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Mark4:35–41

Jesus Calms the Storm

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Mark 4:35–41 — Jesus Calms the Storm. 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.

35

When that evening came, He said to His disciples, “Let us cross to the other side.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai en ekeinē tē hēmera genomenēs opsias legei autois Dielthōmen eis to peran

Word by word13 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiWhenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐνenG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ἐκείνῃekeinēthatG1565
√ ἐκεῖνος — that one (or (neuter) thing)Demonstrative PronounDative Feminine Singular
τῇtēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
ἡμέρᾳhēmeravvvG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounDative Feminine Singular
γενομένηςgenomenēsvvvG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Participle MiddleGenitive Feminine Singular
γίνομαι: to come to be, become, happen The same verb will carry the whole scene: evening comes to be here (v. 35), the squall comes to be (v. 37, present tense), and the great calm comes to be (v. 39, aorist). Mark stages three events of “becoming,” two of them outside anyone's control and the third at a word.
ὀψίαςopsiasevening cameG3798
√ ὄψιος — lateAdjectiveGenitive Feminine Singular
ὄψιος: late, evening JFB argues that this must be the earlier evening, “what we should call the afternoon,” since crowds were waiting when He returned (his printed cross-reference at this point reads “Mr 4:21,” which appears to be a slip for Mark 5:21; Luke 8:40 is the other reference he gives). The detail is not decoration: darkness plus a squall on a lake sunk in a basin is precisely the situation the fishermen in the boat would have feared most.
λέγειlegeiHe saidG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
λέγω: to say, speak Historic present. Mark keeps the verb of Jesus' speech in the present at the two hinges of this unit, here at the command to cross and at v. 39 in the imperatives to wind and sea, so that the crossing and the rebuke arrive as live speech rather than recollection.
αὐτοῖςautoisto [His disciples]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
ΔιέλθωμενDielthōmenLet us crossG1330
√ διέρχομαι — to traverse (literally)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active1st Person Plural
διέρχομαι: to pass through, traverse Hortatory aorist subjunctive, first person plural. The crossing is His initiative, not the disciples': Gill says it was undertaken “for retirement and rest, after the fatigue of the day,” and also “for the trial of the faith of his disciples, by a storm which he knew would arise.” That is Gill's inference, not Mark's statement, but the grammar does put the storm inside an itinerary Jesus set.
εἰςeistoG1519
√ 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
πέρανperanother sideG4008
√ πέραν — through (as adverb or preposition), iAdverb
πέραν: beyond, the other side Ellicott and JFB agree the run is west to east, from Capernaum toward the Gadarene shore, that is, from Jewish territory toward Gentile. The storm falls on the water between the two, which is why the next thing Mark records on that far beach is a man no chain could hold.
36

After they had dismissed the crowd, they took Jesus with them, since He was already in the boat. And there were other boats with Him.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai aphentes ton ochlon paralambanousin auton hōs ēn en tō ploiō kai ēn alla ploia met’ autou

Word by word17 · parsed
καὶkaiAfterG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀφέντεςaphentesthey had dismissedG863
√ ἀφίημι — an intensive form of , to go)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἀφίημι: to send away, let go, release The verb Mark uses hundreds of verses later for forgiveness is here simple dismissal. Its aorist participle sets the sequence: the crowd is let go first, and only then does the boat move, so the storm falls on a boat that has deliberately been emptied of everyone except the Twelve and whoever followed in the other craft.
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ὄχλονochloncrowdG3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
παραλαμβάνουσινparalambanousinthey took [Jesus] with themG3880
√ παραλαμβάνω — to receive near, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
παραλαμβάνω: to take to oneself, take along Historic present with the disciples as subject. The Verifier notes the same lexeme at Hebrews 12:28 (“receiving a kingdom”), a frequency of 49 verses and no quotation link; the force here is domestic rather than technical, men taking an exhausted teacher along in the boat he had used as a pulpit.
αὐτὸνauton. . .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 Singular
ὡςhōssinceG5613
√ ὡς — which how, iAdverb
ὡς: as, just as, since Two words, hōs ēn, that carry more weight than their size. Ellicott hears in them the memory of an eyewitness struck by Christ's exhaustion and sets John 4:6 (“being wearied ... sat thus on the well”) beside them; Maclaren builds his whole exposition of the toiling Christ on this clause.
ἦνēnHe was alreadyG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῷtōtheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Singular
πλοίῳploiōboatG4143
√ πλοῖον — a sailer, iNounDative Neuter Singular
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἦνēnthere wereG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἄλλαallaotherG243
√ ἄλλος — "else," iAdjectiveNominative Neuter Plural
πλοῖαploiaboatsG4143
√ πλοῖον — a sailer, iNounNominative Neuter Plural
πλοῖον: boat, ship Mark names the boat four times in three verses (36, 37 twice, 37 again in the result clause). The repetition is not clumsiness: the boat is the thing filling with water, and the same noun links this scene to Mark 6:51 and Matthew 14:32, the other crossing where a wind grows tired at His approach.
μετ’met’withG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
αὐτοῦautouHimG846
√ 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
37

