sent the disciples in v. 1 now governs the colt: the animal, like the men, is sent and sent back. Pulpit reads the promise as Christ choosing to accomplish his will “powerfully and yet gently” rather than by bare right of possession.
πάλινpalin. . .G3825
√ πάλιν — (adverbially) anew, iAdverb
πάλιν: again, anew A textually consequential adverb. Pulpit notes the strong support of the oldest uncials for it and that Origen twice introduces it, and that with it the sentence can only be Christ’s own undertaking to send the colt back.
ὧδεhōde. . .G5602
√ ὧδε — in this same spot, iAdverb
αὐτὸνautonitG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
εὐθὺςeuthysshortlyG2112
√ εὐθέως — directly, iAdverb
εὐθέως: directly, immediately Mark’s signature adverb, here of the returning.
4

So they went and found the colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. They untied it,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai apēlthon kai heuron pōlon exō epi tou amphodou dedemenon pros thyran kai lyousin auton

Word by word15 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiSoG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀπῆλθονapēlthonthey wentG565
√ ἀπέρχομαι — to go off (iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εὗρονheuronfoundG2147
√ εὑρίσκω — to find (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
πῶλονpōlon[the] coltG4454
√ πῶλος — a "foal" or "filly", iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἔξωexōoutsideG1854
√ ἔξω — out(-side, of doors), literally or figurativelyAdverb
ἐπὶepiinG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τοῦtoutheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Singular
ἀμφόδουamphodoustreetG296
√ ἄμφοδον — a fork in the roadNounGenitive Neuter Singular
ἄμφοδον: a fork in the road A very rare noun, and the commentators disagree about it: cross-roads (Barnes, Wyclif’s bivium), back lane round the house (Cambridge), open street (Pulpit). ⚙ The disagreement is the honest report; what all readings share is that the colt stood in a place where the untying would be seen.
δεδεμένονdedemenontiedG1210
√ δέω — to bind (in various applications, literally or figuratively)VerbPerfect Participle Middle or PassiveAccusative Masculine Singular
δέω: to bind The word of v. 2 returned unchanged. Mark’s way of showing fulfilment here is lexical repetition, not comment.
πρὸςprosatG4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
θύρανthyrana doorwayG2374
√ θύρα — a portal or entrance (the opening or the closure, literally or figuratively)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
θύρα: a portal, a door Someone’s own doorway, with the animal waiting, as Maclaren puts it, on the convenience of its owner.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
λύουσινlyousinThey untiedG3089
√ λύω — to "loosen" (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
λύω: to loosen Present tense: the loosing is in progress, which is precisely why the bystanders can interrupt it in the next verse.
αὐτόνautonitG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
5

and some who were standing there asked, “Why are you untying the colt?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai tines tōn hestēkotōn ekei elegon autois Ti poieite lyontes ton pōlon

Word by word12 · parsed
καίkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τινεςtinessomeG5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Plural
τῶνtōnwho wereG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ἑστηκότωνhestēkotōnstandingG2476
√ ἵστημι — to stand (transitively or intransitively), used in various applications (literally or figuratively)VerbPerfect Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Plural
ἵστημι: to stand Perfect participle: bystanders who had been there a while, not passers-by. Their presence is part of what Jesus is reported to have foreseen or arranged, which is why Poole builds his argument for prescience on this verse as much as on v. 2.
ἐκεῖekeithereG1563
√ ἐκεῖ — thereAdverb
ἔλεγονelegonaskedG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
λέγω: to lay forth, to say Imperfect: a repeated or sustained challenge, quietened only by the repetition of a single sentence in v. 6.
αὐτοῖςautois. . .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
ΤίTiWhyG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
ποιεῖτεpoieiteare youG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
λύοντεςlyontesuntyingG3089
√ λύω — to "loosen" (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
λύω: to loosen The third occurrence of the verb in four verses. ⚙ In a Gospel that will shortly show a man bound and handed over, Mark spends his verbs of loosing on an animal first.
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
πῶλονpōloncoltG4454
√ πῶλος — a "foal" or "filly", iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
6

The disciples answered as Jesus had instructed them, and the people gave them permission.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Hoi eipan autois kathōs ho Iēsous eipen kai aphēkan autous

Word by word11 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΟἱHoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
εἶπανeipan[The disciples] answeredG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
αὐτοῖςautois. . .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
καθὼςkathōsasG2531
√ καθώς — just (or inasmuch) as, thatAdverb
καθώς: just as, according as The hinge word of the paragraph. Mark’s interest is not in the colt but in the exactness: what was said would happen, happened, and is reported with the vocabulary of the saying.
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
εἶπενeipenhad instructed [them]G2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀφῆκανaphēkan[the people] gave them permissionG863
√ ἀφίημι — an intensive form of , to go)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἀφίημι: to send away, to let go, to release A verb that carries real weight elsewhere in Mark (of leaving nets, of releasing from debt, of forgiving sins). Here it is used of men who simply stop objecting. ⚙ The sentence “the Lord has need of it” is the only argument offered, and it is enough.
αὐτούςautous. . .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 PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
7

