The Meaning of Mark 3:5 Explained

Mark 3:5

KJV: And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.

YLT: And having looked round upon them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their heart, he saith to the man, 'Stretch forth thy hand;' and he stretched forth, and his hand was restored whole as the other;

Darby: And looking round upon them with anger, distressed at the hardening of their heart, he says to the man, Stretch out thy hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

ASV: And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their heart, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it forth; and his hand was restored.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  when he had looked round about  on them  with  anger,  being grieved  for  the hardness  of their  hearts,  he saith  unto the man,  Stretch forth  thine  hand.  And  he stretched [it] out:  and  his  hand  was restored  whole  as  the other. 

What does Mark 3:5 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Vainly Jesus "looked around" for someone who would respond to His question (cf. Mark 3:34; Mark 5:32; Mark 10:23; Mark 11:11). This expression is unique to the second Gospel. Evidently Peter remembered Jesus" looks around and communicated these to Mark as significant indications of His looking for the proper response from people.
This is the only place in the New Testament where a writer explicitly stated that Jesus was angry. This was a case of righteous indignation in the presence of unrepentant evil. This is also the only account of this miracle that records Jesus" compassion for the objects of His anger. The tenses of the Greek verbs indicate that Jesus was angry momentarily (aorist tense), but His attitude of compassion was persistent (present tense). References to Jesus" emotions are peculiar to Mark"s Gospel. They show His humanity.
"Jesus" action was perfectly consistent with His love and mercy. As a true Prayer of Manasseh , Jesus experienced normal human emotions, among them anger as well as grief at obstinate sin. In His reaction to the sullen refusal of the Pharisees to respond to the truth, the incarnate Christ revealed the character of our holy God." [1]
"Their opposition rested on a fundamental misunderstanding-an inability, or refusal, to see that Jesus was God"s eschatological agent and that his sovereign freedom with regard to law and custom sprang from that fact." [2]
Since Jesus did not use anything but His word to heal the Prayer of Manasseh , His enemies could not charge Him with performing work on the Sabbath. Jesus" beneficent creative work on this occasion recalls His work in creating the cosmos ( Genesis 1). The Pharisees should have made the connection and worshipped Jesus as God.
"Thus when Jesus as Son of Man declares himself to be master of the Sabbath ... he presumes the very authority by which the Sabbath was instituted by the Creator.
"This sovereign disposition toward the Sabbath is typical of Jesus" challenges to the rabbinic tradition as a whole. Such challenges are found primarily at the outset and conclusion of Mark , as if to signify that from beginning to end the antidote to the "leaven of the Pharisees" ( Mark 8:15) is the exousia [3] of Jesus. He violates laws of purity by touching and cleansing a leper ( Mark 1:40-45) and by association with sinners and tax collectors ( Mark 2:13-17). He places in question the issue of purification by violating food prohibitions in fasting ( Mark 2:18-22) and by eating with unwashed hands ( Mark 7:1-23). He contravenes marriage laws in his teaching on divorce ( Mark 10:1-12), and he openly denounces the scribes ( Mark 12:38-40). In the question on the son of David he tacitly assumes supremacy over Israel"s greatest king who, according to 2 Samuel 7:14, would be the progenitor of the Messiah ( Mark 12:35-37)." [4]

Context Summary

Mark 3:1-19 - The Lord Of The Sabbath
The ritualist demands the outward, the conventional, the ancient usage of the past. Christ says, "Be natural." The needs of man, whether of body or of soul, are greater than ceremonial restriction. Ceremonies are only expressions of life, and where life is wanting, they are meaningless and void.
The withered hand, Mark 3:1-6. Through long disuse of powers which God has given, but which we have refrained from exercising, degeneration may have set in; Christ, however, bids us exert them again. In so far as we dare to obey, we shall find ourselves able. Dare to speak, or pray, or work, not at the impulse of your nature, but at His bidding, and you will suddenly find yourself given power.
The Apostolate, Mark 2:7-19. On three occasions Christ used the boat as His pulpit, Mark 4:1; Luke 5:3. We must be disciples (learners), before we can be apostles (those sent). As the Father sent the Master, so the Master sends us. Our mission is threefold-to bear Him company, to perform His errands, and to cast out devils. What infinite variety in the apostolic band! The Boanergic group of four; the group of questioners who were sometimes doubters; and the group of practical men, whose business capacity was a snare at least to one. If there was a traitor even amid the Twelve, who can expect to find his fields free from tares? [source]

