The Fallible Study Bible

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Mark13:24–27

The Return of the Son of Man

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

Mark 13:24–27 — The Return of the Son of Man. 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.

24

But in those days, after that tribulation: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Alla en ekeinais tais hēmerais meta tēn ekeinēn thlipsin Ho hēlios skotisthēsetai Kai hē selēnē ou dōsei autēs to phengos

Word by word20 · parsed
ἈλλὰAllaButG235
√ ἀλλά — properly, other things, iConjunction
alla: but, on the contrary The pivot word of the whole Olivet discourse in Mark. Everything the commentators fight over turns on how hard this adversative is pressed: Benson and Gill read what follows as the same subject in prophetic dress (the end of the Jewish polity), Poole and the Pulpit read it as a turn to another subject entirely.
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ἐκείναιςekeinaisthoseG1565
√ ἐκεῖνος — that one (or (neuter) thing)Demonstrative PronounDative Feminine Plural
ταῖςtaisG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Plural
ἡμέραιςhēmeraisdaysG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounDative Feminine Plural
hēmera: day Dative plural, “in those days,” the standing prophetic idiom for an appointed period rather than a datable window.
μετὰmetaafterG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
ἐκείνηνekeinēnthatG1565
√ ἐκεῖνος — that one (or (neuter) thing)Demonstrative PronounAccusative Feminine Singular
θλῖψινthlipsintribulationG2347
√ θλῖψις — pressure (literally or figuratively)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
thlipsis: pressure, crushing The noun ties this verse back to v. 19 and forward to the apostolic vocabulary of the church's own affliction. Mark's meta tēn thlipsin ekeinēn (“after that pressing”) is looser than Matthew's “immediately after,” and the Pulpit Commentary makes that difference the ground for reading the interval as the whole age between the two advents.
ὉHoTheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
Article with hēlios: “the sun,” the one there is.
ἥλιοςhēliossunG2246
√ ἥλιος — perhaps akin to the alternate of G138 (αἱρέομαι))NounNominative Masculine Singular
σκοτισθήσεταιskotisthēsetaiwill be darkenedG4654
√ σκοτίζω — to obscure (literally or figuratively)VerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
skotizō: to obscure, darken Future passive. The verb stands in only five verses in the New Testament, and the other four are instructive company: Matthew 24:29 in the synoptic parallel, Revelation 8:12 of a struck sun, and Romans 1:21 and 11:10 of a darkened heart and darkened eyes. So the word Mark uses for the cosmos is the word Paul uses for the mind under judgment. Whether the darkening here is physical, political or figurative is exactly what Gill (the withdrawn Shekinah), Benson (the ruined polity) and the Pulpit (possibly literal) cannot agree on, and the grammar does not settle it.
ΚαὶKaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἡhētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
σελήνηselēnēmoonG4582
√ σελήνη — probably akin to the alternate of G138 (αἱρέομαι), through the idea of attractiveness)NounNominative Feminine Singular
selēnē: moon Named with the sun in nine verses. Augustine, quoted by the Pulpit Commentary, read the moon here as the Church; Gill read it as the ceremonial law. Both are readings of a figure, not of the word.
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
δώσειdōseiwill not giveG1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
didōmi: to give Future active. The moon is not said to be darkened but to withhold. Light is treated as a gift that can be refused, which is why the darkened luminaries function in the prophets as covenant sanction rather than as astronomy.
αὐτῆςautēsitsG846
√ 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 Feminine 3rd Person Singular
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
φέγγοςphengoslightG5338
√ φέγγος — brilliancyNounAccusative Neuter Singular
phengos: brilliancy, radiance A rare noun: three verses only. Its one non apocalyptic use is Luke 11:33, where a lamp is set on a stand so that those entering may see the phengos. The same rare word thus names both the lamp no one hides and the moon that will not shine, which sharpens rather than softens the darkness promised here.
25

the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai hoi asteres esontai piptontes ek tou ouranou Kai hai dynameis hai en tois ouranois saleuthēsontai