Soon a violent windstorm came up, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was being swamped.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai megalē lailaps anemou ginetai kai ta kymata epeballen eis to ploion hōste to ploion ēdē gemizesthai

Word by word17 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiSoonG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
μεγάληmegalēa violentG3173
√ μέγας — big (literally or figuratively, in a very wide application)AdjectiveNominative Feminine Singular
λαῖλαψlailapswindstormG2978
√ λαῖλαψ — a whirlwind (squall)NounNominative Feminine Singular
λαῖλαψ: whirlwind, squall One of the rarest nouns in the unit (three verses in all). Luke 8:23 uses it of this same storm; 2 Peter 2:17 uses it of the mists that false teachers are driven by. The word itself is a picture of air out of control, which is exactly the thing that will be addressed in v. 39 as if it could hear.
ἀνέμουanemou. . .G417
√ ἄνεμος — windNounGenitive Masculine Singular
γίνεταιginetaicame upG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
γίνομαι: to come to be, happen Historic present, and the pivot of Mark's grammar in this unit: the squall becomes (present, 4:37), the calm became (aorist, 4:39). The one verb is used for both, so that on the face of the Greek the storm and its stilling are the same kind of event, and only one of them has a named cause.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τὰtatheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Plural
κύματαkymatawavesG2949
√ κῦμα — a billow (as bursting or toppling)NounNominative Neuter Plural
ἐπέβαλλενepeballenwere breakingG1911
√ ἐπιβάλλω — to throw upon (literal or figurative, transitive or reflexiveVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἐπιβάλλω: to throw upon, cast on Imperfect of repeated action: wave after wave. JFB's “kept beating or pitching on the ship” and Ellicott's “both verbs describe continuous action” are both reading this aspect. The singular verb against a neuter plural subject is normal Greek, but it has the effect of treating the waves as one assailant.
εἰςeisoverG1519
√ 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
πλοῖονploionboatG4143
√ πλοῖον — a sailer, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
ὥστεhōsteso thatG5620
√ ὥστε — so too, iConjunction
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
πλοῖονploion[it]G4143
√ πλοῖον — a sailer, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἤδηēdēvvvG2235
√ ἤδη — even nowAdverb
γεμίζεσθαιgemizesthaiwas being swampedG1072
√ γεμίζω — to fill entirelyVerbPresent Infinitive Middle or Passive
γεμίζω: to fill entirely Present infinitive in a ὥστε result clause: the boat is in the act of filling. The honest picture is a water-logged open craft, not a wreck, which is why Maclaren can say the squall “must have been pretty bad to have frightened such seasoned hands” without making the disciples cowards for noticing.
38

But Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him and said, “Teacher, don’t You care that we are perishing?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai autos ēn en tē prymnē katheudōn epi to proskephalaion kai egeirousin auton kai legousin autō Didaskale ou melei soi hoti apollymetha

Word by word22 · parsed
καὶkaiButG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αὐτὸςautos[Jesus]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
αὐτός: he himself Emphatic nominative pronoun, unnecessary in Greek unless contrast is wanted. Mark wants it: one man asleep against a boat full of men awake, which is the whole visual argument of the scene and the reason Poole can say “As man he slept, but at the same time he was the true Watchman of Israel.”
ἦνēnwasG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῇtētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
πρύμνῃprymnēsternG4403
√ πρύμνα — the stern of a shipNounDative Feminine Singular
πρύμνα: the stern of a ship A rare noun, found in only three verses (here and twice in the shipwreck of Acts 27, at 27:29 and 27:41). Benson admits the translator's difficulty: he renders it awkwardly “for want of a proper English expression for that particular part of the vessel near the rudder.” The stern is the steersman's place; the one not steering is asleep in it.
καθεύδωνkatheudōnsleepingG2518
√ καθεύδω — to lie down to rest, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
καθεύδω: to lie down to sleep Present participle, continuous: he was sleeping through it. This is the detail on which the ancient reading of the two natures turns (Poole, Pulpit), and also the detail that makes the Jonah parallel unavoidable, though Mark never names Jonah and the two sleeps are not morally alike.
ἐπὶepionG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
προσκεφάλαιονproskephalaioncushionG4344
√ προσκεφάλαιον — something for the head, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
προσκεφάλαιον: cushion, headrest A New Testament hapax (Cambridge: “The word only occurs here”), and one of the details Mark alone supplies. Maclaren calls it “a hard ‘pillow’ indeed, which only exhaustion could make comfortable.” The realism is the point: the incarnation is attested here by furniture.
καὶkai[So]G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐγείρουσινegeirousinthey wokeG1453
√ ἐγείρω — to waken (transitively or intransitively), iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
αὐτὸνautonHimG846
√ 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
λέγουσινlegousinsaidG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
αὐτῷautōG846
√ 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
ΔιδάσκαλεDidaskaleTeacherG1320
√ διδάσκαλος — an instructor (genitive case or specially)NounVocative Masculine Singular
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
μέλειmeleidon’t You careG3199
√ μέλω — to be of interest to, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
μέλω: to be of interest or concern to Impersonal, with the dative soi: “it is not a care to thee.” The Verifier finds the lexeme in ten verses, one of them 1 Corinthians 9:9, where Paul asks whether it is oxen that God cares for. Here the disciples put the question the wrong way round and accuse the only person in the boat who can answer it.
σοιsoi. . .G4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Singular
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ἀπολλύμεθαapollymethawe are perishingG622
√ ἀπόλλυμι — to destroy fully (reflexively, to perish, or lose), literally or figurativelyVerbPresent Indicative Middle1st Person Plural
ἀπόλλυμι: to destroy fully, to perish Present middle, “we are in the act of being lost.” Luke 8:24 uses the same lexeme of the same moment (Verifier: 84 verses). The verb is the standard New Testament word for final ruin, so the disciples' complaint, taken at its own word, is larger than the weather.
39