Then they led the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, and He sat on it.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai pherousin ton pōlon pros ton Iēsoun kai epiballousin autōn ta himatia autō kai ekathisen ep’ auton

Word by word17 · parsed
καὶkaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
φέρουσινpherousinthey ledG5342
√ φέρω — to "bear" or carry (in a very wide application, literally and figuratively, as follows)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
φέρω: to bear, to carry Command and obedience in one lexeme, present tense on both ends.
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
πῶλονpōloncoltG4454
√ πῶλος — a "foal" or "filly", iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
πρὸςprostoG4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦνIēsounJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐπιβάλλουσινepiballousinthrewG1911
√ ἐπιβάλλω — to throw upon (literal or figurative, transitive or reflexiveVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἐπιβάλλω: to throw upon Cambridge supplies the nearest biblical parallel: the captains who “took every man his garment, and put it under Jehu on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king” (2 Kings 9:13). The gesture is an improvised coronation, and no one in Mark says so aloud.
αὐτῶνautōntheirG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Plural
τὰtaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
ἱμάτιαhimatiacloaksG2440
√ ἱμάτιον — a dress (inner or outer)NounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἱμάτιον: a garment, a cloak Poole’s contrast is the sharpest in the brief: if this kingdom were of this world there would have been a statelier beast, or at least a saddle, and tapestry rather than poor men’s coats.
αὐτῷautōover itG846
√ 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
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐκάθισενekathisenHe satG2523
√ καθίζω — to seat down, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
καθίζω: to seat down, to sit Aorist, and the hinge of the whole episode. Gill notes what the untrained animal makes of it: he sat on it “without any trouble, though it had never been backed before.” ⚙ The word that was reserved by a negative in v. 2 is now spent, once, on him.
ἐπ’ep’onG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
αὐτόνautonitG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Singular
8

Many in the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut from the fields.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai polloi estrōsan autōn ta himatia eis tēn hodon de alloi stibadas kopsantes ek tōn agrōn

Word by word16 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πολλοὶpolloiMany [ in the crowd ]G4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἔστρωσανestrōsanspreadG4766
√ στρώννυμι — to "strew," iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
στρώννυμι: to strew, to spread One verb for two objects. Cambridge collects the parallels for the gesture: robes strewn before Mordecai coming out from Ahasuerus, the Persian army honouring Xerxes at the Hellespont, and, from Robinson’s travels, the people of Bethlehem throwing their garments under the horses of a consul whose help they were begging. The act belongs to petition as much as to homage.
αὐτῶνautōntheirG846
√ 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 Masculine 3rd Person Plural
τὰtaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
ἱμάτιαhimatiacloaksG2440
√ ἱμάτιον — a dress (inner or outer)NounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἱμάτιον: a garment, a cloak The same word as v. 7: what served as a saddle now serves as paving. Cambridge identifies the garment as the loose blanket or cloak worn over the tunic, that is, the outer covering a poor man also slept in.
εἰςeisonG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
ὁδόνhodonroadG3598
√ ὁδός — a roadNounAccusative Feminine Singular
ὁδός: a road, a way The road into Jerusalem, covered with what the crowd was wearing and what they had just cut down.
δὲdewhileG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἄλλοιalloiothers [spread]G243
√ ἄλλος — "else," iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
στιβάδαςstibadasbranchesG4746
√ στοιβάς — a spread (as if tramped flat) of loose materials for a couch, iNounAccusative Feminine Plural
στοιβάς: a spread of loose materials for a couch A word found in Mark and nowhere else in the New Testament, and the strongest single mark of his independence from Matthew here. ⚙ The crowd is not waving palms in Mark; it is laying down bedding.
κόψαντεςkopsantesthey had cutG2875
√ κόπτω — to "chop"VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
κόπτω: to chop, to cut Verifier: shared with Matthew 21:8, where the lexeme is uncommon (in 8 vv). Pulpit notes the practical sequence: the branches were cut in the fields, and only the smaller leafy portions suitable for strewing were carried out to the road.
ἐκekfromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
τῶνtōntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀγρῶνagrōnfieldsG68
√ ἀγρός — a field (as a drive for cattle)NounGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀγρός: a field The textually better reading, against “off the trees.” Cambridge describes the road from Bethany winding through plantations of palm, fruit and olive.
9

The ones who went ahead and those who followed were shouting: “Hosanna!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai hoi proagontes kai hoi akolouthountes ekrazon Hōsanna Eulogēmenos ho erchomenos en onomati Kyriou