Word by word16 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἀστέρεςasteresstarsG792
√ ἀστήρ — a star (as strown over the sky), literally or figurativelyNounNominative Masculine Plural
astēr: star Twenty one verses. Read against 1 Corinthians 15:41, where star differs from star in glory, the falling stars are the undoing of an ordered hierarchy of lights, not merely a spectacle.
ἔσονταιesontaiwillG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Plural
Future of eimi, carrying the participle: the auxiliary half of the periphrastic construction.
πίπτοντεςpiptontesfallG4098
√ πίπτω — to fall (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
piptō: to fall Present participle, active, nominative plural. The tense is the point: not a flash but a continuing descent. Whether Mark intends meteors, the collapse of an order, or (Gill) the fall of the rabbinic teachers is interpretation; the grammar gives only duration.
ἐκekfromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
τοῦtoutheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
οὐρανοῦouranouskyG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ΚαὶKaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αἱhaitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Plural
δυνάμειςdynameispowersG1411
√ δύναμις — force (literally or figuratively)NounNominative Feminine Plural
dynamis: force, power The Pulpit Commentary takes these as the unseen forces holding the universe in equipoise; Gill takes them as the ordinances of the legal dispensation, citing Haggai 2:6 with Hebrews 12:26. The word itself decides neither. What it does decide is that the noun shaken here in v. 25 is the noun in which the Son of Man comes in v. 26: what is dismantled above and what arrives are named alike.
αἱhaiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Plural
ἐνenofG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τοῖςtoistheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Plural
οὐρανοῖςouranoisheavensG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounDative Masculine Plural
σαλευθήσονταιsaleuthēsontaiwill be shakenG4531
√ σαλεύω — to waver, iVerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Plural
saleuō: to waver, totter Future passive plural. Haggai 2:6 promises a shaking of heaven and earth, and Hebrews 12:26 to 27 reads that shaking as the removal of what can be shaken so that the unshakeable kingdom stands. Gill makes exactly that link on this verse. The Greek here does not quote Haggai, but it names the same act.
26

At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai tote opsontai ton Huion tou anthrōpou erchomenon en nephelais meta pollēs dynameōs kai doxēs

Word by word15 · parsed
ΚαὶKaivvvG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τότεtoteAt that timeG5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
tote: at that time, then The adverb that sequences the two halves of the scene; it returns at the head of v. 27.
ὄψονταιopsontaithey will seeG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Plural
horaō: to see, to attend to Future middle plural, subject unexpressed. Gill takes the seeing figuratively (the Jews had “convincing evidence, and full proof” as if they had seen); Poole takes it as the one clause in the passage that cannot be figurative and so decides the whole for the second advent. The verb alone cannot arbitrate, and the honest ⚙ reading says so.
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΥἱὸνHuionSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounAccusative Masculine Singular
huios: son With the genitive that follows, the Danielic title. Cambridge's observation is the exegetical one worth keeping: at the height of the glory he names himself by the name that binds him to the humanity he came to save.
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀνθρώπουanthrōpouof ManG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Singular
anthrōpos: man, human being Ton Huion tou anthrōpou renders the Aramaic bar enash of Daniel 7:13. JFB works through Daniel 7 verse by verse and calls it “the true key” here; Cambridge cites Daniel 7:13 to 14 directly. This is the one phrase in the unit where a cross Testament dependence is claimed by nearly every voice present, and because the languages differ it can never be scored as a shared lexeme.
ἐρχόμενονerchomenoncomingG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveAccusative Masculine Singular
erchomai: to come or go Present participle, middle or passive in form. The Greek does not say from where. Daniel's figure comes to the Ancient of Days, which is why JFB can read the coming as enthronement rather than descent, while Cambridge and the Pulpit read it as the visible advent. Both readings are attested; the participle serves either.
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
νεφέλαιςnephelais[the] cloudsG3507
√ νεφέλη — properly, cloudiness, iNounDative Feminine Plural
nephelē: cloudiness, cloud The cloud is the standing biblical screen of the divine presence. The Pulpit Commentary calls the clouds, illuminated by the brightness of his coming, “the sublime drapery of his presence,” quoting Dr. Morison.
μετὰmetawithG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
πολλῆςpollēsgreatG4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveGenitive Feminine Singular
δυνάμεωςdynameōspowerG1411
√ δύναμις — force (literally or figuratively)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
dynamis: force, power Genitive with meta. The deliberate echo of v. 25: the powers in the heavens are shaken, and the power comes with him. What the passage takes down from the sky it gives back in a person.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
δόξηςdoxēsgloryG1391
√ δόξα — glory (as very apparent), in a wide application (literal or figurative, objective or subjective)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
doxa: glory, that which is apparent The lexicon's sense is worth pressing: doxa is glory “as very apparent.” In a scene whose first act was the removal of every visible light, the last thing named is the one brightness that is not taken away. Revelation 21:23, which shares hēlios, selēnē and doxa with this unit, draws the same line: the city needs neither sun nor moon, for the glory of God lightens it.
27