Chapter Summary: Mark 3

1  Jesus heals the withered hand,
10  and many other infirmities;
11  rebukes the unclean spirit;
13  chooses his twelve apostles;
22  convinces the blasphemy of casting out demons by Beelzebub;
31  and shows who are his brother, sister, and mother

Greek Commentary for Mark 3:5

When he had looked round on them with anger [περιβλεπσαμενος αυτους μετ οργης]
Mark has a good deal to say about the looks of Jesus with this word (Mark 3:5, Mark 3:34; Mark 5:37; Mark 9:8; Mark 10:23; Mark 11:11) as here. So Luke only once, Luke 6:10. The eyes of Jesus swept the room all round and each rabbinical hypocrite felt the cut of that condemnatory glance. This indignant anger was not inconsistent with the love and pity of Jesus. Murder was in their hearts and Jesus knew it. Anger against wrong as wrong is a sign of moral health (Gould). [source]
Being grieved at the hardness of their hearts [συνλυπουμενος επι τηι πωρωσει της καρδιας αυτων]
Mark alone gives this point. The anger was tempered by grief (Swete). Jesus is the Man of Sorrows and this present participle brings out the continuous state of grief whereas the momentary angry look is expressed by the aorist participle above. Their own heart or attitude was in a state of moral ossification See also on Matthew 12:9-14. [source]
Being grieved [συλλυπούμενος]
Why the compound verb, with the preposition σύν , together with? Herodotus (vi., 39) uses the word of condoling with another's misfortune. Plato (“Republic,” 4:62) says, “When any one of the citizens experiences good or evil, the whole state will either rejoice or sorrow with him ( ξυλλυπήσεται )The σύν , therefore implies Christ's condolence with the moral misfortune of these hardhearted ones. Compare the force of conin condolence. Latin, con, with, dolere, to grieve. [source]
Hardness [πωρώσει]
From πῶρος , a kind of marble, and thence used of a callus on fractured bones. Πώρωσις is originally the process by which the extremities of fractured bones are united by a callus. Hence of callousness, or hardness in general. The word occurs in two other passages in the New Testament, Romans 11:25; Ephesians 4:18, where the A. V. wrongly renders blindness, following the Vulgate caecitas. It is somewhat strange that it does not adopt that rendering here (Vulgate, caecitate ) which is given by both Wyc. and Tynd. The Rev. in all the passages rightly gives hardening, which is better than hardness, because it hints at the process going on. Mark only records Christ's feeling on this occasion. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Mark 3:5