Then Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the sea. “Silence!” He commanded. “Be still!” And the wind died down, and it was perfectly calm.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai diegertheis epetimēsen tō anemō kai tē thalassē Siōpa eipen pephimōso kai ho anemos ekopasen kai egeneto megalē galēnē

Word by word19 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
διεγερθεὶςdiegertheis[Jesus] got upG1326
√ διεγείρω — to wake fullyVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
διεγείρω: to wake fully Aorist passive participle, a rare verb (five verses). Luke 8:24 uses it of this same waking, John 6:18 of a sea “stirred up” by wind, and 2 Peter 3:1 of stirring up sincere minds. Mark's passive form is not “he roused himself” but “having been roused,” which is an honest report: the disciples did the waking.
ἐπετίμησενepetimēsen[and] rebukedG2008
√ ἐπιτιμάω — to tax upon, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἐπιτιμάω: to rebuke, charge sharply The word Mark uses when Jesus silences a demon (1:25) and rebukes Peter (8:33). Applied to weather it treats the wind as an insubordinate, which is why Ellicott speaks of “a hostile power rising in rebellion against its true Lord,” and why Cambridge reaches for Psalm 106:9, where the Lord rebukes the Red Sea. The grammar, not the theology, is doing the provocation here.
τῷtōtheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ἀνέμῳanemōwindG417
√ ἄνεμος — windNounDative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τῇtētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
θαλάσσῃthalassēseaG2281
√ θάλασσα — the sea (genitive case or specially)NounDative Feminine Singular
ΣιώπαSiōpaSilenceG4623
√ σιωπάω — properly, muteness, iVerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
σιωπάω: to be silent, mute Present imperative: keep silence. Addressed, Mark says, to the sea. Maclaren's suggestion that “Peace” goes to the wind and “Be still” to the waves is his reading, not Mark's syntax, which puts the rebuke to wind and sea together and then reports the speech.
εἶπενeipenHe commandedG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
πεφίμωσοpephimōsoBe stillG5392
√ φιμόω — to muzzleVerbPerfect Imperative Middle or Passive2nd Person Singular
φιμόω: to muzzle Perfect imperative, a form so rare that its force is debated: Cambridge and Pulpit both take it to command an already accomplished result, Pulpit saying “before the word was uttered, the thing was done by the simple fiat of his will preceding the word.” The lexeme is used of muzzling an ox (1 Corinthians 9:9), of the guest struck speechless (Matthew 22:12, so Ellicott), and of the unclean spirit at Mark 1:25.
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἄνεμοςanemoswindG417
√ ἄνεμος — windNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐκόπασενekopasendied downG2869
√ κοπάζω — to tire, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
κοπάζω: to grow weary, cease The wind is described as tiring out, the same verb used of the wind at Matthew 14:32 and Mark 6:51 (Cambridge). Gill and Cambridge both press the physical anomaly: waves normally heave for hours after a wind drops, and here the swell goes with the gust.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐγένετοegenetoit wasG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
μεγάληmegalēperfectlyG3173
√ μέγας — big (literally or figuratively, in a very wide application)AdjectiveNominative Feminine Singular
γαλήνηgalēnēcalmG1055
√ γαλήνη — tranquillityNounNominative Feminine Singular
γαλήνη: tranquillity, calm Paired with megalē to mirror the megalē lailaps of v. 37, and set against the phobon megan of v. 41: a great squall, a great calm, a great fear. Mark's one adjective marks the three stages, and the greatest of the three, on his own wording, is the fear that follows the rescue.
40