And He will send out the angels to gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai tote apostelei tous angelous kai episynaxei tous autou eklektous ek tōn tessarōn anemōn ap’ akrou gēs heōs akrou ouranou

Word by word20 · parsed
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τότεtote. . .G5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
tote: then Untranslated in BSB. It is the second of the two tote clauses that structure vv. 26 and 27: then they see, then he sends.
ἀποστελεῖaposteleiHe will send outG649
√ ἀποστέλλω — set apart, iVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
apostellō: to set apart, send with commission Future active singular. The subject is unchanged from v. 26: the Son of Man, who in Daniel 7 receives the kingdom, here disposes of the messengers. Ellicott notes what Mark leaves out at this point, the trumpet that Matthew 24:31 supplies.
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ἀγγέλουςangelousangelsG32
√ ἄγγελος — compare G34 (ἀγέλη)) (to bring tidings)NounAccusative Masculine Plural
angelos: messenger, one who brings tidings Gill reads these as the ministers of the gospel and JFB records Lightfoot doing the same, then answers that the language “swells beyond any gathering of a human family into a Church upon earth.” The noun genuinely bears both; the decision is made by the scene, not the word.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐπισυνάξειepisynaxeito gatherG1996
√ ἐπισυνάγω — to collect upon the same placeVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
episynagō: to collect upon the same place A rare compound, seven verses in all. Two of the other six are the lament over Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37, Luke 13:34): “how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not.” The verb Christ used for the gathering that was refused is the verb Mark uses for the gathering that is accomplished. That is the sharpest lexical fact in this unit, and the Verifier records it.
τοὺςtousG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative 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
ἐκλεκτοὺςeklektouselectG1588
√ ἐκλεκτός — selectAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
eklektos: select, chosen Twenty two verses. Mark has used it twice already in this chapter (vv. 20 and 22), of those for whose sake the days are shortened and of those whom false christs almost deceive. The same people preserved through the pressing of v. 24 are the people collected in v. 27; the unit's beginning and end are held together by this one adjective.
ἐκekfromG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
τῶνtōntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
τεσσάρωνtessarōnfourG5064
√ τέσσαρες — fourAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
tessares: four With anemōn, the fixed idiom for the whole compass.
ἀνέμωνanemōnwindsG417
√ ἄνεμος — windNounGenitive Masculine Plural
anemos: wind “From the four winds” is the prophets' phrase for the whole dispersion (Zechariah 2:6, Deuteronomy 30:4 in sense). The Pulpit Commentary keeps the literal “out of the four winds,” the winds standing figuratively for every corner of the world.
ἀπ’ap’fromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
ἄκρουakrou[the] endsG206
√ ἄκρον — the extremityNounGenitive Neuter Singular
akron: the extremity The rare noun that the Verifier flags as shared with Matthew 24:31 (four verses in all; the others are Luke 16:24 and Hebrews 11:21, both of a fingertip and a staff's tip, which shows how concrete the word is). Its doubling here draws one line from the far edge of earth to the far edge of heaven.
γῆςgēsof [the] earthG1093
√ γῆ — soilNounGenitive Feminine Singular
ἕωςheōstoG2193
√ ἕως — a conjunction, preposition and adverb of continuance, until (of time and place)Preposition
ἄκρουakrou[the] endsG206
√ ἄκρον — the extremityNounGenitive Neuter Singular
akron: the extremity The second occurrence. The Pulpit Commentary reads the pair as a single horizon image: where earth and heaven appear to meet, so that the phrase means, in effect, from horizon to horizon.
οὐρανοῦouranouof heavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounGenitive Masculine Singular