Mark 11:11 When he had looked round []
Peculiar to Mark. As the master of the house, inspecting. “A look serious, sorrowful, judicial” (Meyer). Compare Mark 3:5, Mark 3:34. [source]
Mark 10:23 Looked round about [περιβλεπσαμενος]
Another picture of the looks of Jesus and in Mark alone as in Mark 3:5, Mark 3:34. “To see what impression the incident had made on the Twelve” (Bruce). “When the man was gone the Lord‘s eye swept round the circle of the Twelve, as he drew for them the lesson of the incident” (Swete). [source]
Mark 3:5 When he had looked round on them with anger [περιβλεπσαμενος αυτους μετ οργης]
Mark has a good deal to say about the looks of Jesus with this word (Mark 3:5, Mark 3:34; Mark 5:37; Mark 9:8; Mark 10:23; Mark 11:11) as here. So Luke only once, Luke 6:10. The eyes of Jesus swept the room all round and each rabbinical hypocrite felt the cut of that condemnatory glance. This indignant anger was not inconsistent with the love and pity of Jesus. Murder was in their hearts and Jesus knew it. Anger against wrong as wrong is a sign of moral health (Gould). [source]
Mark 5:32 And he looked round about [και περιεβλεπετο]
Imperfect middle indicative. He kept looking around to find out. The answer of Jesus to the protest of the disciples was this scrutinizing gaze (see already Mark 3:5, Mark 3:34). Jesus knew the difference between touch and touch (Bruce). [source]
Mark 6:52 For they understood not [ου γαρ συνηκαν]
Explanation of their excessive amazement, viz., their failure to grasp the full significance of the miracle of the loaves and fishes, a nature miracle. Here was another, Jesus walking on the water. Their reasoning process See note on Mark 3:5 about πωρωσις — pōrōsis Today some men have such intellectual hardness or denseness that they cannot believe that God can or would work miracles, least of all nature miracles. [source]
Luke 6:10 He looked round about on them all [περιβλεπσαμενος]
First aorist middle participle as in Mark 3:5, the middle voice giving a personal touch to it all. Mark adds “with anger” which Luke here does not put in. [source]
John 12:40 Hardened [πεπώρωκεν]
See on the kindred noun πώρωσις , hardness, Mark 3:5. [source]
Romans 11:7 Were blinded [ἐπωρώθησαν]
Rev., correctly, hardened, though the word is used of blindness when applied to the eyes, as Job 17:7, Sept. See on hardness, Mark 3:5. Compare σκληρύνει hardeneth Romans 9:18. [source]
Romans 11:7 The election [η εκλογη]
Abstract for concrete (the elect). Obtained (επετυχεν — epetuchen). Second aorist active indicative of επιτυγχανω — epitugchanō old verb, to hit upon, only here in Paul. See Romans 9:30-33 for the failure of the Jews. Were hardened First aorist passive indicative of πωροω — pōroō late verb, to cover with thick skin See note on 2 Corinthians 3:14 and note on Mark 3:5. [source]
Romans 11:7 Were hardened [επωρωτησαν]
First aorist passive indicative of πωροω — pōroō late verb, to cover with thick skin See note on 2 Corinthians 3:14 and note on Mark 3:5. [source]
Romans 11:25 A hardening [πωρωσις]
Late word from πωροω — pōroō (Romans 11:7). Occurs in Hippocrates as a medical term, only here in N.T. save Mark 3:5; Ephesians 4:18. It means obtuseness of intellectual discernment, mental dulness. [source]
Romans 11:25 Wise in your own conceits [εν εαυτοις προνιμοι]
“Wise in yourselves.” Some MSS. read παρ εαυτοις — par' heautois (by yourselves). Negative purpose here Late word from πωροω — pōroō (Romans 11:7). Occurs in Hippocrates as a medical term, only here in N.T. save Mark 3:5; Ephesians 4:18. It means obtuseness of intellectual discernment, mental dulness. In part Goes with the verb γεγονεν — gegonen (has happened in part). For απο μερους — apo merous see note on 2 Corinthians 1:14; 2 Corinthians 2:5; Romans 15:24; for ανα μερος — ana meros see note on 1 Corinthians 14:27; for εκ μερους — ek merous see note on 1 Corinthians 12:27; 1 Corinthians 13:9; for κατα μερος — kata meros see note on Hebrews 9:5; for μερος τι — meros ti (adverbial accusative) partly see note on 1 Corinthians 11:18. Paul refuses to believe that no more Jews will be saved. Until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in (αχρι ου το πληρωμα των ετνων εισελτηι — achri hou to plērōma tōn ethnōn eiselthēi). Temporal clause with αχρι ου — achri hou (until which time) and the second aorist active subjunctive of εισερχομαι — eiserchomai to come in (Matthew 7:13, Matthew 7:21). For fulness of the Gentiles (το πληρωμα των ετνων — to plērōma tōn ethnōn) see Romans 11:12, the complement of the Gentiles. [source]
2 Corinthians 3:14 Were blinded [ἐπωρώθη]
See on the kindred noun πώρωσις hardening Mark 3:5. Rev., correctly, were hardened. [source]
Ephesians 4:18 Hardening [πώρωσιν]
See on Mark 3:5. Dependent, like ignorance, on alienated. Arrange the whole clause thus:The Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind,being darkened in their understanding, being alienated from the life of God,because of the ignorance that is in them,because of the hardening of their heart. [source]
Ephesians 4:18 In their understanding [τηι διανοιαι]
Locative case. Probably διανοια — dianoia It is possible to take απηλλοτριωμενοι — ontes with εσκοτωμενοι — apēllotriōmenoi (see note on Ephesians 2:12) which would then be periphrastic (instead of της ζωης του τεου — eskotōmenoi) perfect passive participle. From the life of God (ζωης — tēs zōēs tou theou). Ablative case απηλλοτριωμενοι — zōēs after δια την αγνοιαν — apēllotriōmenoi (Ephesians 2:12). Because of the ignorance Old word from πωρωσιν — agnoeō not to know. Rare in N.T. See note on Acts 3:17. Hardening (pōrōsin). Late medical term (Hippocrates) for callous hardening. Only other N.T. examples are Mark 3:5; Romans 11:25. [source]
Ephesians 4:18 Because of the ignorance [αγνοεω]
Old word from πωρωσιν — agnoeō not to know. Rare in N.T. See note on Acts 3:17. Hardening (pōrōsin). Late medical term (Hippocrates) for callous hardening. Only other N.T. examples are Mark 3:5; Romans 11:25. [source]
Ephesians 4:18 Hardening [pōrōsin)]
Late medical term (Hippocrates) for callous hardening. Only other N.T. examples are Mark 3:5; Romans 11:25. [source]