Word by word14 · parsed
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoiThe [ones who]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
προάγοντεςproagonteswent aheadG4254
√ προάγω — to lead forward (magisterially)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
προάγω: to lead forward (magisterially) Verifier: shared with Matthew 21:9 (in 20 vv). Cambridge, drawing on John 12:12, explains the two bodies: a second stream of people came out of the city to meet him and turned round to swell the procession, so that the crowd literally surrounds him on the road.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoithose whoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἀκολουθοῦντεςakolouthountesfollowedG190
√ ἀκολουθέω — properly, to be in the same way with, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἀκολουθέω: to follow, to be in the same way with The discipleship verb of Mark’s Gospel, here used of a festival crowd. ⚙ In three days’ time the following will thin to almost nothing; Mark uses the word without comment.
ἔκραζονekrazonwere shoutingG2896
√ κράζω — properly, to "croak" (as a raven) or scream, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
κράζω: to croak, to scream, to cry out Imperfect: sustained shouting, not a chant. The same verb is used in Mark of unclean spirits and of the blind man at Jericho who would not be silenced.
ὩσαννάHōsannaHosannaG5614
√ ὡσαννά — oh save!Hebrew Word
ὡσαννά: oh save! A rare word (in 5 vv) and a Hebrew one: the plea of Psalm 118:25 carried into Greek without translation. Pulpit suggests it may have begun as the cry of captives or rebels for mercy before hardening into an acclamation. ⚙ The crowd is begging for rescue in the words of a psalm, and the man they are begging is on the animal.
ΕὐλογημένοςEulogēmenosBlessed isG2127
√ εὐλογέω — to speak well of, iVerbPerfect Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
εὐλογέω: to speak well of, to bless Perfect passive participle. Geneva’s gloss reads it as a wish (“Let it be well to him that comes to us from God”); the Greek form states an accomplished blessing.
ὁhoHe [who]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἐρχόμενοςerchomenoscomesG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ὀνόματιonomati[the] nameG3686
√ ὄνομα — a "name" (literally or figuratively) (authority, character)NounDative Neuter Singular
ὄνομα: a name (authority, character) Strong’s explicitly includes authority and character in the sense. To come “in the name of the Lord” is to come with his authority, which is the exact question the chief priests will put to Jesus at the end of this chapter.
ΚυρίουKyriouof [the] LordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
10

“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest!”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Eulogēmenē hē erchomenē basileia hēmōn tou patros Dauid Hōsanna en tois hypsistois

Word by word12 · parsed
ΕὐλογημένηEulogēmenēBlessedG2127
√ εὐλογέω — to speak well of, iVerbPerfect Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Feminine Singular
εὐλογέω: to speak well of, to bless The feminine ending is the whole exegetical point of the verse and is invisible in translation: the participle cannot agree with the rider, only with βασιλεία, so Mark alone records a blessing pronounced on the kingdom itself (Ellicott calls it a distinguishing touch of this Gospel). ⚙ The perfect tense adds the second point: the crowd is not asking that the kingdom be blessed but declaring that it already stands blessed, which is more than they could have known they were saying.
ἡhē[is] theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
ἐρχομένηerchomenēcomingG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Feminine Singular
ἔρχομαι: to come or go The participle of coming, used of the man in v. 9 and of his kingdom in v. 10. ⚙ Mark’s crowd has fused the two without knowing how, and the Gospel will spend the rest of the chapter separating them.
βασιλείαbasileiakingdomG932
√ βασιλεία — properly, royalty, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
βασιλεία: royalty, kingdom, reign Strong’s first sense is abstract, royalty or rule, before it is territory. Benson paraphrases the cry as “May the kingdom of the Messiah, promised to our father David, be speedily established,” and adds bluntly that the crowd expected it to vindicate Israel from the Roman yoke.
ἡμῶνhēmōnof ourG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Plural
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
πατρὸςpatrosfatherG3962
√ πατήρ — a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)NounGenitive Masculine Singular
ΔαυίδDauidDavidG1138
√ Δαβίδ — Dabid (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
Δαβίδ: David Verifier: shared with Matthew 21:15 (in 54 vv), where the children’s Hosanna to the Son of David provokes the chief priests. The dynastic hope behind the shout is the promise of 2 Samuel 7:12 to 16; Mark reports the hope and not the promise.
ὩσαννὰHōsannaHosannaG5614
√ ὡσαννά — oh save!Hebrew Word
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τοῖςtoistheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Plural
ὑψίστοιςhypsistoishighestG5310
√ ὕψιστος — highest, iAdjectiveDative Neuter PluralSuperlative
ὕψιστος: highest Superlative plural, the heavens themselves, so that the last word of the acclamation is not about David at all.
11

Then Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, He went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai eisēlthen eis Hierosolyma eis to hieron kai periblepsamenos panta tēs hōras ousēs ēdē opse exēlthen eis Bēthanian meta tōn dōdeka