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 adversative that splits the commentators — 13:24

⚙ Everything in this unit hangs on one small word. Ἀλλὰ (alla, G235), which Strong's glosses “properly, other things,” is the strong adversative, and Mark places it first. Benson reads it as no real turn at all: the whole passage, he says, describes “the dissolution of the Jewish polity, and the abolition of the Mosiac economy, in all the pomp of language and imagery made use of by the ancient prophets,” so that the expressions “are highly figurative, and signify the passing away of all the glory, excellence, and prosperity of the nation.” Gill presses the same reading into detail, identifying the darkened sun with the withdrawn Shekinah and the moon that gives no light with the ceremonial law. Poole knows this idiom as well as either of them, and catalogues it: Isaiah 13:10 of Babylon, Ezekiel 32:7 of Egypt, Joel 2:31 of the gospel age. And then Poole refuses the conclusion, on the ground of vv. 26 and 27: of none of those older judgments, he says, “is it said, Then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.” The Pulpit Commentary takes the same exit by a different door, reading Matthew's “immediately” by the reckoning of him with whom a thousand years are as one day, so that “Our Lord now passes away from the events connected with the overthrow of the Jewish polity.” Four public domain voices, one Greek conjunction, and no agreement. The honest ⚙ observation is that alla supports the turn and does not compel it.

ii. The unmaking of the fourth day — 13:24 to 13:25

⚙ Read from the Greek up, the two verses are a careful dismantling, and they run in order: sun, moon, stars, then the powers that hold them. The Pulpit Commentary notices what that order is, and says it plainly: “In the great events of the creation recorded in Genesis 1 the sun and the moon and the stars did not show their light until that period which is called the fourth day.” The grammar reinforces it. σκοτισθήσεται (skotisthēsetai, G4654) is a future passive with no agent named, and σαλευθήσονται (saleuthēsontai, G4531, “to waver, totter”) is another. Between them stands a periphrastic future, ἔσονται πίπτοντες, “shall be falling,” which the Pulpit Commentary prints in Greek to keep its continuous force. Nobody in the scene acts except the unnamed one who darkens and shakes. JFB's caution is the necessary counterweight and is worth its full force: this grandeur of language, he shows, “will be found used of the Lord's coming in terrible national judgments,” of Babylon, Idumea and Egypt. So the vocabulary is not proof of finality. What the vocabulary is, is the language of a Creator undoing his own fourth day, and Mark supplies no formula of citation to tell us he is only borrowing a figure.

iii. Then they will see — 13:26

⚙ The sky has just been emptied of every light, and the next thing named is δόξης (doxēs, G1391), glory, which the lexicon defines as that which is “very apparent.” The sequence is the argument. JFB sends the reader to Daniel 7:13 and 14 and calls it “the true key to our Lord's meaning here,” then draws a conclusion many will not follow him to: that Daniel's figure comes to the Ancient of Days to receive investiture, so that Mark's “coming” is enthronement and vindication rather than descent. Cambridge takes the plainer road, citing Daniel 7:13 to 14 and Acts 1:11 for the clouds, and adding the observation that outlasts the dispute: “He calls Himself by the name which links Him to the Humanity He came to save.” The Pulpit Commentary, canvassing the Fathers on Matthew's “sign of the Son of man,” cuts through: “But surely the sign of the Son of man at the end of the world will be the Son of man himself coming in clouds.” Ellicott's single sentence makes the same point from the text itself: Mark's simpler form “at once replaces and explains St. Matthew's” sign. ⚙ One grammatical detail deserves to be kept in view under all of this. The noun dynamis is used twice in four verses: the powers in the heavens are shaken (v. 25), and he comes with much power (v. 26). What is dismantled above and what arrives are named with one word.