“Why are you so afraid?” He asked. “Do you still have no faith?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Ti este deiloi Kai eipen autois echete oupō pistin

Word by word9 · parsed
ΤίTiWhyG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἐστεesteare youG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
δειλοίdeiloiso afraidG1169
√ δειλός — timid, iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
δειλός: timid, cowardly A rare word (four verses). Its only other narrative use of disciples is Matthew's parallel; its most severe use is Revelation 21:8, where hoi deiloi head the list of the excluded. Mark's Jesus uses of his own men the adjective the Apocalypse uses of the lost, and does so after the rescue, not before it: JFB notes “how considerately the Lord defers this rebuke till He had first removed the danger.”
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εἶπενeipenHe askedG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisG846
√ 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
ἔχετεecheteDo you still have noG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
οὔπωoupō. . .G3768
√ οὔπω — not yetAdverb
οὔπω: not yet One adverb, and it decides the tone of the rebuke. “Not yet” implies a faith on the way, which is why Henry can say “Though there may be cause for some fear, yet not for such fear as this,” and why Gill can hold both that “faith they had” and that it was “scarcely to be called faith.”
πίστινpistinfaithG4102
√ πίστις — persuasion, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
πίστις: persuasion, faith Anarthrous and undefined. In context, the faith demanded is not confidence in fair weather but the inference the disciples have not yet drawn: that the one asleep in the stern is the one the sea obeys. Their question in v. 41 shows the inference beginning, which is the only progress Mark records.
41

Overwhelmed with fear, they asked one another, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai ephobēthēsan megan phobon kai elegon pros allēlous Tis ara estin houtos hoti kai ho anemos kai hē thalassa hypakouei autō

Word by word21 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐφοβήθησανephobēthēsanOverwhelmed with fearG5399
√ φοβέω — to frighten, iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Plural
φοβέω: to frighten, to fear Aorist passive with a cognate accusative. Mark's structure is deliberate: the disciples were deiloi in the storm (v. 40) and are seized with a great fear after it. The storm frightened them; the stilling terrified them. That reversal, not the miracle, is Mark's climax.
μέγανmegan. . .G3173
√ μέγας — big (literally or figuratively, in a very wide application)AdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
φόβονphobon. . .G5401
√ φόβος — alarm or frightNounAccusative Masculine Singular
φόβος: alarm, fright, awe The cognate noun makes the phrase a Hebraism (“they feared a great fear”). JFB renders the effect as “struck with deep awe,” which is the right register: this is not the fear of drowning but the fear proper to finding oneself in a small boat with the one who commands the sea.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἔλεγονelegonthey askedG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
πρὸςpros. . .G4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
ἀλλήλουςallēlousone anotherG240
√ ἀλλήλων — one anotherPersonal / Reciprocal PronounAccusative Masculine Plural
ΤίςTisWhoG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ἄραaraG686
√ ἄρα — a particle denoting an inference more or less decisive (as follows)Conjunction
ἄρα: an inferential particle, therefore, then Small and load-bearing. It marks the question as a deduction from the evidence just given, so that v. 41 is not bewilderment only but the first step of an argument, one Mark leaves his reader to finish.
ἐστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
οὗτόςhoutosthisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
καὶkaievenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἄνεμοςanemoswindG417
√ ἄνεμος — windNounNominative Masculine Singular
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
θάλασσαthalassaseaG2281
√ θάλασσα — the sea (genitive case or specially)NounNominative Feminine Singular
ὑπακούειhypakoueiobeyG5219
√ ὑπακούω — to hear under (as a subordinate), iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ὑπακούω: to hear under, to obey The verb of servants and children obeying. JFB puts the disciples' question against Israel's psalms: “Israel has all along been singing of Jehovah, ‘Thou rulest the raging of the sea ...’ But, lo, in this very boat of ours is One of our own flesh and blood, who with His word of command hath done the same!” The grammar of obedience is what forces the question.
αὐτῷautōHimG846
√ 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

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 crossing He chose — 4:35-36

Mark dates this and almost nothing else, a habit JFB notices: the time “is very definitely marked by our Evangelist, and by him alone.” The hortatory Διέλθωμεν (Dielthōmen, G1330) is first person plural, so the crossing that meets the squall is one Jesus proposed and boarded. Maclaren reads the haste as exhaustion: the boat had been His pulpit, and to land would have put Him back into the crowd. Ellicott fastens on Mark's own odd phrase ὡς ἦν, “even as He was,” calling it “peculiar to this Gospel” and hearing in it an eyewitness struck by “the utter exhaustion that followed on the long day's labours”; Barnes and Cambridge read the same words simply as “without any preparation for the voyage.” Gill adds a purpose Mark does not state, that the storm came “for the trial of the faith of his disciples,” and it should be marked as his inference. The other boats are Mark's loose thread, and Pulpit takes them as witnesses, noting that Bede and others thought only Christ's boat was struck and judging that far less likely. ⚙ What the grammar gives, and what all the voices circle, is that the danger lies inside an obedience: they are where He told them to be.