Word by word21 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εἰσῆλθενeisēlthen[Jesus] enteredG1525
√ εἰσέρχομαι — to enter (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
εἰσέρχομαι: to enter Aorist: the single decisive entry. ⚙ Mark has used eleven verses to approach Jerusalem and one verb to arrive, and then sends him straight out again.
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ἹεροσόλυμαHierosolymaJerusalemG2414
√ Ἱεροσόλυμα — Hierosolyma (iNounAccusative Neuter Plural
εἰςeis[and went] intoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
ἱερόνhierontemple [courts]G2411
√ ἱερόν — a sacred place, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἱερόν: a sacred place, the temple precinct The court of the Gentiles, where, as Poole explains at length, the priests permitted shops and markets they would never have allowed in the holy place. The geography of the word is the geography of the next day’s judgment.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
περιβλεψάμενοςperiblepsamenosHe looked around atG4017
√ περιβλέπω — to look all aroundVerbAorist Participle MiddleNominative Masculine Singular
περιβλέπω: to look all around Aorist middle. Gill reads it as the act of an owner, that he entered the temple “as the Lord and proprietor of it”; Cambridge as a “prolonged and calm and searching glance”; Pulpit as a visit of inspection that prepared the disciples for the morrow. ⚙ It is the quietest verb in the unit and the most consequential.
πάνταpantaeverythingG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
πᾶς: all, every, the whole Accusative neuter plural: everything, with nothing exempted from the look.
τῆςtēs[but since]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
ὥραςhōras[it]G5610
√ ὥρα — an "hour" (literally or figuratively)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
οὔσηςousēswasG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Participle ActiveGenitive Feminine Singular
ἤδηēdēalreadyG2235
√ ἤδη — even nowAdverb
ὀψὲopselateG3796
√ ὀψέ — (adverbially) late in the dayAdverb
ὀψέ: late in the day A rare adverb (in 4 vv) that in Mark marks departure: the same word closes the second day at Mark 11:19 and stands in the watch list of Mark 13:35. JFB draws the security implication, that from this day Jesus passed no night in the city save the last.
ἐξῆλθενexēlthenHe went outG1831
√ ἐξέρχομαι — to issue (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ΒηθανίανBēthanianBethanyG963
√ Βηθανία — date-houseNounAccusative Feminine Singular
μετὰmetawithG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
τῶνtōntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
δώδεκαdōdekaTwelveG1427
√ δώδεκα — two and ten, iAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
δώδεκα: twelve After the crowds of vv. 8 to 10, the company that walks back out to Bethany is the Twelve. Cambridge notes that the procession itself would not have gone past the foot of Mount Moriah and had dispersed before the Shushan gate.

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 requisition: a Lord who has need — 1 to 6

⚙ Mark tells the approach in the present tense (ἐγγίζουσιν, ἀποστέλλει), a detail Cambridge marks twice: “Rather, when they draw near… Observe how he writes in the present tense.” The geography is thick with fruit: Bethphage is the fig-house and Bethany the date-house (so Strong’s glosses of G967 and G963, and Pulpit’s etymologies), and the ridge is the Mount of Olives. Ellicott warns that “The better MSS. give “Bethany” only,” so even the place names are contested. Into that setting Mark spends the verb of apostolic commissioning, ἀποστέλλω, on an errand for a donkey. The sentence the two disciples carry is four words in Greek: ὁ Κύριος χρείαν ἔχει αὐτοῦ. Maclaren hears the collision exactly, that “the Lord” is a great title and “hath need” is “a strange verb to go with such a nominative,” and that all private convenience is to “give way unconditionally.” Whether the accuracy of the prediction rests on foreknowledge or on a prior arrangement is genuinely disputed in our own sources: Poole argues that no one but God could have told the disciples what they would find and how the owners would react, while Maclaren proposes that Jesus “had settled with the two owners what was to happen,” and Cambridge only says “the man may have been a secret disciple.” ⚙ We do not settle it. Mark reports that the words were said, and that the objection (Τί ποιεῖτε, v. 5, verbatim from v. 3) stopped; Gill notes that on hearing the one sentence the bystanders “said no more, were satisfied and contented,” and the verb Mark chooses for their yielding, ἀφῆκαν, is the ordinary verb for letting go and releasing.

ii. The unridden colt: the negative that becomes a claim — 2, 4, 7

⚙ The load-bearing word of the unit is a rare one: πῶλος (G4454), which the Verifier finds in only eleven verses of the canon, every other Gospel instance belonging to this same event. Mark stacks negatives around it: οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων οὔπω ἐκάθισεν, not one of men has not yet sat. Ellicott notes that this untouched state is recorded “by St. Mark and St. Luke only.” Cambridge supplies the legal background, “Unused animals were put to sacred purposes. See Numbers 19:2 ; Deuteronomy 21:3 ; 1 Samuel 6:7 ,” and Pulpit the heifer “on which never came yoke”; Poole adds the Philistines’ new cart and unyoked kine, along with the practical observation that a colt first backed is the more unruly. Then v. 7 spends the same verb, ἐκάθισεν, once, on Jesus. That identity of form is the argument, and no character in Mark states it. Note also that Mark does not quote Zechariah 9:9. Ellicott is explicit that it is Matthew who “lays stress” on the she-ass “as a literal fulfilment of Zechariah 9:9”; Cambridge reports (quoting Geikie) the expectation that “the Messiah would enter Jerusalem riding on an ass.” ⚙ Mark leaves the prophecy unnamed and lets the animal make the claim, which is why every thread joining this scene to Zechariah is tiered structural or typological below, never verbal.