iv. From extremity of earth to extremity of heaven — 13:27

⚙ The last verse is two coordinated futures, not one act with a purpose: ἀποστελεῖ (apostelei, G649, “set apart,” the verb behind apostolos) and ἐπισυνάξει (episynaxei, G1996, “to collect upon the same place”). BSB's “to gather” subordinates the second; the Greek keeps them level, and the gatherer is the sender. Gill takes the ἀγγέλους as gospel ministers gathering the elect into a church among the Gentiles, and JFB records Lightfoot arguing the same at length, then answers him honestly: the language “swells beyond any gathering of a human family into a Church upon earth,” even while JFB himself will not abandon the temporal reference, because v. 28 limits the prediction to that generation. Ellicott notes what is missing here, the trumpet that Matthew 24:31 supplies. The Pulpit Commentary resolves the closing phrase to a picture anyone standing outdoors can check: at the horizon earth and heaven appear to join, so “from extremity of earth unto extremity of heaven” means from horizon to horizon. ⚙ And the verb of gathering is the rarest word in the unit. Of the seven New Testament verses that use episynagō, two are the lament over Jerusalem: how often would I have gathered thy children, and ye would not. The word of the refused gathering is the word of the accomplished one.

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

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested. The commentators before us divide because they are asking the passage to choose between Jerusalem and the end, and the Greek declines to choose. What the Greek does do is impose a shape, and the shape is a single argument: every light is put out, and then one Person is seen. Note that the two passives (darkened, shaken) name no agent, while the two futures of v. 27 (he will send, he will gather) name their agent emphatically. The sentence moves from an act with no visible author to an act with a face. And it moves through one repeated noun: dynamis, the powers that are shaken, the power he comes with. The reading I would put forward, and would want tested, is that vv. 24 to 27 are not primarily a timetable but a transfer. The lights that were given on the fourth day to rule and to mark seasons are withdrawn, and the ruling and the marking pass to the Son of Man. If that is right, then the old argument over whether the sun's darkening is figurative or literal is the wrong question asked well: on either reading the creation loses its independent authority to keep time, and receives instead the One who does. Poole's instinct was sound even where his conclusion may overreach, for the decisive sentence is the one that names a Person, not the ones that describe a sky. And the last act is not destruction but retrieval: from extremity of earth unto extremity of heaven, not one of the elect left where they fell. I hold this loosely. Mark supplies no citation formula and no date, and v. 32 will shortly say that the Son himself does not know the day.

Every light is put out, and then one Person is seen. (⚙ synthesis, not 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.

The rare word for moonlight: Matthew's parallel verbal / quotation: confirmed

Matthew 24:29 is the synoptic parallel, and the Verifier scores it highest in the unit. The decisive item is φέγγος (phengos, G5338, “brilliancy”), which stands in only three New Testament verses; two of them are this verse and Matthew's. Ellicott, Benson, JFB and Gill all simply refer the reader across to Matthew 24:29 to 35 rather than re expound. The differences are as instructive as the agreement: Matthew has “immediately after the tribulation of those days,” Mark only “after that tribulation,” and the Pulpit Commentary builds its whole reading of the interval on that gap.

Matthew 24:29

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G5338 φέγγος (in 3 vv, rare), G2347 θλῖψις (in 43 vv), G1565 ἐκεῖνος (in 237 vv). Both refs are New Testament and Greek, so the shared Strong's numbers are a real verbal link; the rare φέγγος carries the tier.

The extremity and the elect: Matthew's gathering verbal / quotation: confirmed

Mark 13:27 and Matthew 24:31 share two words that matter: ἄκρον (akron, G206, “the extremity”), which stands in only four New Testament verses, and ἐκλεκτός (eklektos, G1588, “select”). Ellicott's note marks the one divergence precisely: Mark lacks the trumpet that is prominent in Matthew. JFB supplies the background for that trumpet from Exodus 19 and Isaiah 27:13, which is the older assembly signal of Israel.

Matthew 24:31

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G206 ἄκρον (in 4 vv, rare), G1588 ἐκλεκτός (in 22 vv), G3772 οὐρανός (in 255 vv). Greek to Greek within the New Testament, so shared Strong's numbers are admissible as the basis; the rarity of ἄκρον carries the tier.