What do the individual words in Mark 3:5 mean?

And having looked around on them with anger being grieved at the hardness of the heart of them He says to the man Stretch out the hand of you he stretched [it] out was restored the hand of him
Καὶ περιβλεψάμενος αὐτοὺς μετ’ ὀργῆς συλλυπούμενος ἐπὶ τῇ πωρώσει τῆς καρδίας αὐτῶν λέγει τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ Ἔκτεινον τὴν χεῖρα (σου) ἐξέτεινεν ἀπεκατεστάθη χεὶρ αὐτοῦ

περιβλεψάμενος  having  looked  around  on 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Middle, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: περιβλέπω  
Sense: to look around.
ὀργῆς  anger 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: ὀργή  
Sense: anger, the natural disposition, temper, character.
συλλυπούμενος  being  grieved 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Middle or Passive, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: συλλυπέω  
Sense: to affect with grief together.
ἐπὶ  at 
Parse: Preposition
Root: ἐπί  
Sense: upon, on, at, by, before.
πωρώσει  hardness 
Parse: Noun, Dative Feminine Singular
Root: πήρωσις 
Sense: the covering with a callus.
τῆς  of  the 
Parse: Article, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
καρδίας  heart 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: καρδία  
Sense: the heart.
αὐτῶν  of  them 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
λέγει  He  says 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: λέγω 
Sense: to say, to speak.
τῷ  to  the 
Parse: Article, Dative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἀνθρώπῳ  man 
Parse: Noun, Dative Masculine Singular
Root: ἄνθρωπος  
Sense: a human being, whether male or female.
Ἔκτεινον  Stretch  out 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Imperative Active, 2nd Person Singular
Root: ἐκτείνω  
Sense: to stretch out, stretch forth.
χεῖρα  hand 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: χείρ  
Sense: by the help or agency of any one, by means of any one.
(σου)  of  you 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive 2nd Person Singular
Root: σύ  
Sense: you.
ἐξέτεινεν  he  stretched  [it]  out 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἐκτείνω  
Sense: to stretch out, stretch forth.
ἀπεκατεστάθη  was  restored 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Passive, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἀποκαθιστάνω 
Sense: to restore to its former state.
χεὶρ  hand 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: χείρ  
Sense: by the help or agency of any one, by means of any one.
αὐτοῦ  of  him 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.