iii. The road and the cry: Psalm 118 in the mouths of strangers — 8 to 10

⚙ The cloaks that served as a saddle in v. 7 (ἱμάτια) become the carpet in v. 8, the same word twice; Cambridge identifies them as the “abbas” or “hykes,” and gathers the parallels of robes strewn before Mordecai and of Xerxes honoured at the Hellespont. What the others spread is not the κλάδοι of Matthew but στιβάδας (G4746), which Ellicott says is “used by St. Mark only” and “describes the leafy boughs forming, as they were thrown down, a kind of litter or matting.” Pulpit adds that the branches were cut in the fields and the smaller leafy portions carried out. Then the shout. Ὡσαννά is not translated into Greek at all: the interlinear parse simply labels it a Hebrew word, and Strong’s glosses it “oh save!” Pulpit: “It may have been originally the cry of captives or rebels for mercy; and thus have passed into a general acclamation.” Cambridge names the source, “the prophetic language of the Psalms… See Psalm 118:26 .” Ellicott catches what is peculiar to Mark: “The shout of blessing for the kingdom as well as for the king, is another touch by which St. Mark’s record is distinguished from the others,” and the Greek proves it by gender, Εὐλογημένη feminine to agree with βασιλεία. Benson reads the crowd’s hope frankly as “his assuming the royal dignity, and vindicating Israel from the Roman yoke,” and Gill paraphrases their meaning as the kingdom promised to David now appearing. ⚙ Both perfect participles, Εὐλογημένος and Εὐλογημένη, state a blessing already conferred rather than one being wished; the crowd is closer to the truth than its own politics.

iv. Eventide: the king who looks, and leaves — 11

⚙ Mark’s entry is one aorist, εἰσῆλθεν, after ten verses of drawing near, and it is followed not by a throne but by a survey: περιβλεψάμενος (G4017, aorist middle participle), “having looked all around at everything, for himself.” Cambridge describes the procession dispersing before the Shushan gate and Jesus surveying “the scene of disorder and desecration… with prolonged and calm and searching glance”; Pulpit calls it a “visit of inspection” and says his “keen and searching eye saw at a glance all that was going on”; Barnes reads the delay morally, that “God is slow to anger.” Not all our sources agree that nothing was done: Gill and Poole both hold that the cleansing happened on this first day, Poole noting that interpreters “think it not probable that our Saviour the first night should only look about.” ⚙ We follow Mark’s own sentence, which reports looking and leaving. Benson states the anticlimax plainly: having received the title of Messiah openly and surveyed the temple, “he left the city without doing any thing, to the great discouragement of the throng.” JFB adds the danger: “It was not now safe for the Lord to sleep in the city, nor, from the day of His Triumphal Entry, did He pass one night in it, save the last fatal one.” The clause that closes the day, τῆς ὥρας οὔσης ἤδη ὀψέ, uses ὀψέ (G3796), a word the Verifier finds in only four verses.

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

⚙ Offered to be tested, not as the church’s judgment. Read only in Greek, this unit is built out of two verbs and one silence. The verbs are λύω and καθίζω. A colt stands bound (δεδεμένον, perfect: bound and bound still) at somebody’s door, and the entire first half of the episode is the loosing of it: λύσατε, λύουσιν, λύοντες, three occurrences in four verses, against a question that is asked twice in identical words and answered once in four. Nothing in the scene resists the sentence “the Lord has need of it.” Then the second verb: the seat that no man had ever taken (οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων οὔπω ἐκάθισεν, v. 2) is taken, once, by him (ἐκάθισεν, v. 7). Mark makes no comment, quotes no prophet, and lets two identical aorists carry the claim that this rider is the one for whom the unused thing was kept, in the way the law kept unyoked animals for holy use (so Cambridge, citing Numbers 19:2 and 1 Samuel 6:7). The silence is the third element, and it cuts both ways. The crowd fills it with Psalm 118 and with a kingdom for David, and is not rebuked; Benson is right that their expectation ran to the Roman yoke. Jesus fills it with nothing at all. He is carried into the city on borrowed cloaks over a borrowed animal, enters the temple, looks at everything, and goes back out to Bethany because it is late. ⚙ Our fallible reading is that Mark has deliberately built an enthronement with every royal element borrowed and the throne itself empty of comment, so that the acclamation is left standing over a king who has need, who takes nothing, and who will be bound himself before the chapter’s week is out. If that reading is wrong, it will be wrong in the direction of pressing Mark’s silence too hard; the sourced facts (the repeated λύω, the doubled ἐκάθισεν, the perfect participles of blessing, the unquoted Zechariah) stand either way.

A pauper King requisitions an unbroken colt, takes the one seat no man has taken, and spends his first hour in the temple looking. (This line is our own synthesis, not a verse of Scripture.)

⚙

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.