The gathering that was refused, and the gathering that is made verbal / quotation: confirmed

ἐπισυνάγω (episynagō, G1996, “to collect upon the same place”) is a rare compound: seven verses in the whole New Testament. Two of them are the lament over Jerusalem, Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34, where Christ says how often he would have gathered her children as a hen gathers her chickens, and they would not. Both of those verses also share ἀποστέλλω (apostellō, G649) with Mark 13:27, and in the lament it is the sending of prophets whom the city killed. ⚙ So the two verbs Mark pairs at the end of the discourse, sending and gathering, are the two verbs of the refusal that opens the lament. No commentator in this brief draws the connection; the Verifier's lexeme match is what puts it on the page, and the reading of it is ours and fallible.

Matthew 23:37 · Luke 13:34 · Mark 1:33

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G1996 ἐπισυνάγω (in 7 vv, rare) and G649 ἀποστέλλω (in 130 vv) with Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34; G1996 alone with Mark 1:33. All refs New Testament and Greek, so the shared Strong's numbers stand as a verbal basis. No quotation is claimed: this is repeated vocabulary within one author's and one tradition's usage.

The Son of Man coming with the clouds: Daniel 7 typological

Cambridge cites Daniel 7:13 to 14 directly on this verse; JFB works through the whole Danielic scene and calls it “the true key to our Lord's meaning here,” arguing that the figure comes to the Ancient of Days to receive investiture in a kingdom, and that Mark's “power and glory” answer Daniel's “dominion, and glory, and a kingdom.” Mark's title ho Huios tou anthrōpou renders Daniel's Aramaic bar enash. This is the most widely held source claim in the unit and also the one that can never be scored mechanically.

Daniel 7:13-14

basis: Ancient and widely held: cited here by Cambridge and expounded at length by JFB. The wording carried over (one like a son of man, coming with clouds, receiving dominion and glory) is the prophet's, and the link is figural and titular. The tier is typological rather than verbal because the refs cross the Testaments: Daniel 7:13 is Aramaic and Mark 13:26 is Greek, so no shared Strong's lexeme can be computed and the Verifier returns no verbal basis.

Darkened luminaries as the language of judgment structural / thematic: confirmed

Poole assembles the evidence himself: Isaiah 13:10 of Babylon's fall, Ezekiel 32:7 of Egypt, Joel 2:31 of the change wrought by the gospel. JFB adds Isaiah 34:1 to 10 of Idumea and Joel 2:10 and 11, and draws the sober conclusion that “we cannot therefore consider the mere strength of this language a proof that it refers exclusively or primarily to the precursors of the final day.” The Pulpit Commentary cites Joel 2:31 with Luke 21:25 and 26, and Isaiah 34:4 for the host of heaven dissolved. Of these, Isaiah 13:10 is the closest in actual wording: the sun darkened in his going forth and the moon not causing her light to shine.

Isaiah 13:10 · Joel 2:10 · Joel 2:31 · Isaiah 34:4 · Ezekiel 32:7

basis: Recorded by Poole, JFB and the Pulpit Commentary, who cite these prophets by chapter and verse on this passage. Isaiah 13:10 is the clearest case of actual wording carried over, and those words are the prophet's. The tier is structural rather than verbal because the refs cross the Testaments (Hebrew to Greek), so no shared Strong's lexeme exists to compute, and Mark supplies no citation formula.

Shaking the heavens: Haggai 2:6 and Hebrews 12:26 structural / thematic: confirmed

Gill makes this link explicitly on Mark 13:25, directing the reader to compare Haggai 2:6 with Hebrews 12:26. Haggai promises that yet once more God will shake the heavens and the earth; Hebrews reads that promise as signifying the removing of what is shaken, so that what cannot be shaken may remain. ⚙ If Hebrews is right about Haggai, then Mark's σαλευθήσονται is not simply destruction but a sorting, which is what the next verse's arrival and the following verse's gathering then supply.

Haggai 2:6 · Hebrews 12:26

basis: Gill's own citation on this verse pairs the two. The refs mix an Old Testament and a New Testament book and the Mark text is Greek while Haggai is Hebrew, so no shared Strong's lexeme is computable and no verbal tier is available. The thematic link (a promised shaking of the heavens that removes in order to establish) is what is confirmed.

