Mark 14:68

But he denied it. “I do not know or even understand what you are talking about,” he said. Then he went out to the gateway, and the rooster crowed.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Peter responds to a servant girl’s accusation that he accompanied Jesus the Nazarene. He speaks to her and the nearby group before stepping out to the gateway.

The words — ἠρνήσατο (ērnēsato) translates as he denied, and οἶδα (oida) alongside ἐπιστάμαι (epistamai) mean I know and understand. Peter uses these exact terms to declare total ignorance of the charges against him.

The thread — This denial follows Peter’s earlier boast in Mark 14:29 and precedes the repeated accusation in Mark 14:69 and the second crowing in Mark 14:72. The sequence appears in Matthew 26:71, though that passage records a later denial rather than an identical event.

Why it lands — The text documents a man verbally severing ties with Jesus to avoid detection. It requires the reader to observe how immediate fear overrides a previously stated commitment.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

But he denied, saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the porch; and the cock crew.

Cross-references

Mark 14:29 Peter declared, “Even if all fall away, I never will.”
Matthew 26:71 When Peter had gone out to the gateway, another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
Mark 14:72 And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
John 13:36 “Lord, where are You going?” Simon Peter asked. Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow Me now, but you will follow later.”
2 Timothy 2:12 if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He will also deny us;