“Hosanna, blessed is he who comes”: Psalm 118 put into the crowd’s mouth structural / thematic: confirmed

The shout of vv. 9 and 10 is not Mark’s composition. Ὡσαννά (G5614) is left untranslated in the Greek (the interlinear parse labels it simply a Hebrew word) and Strong’s glosses it “oh save!”, which is the plea of Psalm 118:25; “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” is Psalm 118:26. Cambridge names the source directly: the multitudes found expression “in the prophetic language of the Psalms… See Psalm 118:26 .” Pulpit reconstructs the cry’s history, that it “may have been originally the cry of captives or rebels for mercy,” and Geneva glosses it “Let it be well to him that comes to us from God.” ⚙ The link is an explicit citation, yet it crosses the Testaments: Mark’s Greek and the Psalm’s Hebrew share no Strong’s number that the Verifier can compute, so no verbal tier is available to us here even though the quotation itself is beyond dispute. Within the New Testament the same rare lexeme does carry a verbal link, recorded in the synoptic thread below.

Psalm 118:25 · Psalm 118:26

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew): no shared Strong's number is computable, so the tier is structural even though the citation is explicit. Recorded basis: Ὡσαννά G5614 (rare, in 5 vv) transliterates the Hebrew plea of Psalm 118:25, and Εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου (G2127, G2064, G3686, G2962) renders Psalm 118:26. Cambridge on Mark 11:10 cites Psalm 118:26 by name.

The colt no one had ridden: Zechariah’s gentle king, enacted and not quoted typological

Mark never cites Zechariah 9:9. Ellicott makes the point by contrast: St Mark, with Luke and John, “omits the mention of the “she-ass” bound with the colt, on which St. Matthew lays stress as a literal fulfilment of Zechariah 9:9 .” Cambridge, quoting Geikie, reports the expectation that from Zechariah 9:9 “the Messiah would enter Jerusalem riding on an ass,” and adds that the ass, unlike the war horse Solomon imported from Egypt, “was the symbol of peace.” Pulpit reads the equipage the same way: he rides an ass’s colt “that he might show his kingdom to be of another kind, that is, spiritual and heavenly.” ⚙ What Mark supplies instead of a citation is the rare noun πῶλος (G4454) and an unridden animal: the prophecy is enacted rather than announced. Genesis 49:11, where Judah’s ruler is pictured with his foal, belongs to the same figural field and is read that way by the tradition, not by Mark.

Zechariah 9:9 · Genesis 49:10 · Genesis 49:11

basis: Figural, cross-Testament, and widely held from Matthew 21:5 onward: no shared Strong's number is possible between Mark's Greek and Zechariah's Hebrew, and Mark himself supplies no quotation formula. Recorded basis: the rare lexeme πῶλος G4454 (in 11 vv) plus the untouched state (οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων οὔπω ἐκάθισεν) matching the colt of Zechariah 9:9; Ellicott and Cambridge both name Zechariah 9:9 as the expectation in play.

πῶλος and Ὡσαννά: the one event in four Gospels verbal / quotation: confirmed

The Verifier’s strongest verbal ties for this unit are to the parallel accounts, and they run on genuinely uncommon words. πῶλος (G4454) occurs in only eleven verses of the canon, and Matthew 21:2, 21:5, 21:7, Luke 19:30, 19:33, 19:35 and John 12:15 account for nearly all of them: outside this week the word barely exists in the New Testament. Ὡσαννά (G5614) is rarer still, in five verses, shared with Matthew 21:9, Matthew 21:15 and John 12:13. Luke 19:33 shares both πῶλος and λύω (G3089); Matthew 21:9 shares Ὡσαννά with προάγω (G4254, in 20 vv), the very participle Mark uses of those going before. Cambridge draws on John 12:12 to explain the double crowd: “a second stream of people issuing from the Holy City came forth to meet the Saviour.” ⚙ These are all New Testament to New Testament links, so a verbal tier is legitimate here in a way it is not for the Psalm or for Zechariah.

Matthew 21:2 · Matthew 21:7 · Matthew 21:9 · Luke 19:30 · Luke 19:33 · Luke 19:35 · John 12:13 · John 12:15

basis: Verifier: shared rare Greek lexemes within the New Testament. πῶλος G4454 (in 11 vv) with Matthew 21:7, Matthew 21:5, Luke 19:33, Luke 19:35, John 12:15; ὡσαννά G5614 (in 5 vv) with Matthew 21:9, Matthew 21:15, John 12:13; also προάγω G4254 (in 20 vv) and εὐλογέω G2127 (in 39 vv) with Matthew 21:9 and John 12:13, κώμη G2968 (in 27 vv) and δέω G1210 (in 40 vv) with Matthew 21:2 and Luke 19:30.

ὀψέ: Mark’s four evenings verbal / quotation: confirmed

The day ends on a rare adverb. ὀψέ (G3796, “late in the day”) is found by the Verifier in only four verses, and two of the other three are Mark’s own: Mark 11:19, where he again goes out of the city, and Mark 13:35, in the watchword about the master of the house returning at evening. The fourth is Matthew 28:1. ⚙ Read together, the lexeme marks the rhythm JFB describes, that from the day of the entry Jesus “did not pass one night in it, save the last fatal one.” Mark’s Passion week is measured out in departures at dusk, and the same word that closes this first day closes the second.