ii. A great squall and a sleeping man — 4:37-38

Two continuous tenses carry the danger. Ellicott: “were beating upon the ship, so that it was filling. Both verbs describe continuous action.” JFB and Cambridge both correct the older English to “already filling,” and JFB judges Matthew's “covered with the waves” to be “too strong.” The geography is not incidental: JFB describes the lake sunk in a deep basin with gorges that funnel wind onto it, and Barnes quotes Dr. Thomson of Syria at length on tent ropes and clear skies. Against all of it Mark sets one emphatic pronoun, αὐτὸς, and a hapax noun, προσκεφάλαιον, the steersman's cushion that Cambridge says occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. Poole's line is the classical balance: “As man he slept, but at the same time he was the true Watchman of Israel, who never slumbereth nor sleepeth,” and Pulpit says it more briefly, “while he slept as man, he was watchful as God.” The disciples' words are impersonal in Greek, οὐ μέλει σοι, “is it no concern to thee,” and Mark alone records them. Ellicott calls it “this touch of despairing expostulation”; Gill hears complaint and reproof rather than prayer; Cambridge says it “sounds more like rebuke”; Pulpit guesses at Peter behind it. Maclaren, who will not throw stones, says the fear that drove them to Jesus was not all wrong.

iii. Two words, and the wind grew tired — 4:39

Mark alone preserves the words, and they are strange ones. ἐπετίμησεν (G2008) is the verb used of unclean spirits; Cambridge sets Psalm 106:9 beside it, and Ellicott hears the sea addressed “as though it were a hostile power rising in rebellion against its true Lord.” πεφίμωσο is a perfect imperative of phimoō, to muzzle: Benson translates it “Be thou gagged,” Pulpit “Be silent! be muzzled!” and Cambridge says the perfect “implies the command that the result should be instantaneous.” Then the wind ἐκόπασεν, which Cambridge glosses “Lit. grew tired.” Gill and Cambridge both press the physics: waves normally heave for hours after the wind drops, and JFB observes that “the word of command was given to both elements at once.” Barnes draws the conclusion the older commentators all draw, that “None but the God of the storms and the billows could awe by a word the troubled elements.” ⚙ It is worth noticing what Mark does not write. He records no prayer, no gesture, no name invoked. Elijah struck water with a mantle and Moses stretched out a rod; here there is a sentence, and the sea stops.

iv. The smaller fear and the greater — 4:40-41

The rebuke lands after the rescue, which JFB notes is deliberate: “how considerately the Lord defers this rebuke till He had first removed the danger.” δειλοί (G1169) is a hard word, “cowardly,” found in only four verses; οὔπω is the merciful one, and Pulpit builds the reading on it, “Not πῶς οὐκ ἔχετε, but οὔπω ἔχετε.” Henry holds the tension plainly: “Though there may be cause for some fear, yet not for such fear as this.” Then Mark's real climax, a Hebraism: ἐφοβήθησαν φόβον μέγαν, they feared a great fear, the third megas after the great squall and the great calm. JFB hears Israel's psalter in their question and quotes Psalm 89:9 and 93:4 against it; Gill concludes “he must be truly God, that has such power over the wind and sea,” though Gill and Pulpit both assign the question to the boat's sailors, which Mark does not say. ⚙ Mark ends the unit with a question, not an answer, and with the disciples more frightened calm than they were drowning. That order is the teaching: the safest place on the lake turned out to be the most awful.

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

⚙ Read only against the rest of Scripture, this scene is an identification, and the disciples' own question is the correct response to it. Psalm 107 sends men down to the sea in ships, raises the stormy wind, hears their cry, and then says of the Lord, “he maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still,” bringing them to their desired haven. Mark 4 runs the same five clauses in the same order, and the one who does what the Lord does in the psalm is asleep on a cushion, and needs waking, and is called “Teacher.” The two facts are not in tension in Mark's telling; they are laid side by side without comment, which is why the honest ending is Τίς ἄρα ἐστιν οὗτός, “Who then is this?” The rebuke in v. 40 is not aimed at the disciples for finding a squall frightening; οὔπω says “not yet,” and the fault is that they had drawn no conclusion from the man in the stern. So the fear of v. 41 is progress, not failure. ⚙ And we would offer one further reading to be tested: that the exhausted sleep is not merely evidence of true humanity but part of the argument, since the Lord of the sea reaches his people at the point where he can be woken, complained at, and mistaken for indifferent. The complaint in this passage is answered, not punished. That is the pastoral shape the older voices found here too, and it is offered to be tested against the text rather than believed on our account.