Gathered from the four winds: the promised regathering structural / thematic: confirmed

JFB grounds v. 27 in the older assembly of Israel by trumpet, citing Exodus 19, Leviticus 23:24, Psalm 81:3 to 5 and Isaiah 27:13, where the great trumpet is blown and those ready to perish are gathered. The same promise stands in Deuteronomy 30:3 to 4 (from the outmost parts of heaven the Lord will gather thee), Isaiah 11:11 to 12 (the outcasts of Israel assembled from the four corners of the earth) and Zechariah 2:6 (spread abroad as the four winds). Mark's phrase “from the four winds, from extremity of earth unto extremity of heaven” stands in that line.

Deuteronomy 30:3-4 · Isaiah 11:11-12 · Isaiah 27:13 · Zechariah 2:6

basis: Isaiah 27:13 is cited here by JFB; the Deuteronomy, Isaiah 11 and Zechariah references share the four winds and outmost parts idiom that Mark uses. The tier is structural rather than verbal because these refs are Hebrew and Mark 13:27 is Greek, so shared Strong's numbers cannot be computed and no quotation is claimed.

A struck sun in the Apocalypse structural / thematic: confirmed

The Verifier pairs this unit with Revelation 8:12, which shares the rare verb σκοτίζω (skotizō, G4654, five verses in all) along with hēlios and selēnē. Cambridge points to the same literature from the other end, noting that two of the men then listening to the Lord later described these signs themselves, Peter in 2 Peter 3 and John in Revelation. Revelation 21:23 completes the figure: the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God lightens it, and that verse shares hēlios, selēnē and doxa with this unit.

Revelation 8:12 · Revelation 21:23

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4654 σκοτίζω (in 5 vv, rare), G2246 ἥλιος (in 32 vv), G4582 σελήνη (in 9 vv) with Revelation 8:12, and G2246, G4582, G1391 δόξα with Revelation 21:23. Both refs are Greek, so a verbal tier would be admissible on the rare σκοτίζω, and it is deliberately declined: Revelation is not citing Mark and Mark is not citing Revelation. Shared apocalyptic vocabulary within a common motif is the honest claim.

A rare word that proves nothing: Hebrews 11:21 and Luke 16:24 flagged: verify source

⚙ This thread is recorded in order to reject it. The Verifier returns Hebrews 11:21 and Luke 16:24 as candidates because both share ἄκρον (akron, G206) with Mark 13:27, and the lexeme is rare enough (four verses in all) that a purely mechanical rule would tier the pairing verbal. The sense forbids it. In Hebrews 11:21 Jacob worships leaning on the top of his staff, and in Luke 16:24 the rich man begs that Lazarus dip the tip of his finger in water. Mark's akron is the outermost edge of the world. One concrete noun, three unrelated uses, and no link beyond the dictionary. A lesser form of the same caution applies to Luke 11:33, which shares the rare phengos with 13:24 while speaking of a household lamp, though there the shared word does at least illuminate by contrast.

Hebrews 11:21 · Luke 16:24 · Luke 11:33

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G206 ἄκρον (in 4 vv) with Hebrews 11:21 and Luke 16:24, and G5338 φέγγος (in 3 vv) with Luke 11:33. All refs are Greek and the lexemes are rare, so the computed basis is real, but the semantic range of these concrete nouns (a staff's top, a finger's tip, a lamp's brightness) makes any interpretive link unsupportable. Recorded and flagged so that a candidate is not silently promoted by rarity alone.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The Son of Man who receives the kingdom ancient/widely-held

The title Mark puts on his lips at the height of the scene is Daniel's. JFB traces the whole of Daniel 7 and shows that the one like a son of man comes with the clouds to the Ancient of Days and is given dominion and glory and a kingdom that shall not pass away, and he reads Mark's meta pollēs dynameōs kai doxēs as the answer to Daniel's grant. Cambridge cites Daniel 7:13 to 14 and Acts 1:11 for the clouds, and adds John 5:22 and 27: the Father has committed all judgment to the Son and given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man. Cambridge draws the conclusion by way of Barrow: as in our nature he did all that was requisite to save us, and in our nature was exalted to God's right hand, so in our nature he shall appear to judge us. ⚙ The grammatical detail that supports this is small and worth keeping: the participle ἐρχόμενον is present, and Mark never says from where. The text will bear an enthronement (JFB) or a descent (Cambridge, the Pulpit Commentary); what it will not bear is an impersonal end.

