Bible Strands
Mark 9:10
So they kept this matter to themselves, discussing what it meant to rise from the dead.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator records the disciples descending the mountain after the transfiguration, obeying Jesus’ command to remain silent until after his resurrection. They are alone with the revelation, processing his statement about rising from the dead.
The words — The text reports that they ἐκράτησαν (ekratēsan), literally "kept," the matter among themselves, while συζητοῦντες (suzētountes), "questioning" or "discussing," what it meant to rise from the dead. These verbs describe a deliberate internal retention paired with active verbal or mental debate.
The thread — This pattern of private wrestling with resurrection language appears in John 2:19, where Jesus speaks of raising a temple in three days, and John 16:17, where disciples privately question his words about departing. It also aligns with Acts 17:18, where listeners debate unfamiliar theological claims before grasping them.
Why it lands — The text states that the disciples held the revelation privately while debating its meaning before accepting it as fact. Readers must acknowledge that comprehension of divine promises often requires a period of unresolved inquiry before public confession or action.
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
And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.
Cross-references
- Acts 17:18 Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was proclaiming the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.
- John 2:19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.”
- John 16:17 Then some of His disciples asked one another, “Why is He telling us, ‘In a little while you will not see Me, and then after a little while you will see Me’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?”
- Luke 18:33 They will flog Him and kill Him, and on the third day He will rise again.”
- Luke 24:7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’”
- Luke 24:25 Then Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
- John 12:16 At first His disciples did not understand these things, but after Jesus was glorified they remembered what had been done to Him, and they realized that these very things had also been written about Him.
- John 12:33 He said this to indicate the kind of death He was going to die.
- John 16:29 His disciples said, “See, now You are speaking plainly and without figures of speech.
- Genesis 37:11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept in mind what he had said.