The storm did not frighten them as badly as the calm did. (⚙ 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.

The same squall in three Gospels, and the words only Mark keeps verbal / quotation: confirmed

Matthew 8:23-27 and Luke 8:22-25 tell this crossing, and the vocabulary overlaps at rare points: Luke 8:23 has the same λαῖλαψ (G2978, three verses in the whole New Testament) and Luke 8:24 the same διεγείρω (G1326, five verses). What Mark alone supplies is the cushion, the “Carest thou not,” and the two imperatives; Ellicott, Cambridge and Pulpit all note this. Ellicott also warns honestly that Mark's sequence “differs widely from that in St. Matthew and St. Luke, and it must remain uncertain which was the actual order.”

Matthew 8:26 · Luke 8:23 · Luke 8:24

basis: Verifier: shared rare Greek lexemes G2978 λαῖλαψ (in only 3 vv, with Luke 8:23) and G1326 διεγείρω (in only 5 vv, with Luke 8:24), plus G417 ἄνεμος (29 vv) and G1453 ἐγείρω with Matthew 8:26. A genuine verbal link between Synoptic accounts of one event, not a quotation of one by another.

Psalm 107 clause by clause: the storm made a calm structural / thematic: confirmed

Psalm 107:23-30 gives the sequence exactly: those who go down to the sea in ships, the stormy wind raised by the Lord, the crew at their wits' end, the cry to the Lord in trouble, the storm made a calm with the waves stilled, and the bringing to the desired haven. Mark 4:35-41 tracks all of it, with the cry aimed at a sleeping man in the stern. ⚙ We claim structure, not quotation: Mark cites nothing and no formula of citation appears. The Pulpit Commentary independently reaches for the same psalm's language when it says that afflictions bear Christ's disciples “more speedily to ‘the haven where they would be.’”

Psalm 107:23-30

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek Gospel to Hebrew Psalm), so shared Strong's numbers are impossible by definition and no verbal tier is available. The recorded basis is the clause order held in common: sea voyage, storm raised, terror, cry, storm hushed, haven reached. No quotation is claimed and Mark gives no citation formula.

Jonah asleep in the ship, and the sleep that is not like his typological

Jonah 1:4-16 puts a prophet asleep in the hold of a ship during a storm his own flight caused, has the terrified crew wake him, and ends with a sea gone quiet. Mark 4 has a sleeper in the stern, a terrified crew that wakes him, and a sea gone quiet at a word. Maclaren draws the contrast rather than the equation: “Jonah slept in a storm the sleep of a skulking sluggard, Jesus slept the sleep of a wearied labourer.” The difference matters as much as the likeness: Jonah's sea is calmed when he is thrown out of the boat, this sea when the sleeper speaks.

Jonah 1:4-16

basis: Cross-Testament figural reading, so no shared Strong's lexeme is possible and no verbal tier is available. Basis is the shared narrative pattern (prophet asleep in a storm-struck ship, crew wakes him, sea stilled). The Jonah comparison is ancient and widely held; the sharpened contrast drawn here follows Maclaren, and Mark names Jonah nowhere in this unit.

“Thou rulest the raging of the sea”: the prerogative the disciples heard claimed structural / thematic: confirmed

JFB puts the disciples' question directly against the psalter they had sung all their lives, quoting Psalm 89:9 and Psalm 93:4. The same prerogative is stated at Psalm 65:7 (he stills the noise of the seas), Psalm 93:3-4, Job 38:8-11 (the bar set for the proud waves) and Isaiah 51:10 (the drying of the sea for the redeemed to pass over). Cambridge adds Psalm 106:9, where the Lord rebukes the Red Sea, beside Mark's ἐπετίμησεν. Gill draws the conclusion: “he must be the most high God, who gathers the winds in his fists, and stills the noise of the seas and their waves.”

Psalm 89:9 · Psalm 93:3-4 · Psalm 65:7 · Job 38:8-11 · Isaiah 51:10 · Psalm 106:9

basis: Cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's numbers and no verbal tier. Basis is a shared motif explicitly cited by the sourced commentators: JFB quotes Psalm 89:9 and 93:4 at Mark 4:41, Cambridge cites Psalm 106:9 at Mark 4:39. The verbal echo runs through the Greek of the Septuagint, which is outside this brief, so no quotation is claimed.