Daniel 7:13-14 · John 5:22 · Acts 1:11

Every light withdrawn, and one Glory left ancient/widely-held

Read in order, the unit takes the sun, then the moon, then the stars, then the powers that hold them, and sets in their place δόξης (doxēs, G1391), which the lexicon defines as glory “as very apparent.” The Pulpit Commentary preserves Augustine's reading of the darkened lights as truth obscured and many falling from the faith, and Gill's whole exposition is of glory withdrawn: the Shekinah gone, the symbols of the divine presence gone. ⚙ On either the figurative or the literal reading the movement is one movement, and Revelation 21:23 states its end: the city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon, for the glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof. What is taken from the sky is not simply destroyed; it is replaced by a Person who is himself the light.

Revelation 21:23 · Mark 13:26

The hen who gathers at last novel

⚙ This reading is ours and should be weighed as such. The verb of v. 27, ἐπισυνάξει (episynagō, G1996), is used seven times in the New Testament, and at Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34 it is the verb of Christ's own grief: how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. In those verses the same passage also carries apostellō, of the prophets sent and killed. Mark 13:27 sets those two verbs side by side again and turns both: he will send, and he will gather, and this time nothing refuses. The lament and the promise use one vocabulary. No voice in this brief makes the connection, and it rests on the Verifier's lexeme match rather than on any patristic or Reformation authority, so it is offered as a novel reading to be tested, not as received doctrine.

Matthew 23:37 · Luke 13:34 · Mark 13:27

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:

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • 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)

Text. Four verses of Greek, BSB with the Berean interlinear and Strong's. BSB prints 13:24b to 25 inside quotation marks, signalling an Old Testament citation; the Greek carries no citation formula and names no prophet, so the quotation marks are the translators' editorial judgment about the source of the imagery, not a feature of Mark's sentence. In 13:27 BSB leaves the second tote untranslated and renders the coordinated future episynaxei as an infinitive of purpose (“to gather”); both are legitimate smoothings and both are noted in the divergences.

Sources. Ten authors are listed for this unit, but two contribute nothing usable and are therefore not quoted. The Barnes entry supplied for all four verses is a misfiled note (“On the house-top, See the notes at Matthew 9:1-8”) belonging to an earlier part of the chapter. The Geneva entries reproduce only the verse text followed by a section header, with no gloss. Ellicott, Benson and Gill all refer the reader to their own notes on Matthew 24 rather than expound here, so their Markan entries are short by design; Poole covers 13:24 to 27 in one annotation placed at v. 24, and Matthew Henry likewise in one note repeated across the four verses, which is why Henry and Poole each appear once. Eight authors are quoted in total.

What is uncertain. The central question of this unit is genuinely unsettled among the sources, and no ⚙ synthesis here resolves it: Benson and Gill read vv. 24 to 27 of the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the Mosaic economy; Poole, Henry, Cambridge and the Pulpit Commentary read them of the second advent; JFB holds both, giving the temporal judgment as the primary sense while conceding that the language “swells beyond” it. Gill's specific allegorical assignments (sun equals Shekinah, moon equals ceremonial law, falling stars equal the rabbis of the Mishnah) are his own and have no support in the Greek. JFB's reading of Daniel 7 as investiture rather than final judgment is a real minority position, flagged in the voice note. The one claim in this unit made on lexical evidence alone, the pairing of episynagō in 13:27 with the lament over Jerusalem, is marked novel and is ours, not any commentator's.

Cross Testament links. Every thread pairing this Gospel text with Isaiah, Joel, Ezekiel, Haggai, Daniel, Deuteronomy or Zechariah is tiered structural or typological, never verbal, because the Verifier computes shared Strong's lexemes and no such number can be shared between a Hebrew or Aramaic text and a Greek one. Where the prophet's actual wording is carried over, as in Isaiah 13:10 and Daniel 7:13, the basis says so explicitly.

✦ = 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)