Mark 11:19 · Mark 13:35 · Matthew 28:1

basis: Verifier: shared rare Greek lexeme ὀψέ G3796 (in only 4 vv) with Mark 11:19, Mark 13:35 and Matthew 28:1; Mark 11:19 additionally shares ἔξω G1854 (in 62 vv). All references are New Testament, so a verbal tier is admissible; the thematic reading of the rhythm is our own.

“Whereon never man sat”: the law of the unused animal structural / thematic: confirmed

Three of our commentators independently reach for the same body of law to explain οὔπω. Cambridge: “Unused animals were put to sacred purposes. See Numbers 19:2 ; Deuteronomy 21:3 ; 1 Samuel 6:7 .” Pulpit cites Numbers 19:2, “the heifer on which never came yoke,” and adds that animals never before used “were alone admissible for sacred purposes.” Poole supplies 1 Samuel 6:7, the Philistines setting the ark on a new cart drawn by kine “on which there never came yoke,” and reasons from natural religion that what is put to divine use is not first put to common use. ⚙ The connection is a legal and cultic pattern, not a quotation: Mark shares no vocabulary with these Hebrew texts, and he never calls the colt holy. Poole himself keeps an alternative open, that the choice may have been made to sharpen the wonder of the ride, “or for some other wise end which we know not.”

Numbers 19:2 · Deuteronomy 21:3 · 1 Samuel 6:7

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew): no shared Strong's numbers are computable, so no verbal claim is made. Recorded basis: a shared cultic pattern (an animal never worked or ridden reserved for sacred use), named at these three references by Cambridge on Mark 11:2, by Pulpit on Mark 11:2 (Numbers 19:2), and by Poole on Mark 11:2 (1 Samuel 6:7).

Garments under the king: Jehu on the stairs, David on the ridge structural / thematic: confirmed

Two Old Testament scenes stand behind the gestures of vv. 7 to 10, and both come to us from named commentators rather than from Mark. Cambridge sets the cloaks thrown over the colt beside 2 Kings 9:13, where the captains “took every man his garment, and put it under Jehu on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king.” The shout of v. 10 for “the coming kingdom of our father David” looks to the dynastic promise of 2 Samuel 7:12 to 16, which Gill paraphrases as the kingdom “promised to our father David, and to his seed for ever.” ⚙ To these we add, as our own observation and not as any commentator’s claim, the ridge itself: the Mount of Olives of v. 1 is where David went up weeping as his throne was taken from him (2 Samuel 15:30) and where the Lord’s feet stand in Zechariah 14:4. Mark names the mountain three times in this chapter and draws no such line; the resonance is real, the inference is ours.

2 Kings 9:13 · 2 Samuel 7:12 · 2 Samuel 15:30 · Zechariah 14:4

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's basis exists and nothing verbal is claimed. Recorded basis: a shared enthronement pattern (garments spread under the king, acclamation of a Davidic kingdom) cited at 2 Kings 9:13 by Cambridge on Mark 11:7 and at the Davidic promise by Gill on Mark 11:10; the Mount of Olives links to 2 Samuel 15:30 and Zechariah 14:4 rest on the shared location named in Mark 11:1 and are our own inference, held loosely.

The colt as the Gentiles: an allegory without a source flagged: verify source

Cambridge reports, at Mark 11:4, that “The colt, untamed, and tied at the back gate, as if ready for a rider, has been interpreted as a symbol of the Gentile world to be brought to Christ from the lanes and alleys of Heathendom ( Luke 14:21 ); the she-ass as symbolizing God’s ancient people who were familiar with the yoke of the Law.” The reading is old and has been widely repeated, and the Luke 14:21 reference (the lanes of the city) is Cambridge’s own supporting gesture. ⚙ We record it and flag it: Cambridge names no author, the she-ass on which half the allegory depends is absent from Mark’s text altogether (Ellicott: Mark omits her), and nothing in the Greek of v. 4 suggests two peoples. Anyone wishing to use this reading should find its provenance first.

Luke 14:21

basis: Provenance undetermined: Cambridge on Mark 11:4 reports the interpretation in the passive ("has been interpreted") without naming a source, and it depends on the she-ass that Mark's text does not contain (Ellicott on Mark 11:2). The Luke 14:21 reference is Cambridge's supporting allusion, not a verbal link: no shared Strong's lexeme is claimed.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The Lord who has need ancient/widely-held

⚙ Four Greek words carry the paradox of the whole unit: ὁ Κύριος χρείαν ἔχει αὐτοῦ (v. 3). Κύριος (G2962) is the word Strong’s glosses “supreme in authority,” and Gill observes that this title seems to be how Jesus was known, comparing John 11:28. χρεία (G5532) is want, business, need. Maclaren presses both halves: “The Sovereign’s need is a sovereign reason. What He requires He has a right to take,” and yet “Here is a pauper King, who having nothing yet possesses all things,” who “borrowed a boat to preach from” and “a grave in which to lie.” Pulpit makes the same reading from the equipage: he comes with no gleaming swords, “in gentleness, not that he might be feared on account of his power, but that he might be loved on account of his goodness.” This is the apostolic pattern of Philippians 2:7 and 2 Corinthians 8:9, and the tradition has read the entry this way from the start: Poole draws from the borrowed colt and the poor men’s cloaks that “his kingdom was not of this world,” and Henry that “all marked his humiliation.” ⚙ The Lord of the temple he is about to inspect enters it owing the ride to a stranger.