Muzzled: the same word to a demon, a guest, and the sea verbal / quotation: confirmed

πεφίμωσο is from phimoō (G5392), to muzzle. Cambridge sends the reader for it to Mark 1:25, where the unclean spirit in the synagogue is told phimōthēti, and Ellicott notes that the same verb makes the man without a wedding garment “speechless” at Matthew 22:12. Paul uses the literal sense at 1 Corinthians 9:9, the ox not to be muzzled. ⚙ The storm is therefore handled with the vocabulary of exorcism and of silencing an offender, which is why Ellicott can speak of the sea as a rebel power. This is a verbal observation about Mark's diction; it is not a claim that Mark thought the weather demonic.

Mark 1:25 · Matthew 22:12 · 1 Corinthians 9:9

basis: Shared rare Greek lexeme G5392 φιμόω (Verifier frequency: 8 verses). All refs are New Testament, so a verbal tier is legitimate. Provenance of the links is sourced: Cambridge directs to Mark 1:25 for the same imperative, Ellicott to Matthew 22:12 for the same verb, and the Verifier lists G5392 at 1 Corinthians 9:9. No quotation is claimed, only common diction.

δειλοί: the word for the disciples and the word for the excluded verbal / quotation: confirmed

The adjective Jesus uses of his own men in v. 40, δειλοί (G1169), occurs in only four verses. One of them is Revelation 21:8, where hoi deiloi, the cowardly, stand first in the list of those outside the city. ⚙ The point is not that the disciples are condemned: Mark's οὔπω, “not yet,” refuses that reading, and Pulpit and JFB both take the rebuke as corrective. The point is that Mark's Jesus does not treat fear in the boat as harmless. The Verifier also lists this lexeme number at Hebrews 12:28, where the fear commended is reverence and not cowardice; we record that pairing as the Verifier gives it, and the two fears of this unit fall on either side of the line it marks.

Revelation 21:8 · Hebrews 12:28

basis: Verifier: shared rare Greek lexeme G1169 δειλός (in only 4 vv) with Revelation 21:8, and G1169 with G3880 παραλαμβάνω (49 vv) at Hebrews 12:28. Both refs are New Testament, so the verbal tier is permitted. A shared rare word, not a quotation, and the theological weight is ours.

The stern and the breakers: Mark's sea words and Paul's shipwreck verbal / quotation: confirmed

Two of the rarest nouns in this unit reappear together in Luke's account of Paul's wreck off Malta: πρύμνα, the stern where Jesus slept (three verses in all: here, Acts 27:29, Acts 27:41), and κῦμα, the breaker (five verses, including Acts 27:41 and Jude 1:13). ⚙ The vocabulary link is real and the theological distance is wide: in Acts the stern breaks up and the ship is lost while every soul is saved, and no one commands the sea. We record the shared diction and claim nothing more from it.

Acts 27:29 · Acts 27:41 · Jude 1:13

basis: Verifier: shared rare Greek lexemes G4403 πρύμνα (in only 3 vv) and G2949 κῦμα (in only 5 vv) with Acts 27:41, plus G4403 and G5399 φοβέω with Acts 27:29 and G2949 with Jude 1:13. New Testament to New Testament, so a verbal tier is permitted; the link is shared nautical diction, with no quotation and no thematic claim asserted.

The other crossing: a wind that also grew tired structural / thematic: confirmed

Cambridge notes that ἐκόπασεν, “grew tired,” recurs at Matthew 14:32 and Mark 6:51, the night Jesus came walking on the water and the wind fell as he entered the boat. John 6:18 describes the same night with the rare διεγείρω used of a sea stirred up by a great wind. ⚙ Mark appears to be building a pair: a storm stilled from inside the boat, and a storm stilled by his arrival at it, with the same question of identity unresolved both times (Mark 6:52 says their hearts were hardened).

Mark 6:51 · Matthew 14:32 · John 6:18

basis: Verifier bases: Mark 6:51 and Matthew 14:32 share G4143 πλοῖον (62 vv) and G417 ἄνεμος (29 vv); John 6:18 shares G3173 μέγας (231 vv), G417 ἄνεμος (29 vv) and the rare G1326 διεγείρω (5 vv). The sharper link, ἐκόπασεν recurring at Matthew 14:32 and Mark 6:51, is Cambridge's sourced observation. Downgraded from verbal because the Verifier's own shared lexemes here are common ones and the claim being made is a pattern claim, not a diction claim.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The one the sea obeys, asleep in the sea's own boat ancient/widely-held

⚙ The redemptive-historical weight of this unit sits in a single grammatical fact: ὑπακούει (G5219), the verb of a subordinate's obedience, is used of wind and sea toward a man. Israel's confession was that the Lord rules the raging of the sea (Psalm 89:9; 93:3-4), stills its noise (Psalm 65:7), and sets the bar past which the proud waves may not come (Job 38:8-11). JFB frames the disciples' cry exactly so: “in this very boat of ours is One of our own flesh and blood, who with His word of command hath done the same.” Barnes: “None but the God of the storms and the billows could awe by a word the troubled elements ... He must, therefore, be divine.” Gill and Pulpit reach the same verdict independently. Mark himself leaves the question open, which is a feature and not a defect: the answer is given in his Gospel at 8:29 and 15:39, not here.

Mark 4:41 · Psalm 89:9 · Psalm 93:3-4 · Job 38:8-11 · Mark 8:29

Sleeping as man, commanding as God: the two natures in one boat ancient/widely-held

⚙ The passage holds together what later creeds had to state carefully. The evidence for real humanity is not asserted but incidental: a hapax noun for the steersman's cushion, a present participle of katheudō that keeps him sleeping through a squall, and an aorist passive participle in v. 39, διεγερθεὶς, “having been roused,” because the disciples did the rousing. Poole states the classical balance: “As man he slept, but at the same time he was the true Watchman of Israel, who never slumbereth nor sleepeth” (an allusion to Psalm 121:4); Pulpit repeats it, “while he slept as man, he was watchful as God”; Maclaren says the detail makes “the transcendent mystery of the Incarnation” real. Ellicott sets John 4:6, Christ wearied at the well, beside Mark's “even as He was.”

Mark 4:38 · Psalm 121:4 · John 4:6

One greater than Jonah, and the waking that is not yet the resurrection novel

Jonah 1 is the Old Testament's other storm with a sleeper in it, and the Lord himself makes Jonah a sign of his own burial and rising (Matthew 12:39-41, “a greater than Jonah is here”), so reading Mark 4 in Jonah's light is ancient ground. ⚙ Beyond that we offer a reading to be tested, and mark it as ours: Mark's waking verbs here, ἐγείρουσιν in v. 38 and διεγερθεὶς in v. 39, are from the root his Gospel will use for the resurrection (egeirō), and the pattern of this scene, a man apparently absent to his people's ruin, then roused, then master of the thing that was killing them, is the pattern of the gospel itself in miniature. We do not claim Mark intended the wordplay; egeirō is a common verb, and the Verifier records it in 138 verses. Maclaren's contrast guards the reading from sentimentality: the sleep of a wearied labourer is not the sleep of a fugitive.

Jonah 1:4-6 · Matthew 12:39-41 · Mark 16:6

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)

Text and translation. The BSB and the Berean interlinear stand behind every Greek form quoted here; the parses (historic presents at 4:35, 4:36, 4:37, the imperfect ἐπέβαλλεν, the present infinitive γεμίζεσθαι, the aorist passive participle διεγερθεὶς, the perfect imperative πεφίμωσο) are from that interlinear, not from our judgment. Three points where BSB reads more finished than the Greek are flagged in the divergences: “swamped” for a boat “already filling” (JFB and Cambridge both correct the older English the same way), “Be still” for “have been muzzled,” and “Overwhelmed with fear” for the cognate accusative “they feared a great fear.”

Variants. Gill reports that in a copy known to Beza and one of Stephens's the boat was said to be “immersed, covered all over with water,” which is the harder reading toward which Matthew 8:24 tends; we have not been able to weigh that evidence and record it only as Gill reports it. Ellicott states plainly that Mark's placement of this episode “differs widely from that in St. Matthew and St. Luke, and it must remain uncertain which was the actual order”; Cambridge notes the three Synoptists agree only in putting the stilling before the Gadarene healing.

Sources and their limits. Barnes has no separate note on Mark 4:35 (he refers the reader to Matthew 8:18-27), and Poole's note on the whole unit sits at 4:35 with cross-references thereafter, so Poole and Benson are quoted from that single block. The Geneva entries in this unit are mostly the verse text itself with one marginal gloss each. The Maclaren and Barnes entries in the brief are capped; the excerpts used here are taken from within the supplied text and were not extended. Barnes's long geographical note is a quotation of Dr. Thomson's “The Land and the Book,” and Cambridge cites Thomson and Tristram for the same facts about the lake's winds.

What is uncertain. Mark does not say who asks “Who then is this?”; Gill and Pulpit assign it to the boat's sailors, which is a harmonizing move and not in the text. Mark gives no purpose for the storm; Gill's “for the trial of the faith of his disciples” and Geneva's assurance that those who sail with Christ “are preserved by him in due time” are theological readings. Whether the two imperatives in v. 39 are distributed between wind and sea (Maclaren's suggestion) or addressed to both together (JFB) is not settled by the syntax. The Septuagint wording of Psalm 107 and Jonah 1 would be the place to test whether the cross-Testament links here are verbal as well as structural; that text is outside this brief, so those threads are tiered structural and typological only. The reading in the third Christ section, tying ἐγείρω and διεγείρω to resurrection, is our own and is marked novel.

✦ = 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)