Philippians 2:7 · 2 Corinthians 8:9 · Zechariah 9:9

Hosanna: the cry for rescue answered otherwise ancient/widely-held

⚙ The crowd’s loudest word is a petition. Ὡσαννά (G5614) is glossed “oh save!” and Pulpit reads it as possibly “the cry of captives or rebels for mercy”; Geneva’s gloss is “Let it be well to him that comes to us from God.” Benson states without flinching what the crowd meant by it: “their joyful and rapturous expectations of his assuming the royal dignity, and vindicating Israel from the Roman yoke.” Cambridge adds that they expected him to “claim the sceptre, and ascend the throne,” and that “they were doomed to disappointment.” ⚙ Mark has already told his readers, at Mark 10:45, on what terms this Son of Man saves, and the ransom is not the one being shouted for. The petition is answered, and answered past the askers’ intention: the perfect participle Εὐλογημένος states a blessing already conferred, while the salvation the cry begs for will come by the road out of the city rather than the throne inside it. This is the common reading of the tradition, which hears the crowd speak better than it knows.

Psalm 118:25 · Mark 10:45

περιβλεψάμενος: the owner’s survey of his own house novel

⚙ The unit ends with a verb of looking, not of ruling: περιβλεψάμενος (G4017, aorist middle participle), “having looked all round, for himself,” with πάντα, at everything. Our commentators read the look as judicial before it is anything else. Barnes: “Having seen or examined everything. He saw the abominations and abuses which he afterward corrected.” Gill says he entered the temple “as the Lord and proprietor of it,” and made “a thorough visitation of it.” Cambridge describes the “prolonged and calm and searching glance”; Pulpit calls it a “visit of inspection” which “prepared them for what took place on the morrow.” ⚙ Beyond that consensus we offer our own extension, and mark it as ours: Mark has placed a survey of the temple by its owner immediately after an enthronement, and a barren fig tree immediately after the survey, so that the inspection is the hinge of the chapter and the fruitlessness its verdict. Readers who hear Malachi 3:1, where the Lord comes suddenly to his temple, standing behind this survey are hearing something real, but Mark does not cite it, and we do not claim he does.

Mark 11:15 · Malachi 3:1

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)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • 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) Text: three readings in these eleven verses are genuinely disputed in our own sources. Ellicott reports that “The better MSS. give “Bethany” only” at v. 1, so the double place name may not be original. At v. 3 Pulpit sets out the case for πάλιν (“again”), which changes the clause from a prediction about the owner into a promise by Jesus that the colt will be sent back; our literal follows the text of the interlinear, which has πάλιν. At v. 8 Ellicott notes that the better manuscripts read “from the fields” rather than “off the trees,” and that “And strawed them in the way” is omitted in the better manuscripts; Cambridge records a further variant, “from the gardens.” (2) Chronology: Mark’s report that Jesus looked round and left is read two ways by our commentators. Gill and Poole hold that the cleansing of the temple happened on this first day (Poole: interpreters “think it not probable that our Saviour the first night should only look about”), while Barnes, Cambridge, Pulpit and JFB take Mark at his word that the first day ended in inspection only. Our commentary follows Mark’s sentence and records the dissent. (3) Unresolved: whether the accuracy of vv. 2 to 6 rests on foreknowledge (Poole, Pulpit) or on a prior arrangement with a disciple who owned the colt (Maclaren, with Cambridge’s milder “may have been a secret disciple”). The text does not decide it and neither do we. (4) Identity of the two disciples: guessed as Peter and John (Gill, Cambridge, and Jansonius by way of Pulpit) or Peter and Philip (Bede, by way of Pulpit); Pulpit’s own conclusion, “we know nothing certain on this point,” is the one we adopt. (5) Thread tiers: every link between this Greek text and a Hebrew text is tiered structural or typological, never verbal, because no shared Strong's lexeme can exist across the Testaments; this includes the Psalm 118 citation, which is explicit and still cannot be tiered verbal. The only verbal tiers used here are New Testament to New Testament (πῶλος, ὡσαννά, ὀψέ). (6) The Gentile-colt allegory at v. 4 is flagged: Cambridge reports it without attribution and it depends on a she-ass Mark does not mention. (7) Where a reading is our own rather than a source’s (the Mount of Olives resonance with 2 Samuel 15:30 and Zechariah 14:4, the Malachi 3:1 echo behind the temple survey, the reading of Mark’s silence in the sola section) we have said so in place.

✦ = 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)