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Marcos 16

ARC · Chapter 16/16

1E, passado o sabbado, Maria Magdalena, e Maria, mãe de Thiago, e Salomé, compraram aromas para irem ungil-o.

2E, no primeiro dia da semana, foram ao sepulchro, de manhã cedo, ao nascer do sol;

3E diziam umas ás outras: Quem nos revolverá a pedra da porta do sepulchro?

4E, olhando, viram que já a pedra estava revolvida; porque era muito grande.

5E, entrando no sepulchro, viram um mancebo assentado á direita, vestido de uma roupa comprida, branca; e ficaram espantadas.

6Porém elle disse-lhes: Não vos assusteis; buscaes a Jesus Nazareno, que foi crucificado; já resuscitou, não está aqui; eis aqui o logar onde o pozeram.

7Porém ide, dizei a seus discipulos, e a Pedro, que elle vae adiante de vós para a Galilea; ali o vereis, como elle vos disse.

8E, saindo ellas apressadamente, fugiram do sepulchro, porque estavam possuidas de temor e assombro; e nada diziam a ninguem, porque temiam.

9E Jesus, tendo resuscitado na manhã do primeiro dia da semana, appareceu primeiramente a Maria Magdalena, da qual tinha expulsado sete demonios.

10E, partindo ella, annunciou-o áquelles que tinham estado com elle, os quaes estavam tristes, e chorando.

11E, ouvindo elles que vivia, e que tinha sido visto por ella, não o creram.

12E depois manifestou-se n'outra fórma a dois d'elles, que iam de caminho para o campo.

13E, indo estes, annunciaram-n'o aos outros, mas nem ainda estes creram.

14Finalmente appareceu aos onze, estando elles assentados juntamente, e lançou-lhes em rosto a sua incredulidade e dureza de coração, por não haverem crido nos que o tinham visto já resuscitado.

15E disse-lhes: Ide por todo o mundo, prégae o evangelho a toda a creatura:

16Quem crêr e fôr baptizado será salvo; mas quem não crêr será condemnado.

17E estes signaes seguirão aos que crêrem: Em meu nome expulsarão os demonios; fallarão novas linguas:

18Pegarão nas serpentes; e, se beberem alguma coisa mortifera, não lhes fará damno algum; e porão as mãos sobre os enfermos, e os sararão.

19Ora o Senhor, depois de lhes ter fallado, foi recebido acima no céu, e assentou-se á direita de Deus.

20E elles, tendo partido, prégaram por todas as partes, cooperando com elles o Senhor, e confirmando a palavra com os signaes que se seguiram. Amen.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

On the third day, women find the tomb empty and an angel announces Jesus' resurrection, instructing them to tell the disciples; Jesus appears to several followers and finally sends the disciples out to preach the gospel to every creature.

Explanation

The women who go to the tomb to complete the embalming process, interrupted by the start of the Sabbath, find the stone already rolled away and an angel announcing that Jesus 'is risen, he is not here' — the central message of all Christianity. The oldest manuscripts of Mark end abruptly at verse 8, with the women fleeing in fear, and the final verses about Jesus' appearances and the Great Commission are considered by many scholars a later addition, though widely accepted in biblical tradition throughout the centuries. The disciples' initial unbelief in the face of the resurrection account, rebuked by Jesus, shows that faith in the resurrection was not something easily accepted, even by the earliest and closest followers. The final commissioning to preach 'to every creature' closes the gospel with a universal mission, consistent with the direct and urgent tone that characterizes the entire book of Mark.

Fun facts

  • The two oldest and most reliable manuscripts of the New Testament (Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, both from the fourth century) end Mark at verse 8, without the final verses about the appearances — which is why modern Bibles often mark this passage as an alternate ending, possibly added later.
  • Mary Magdalene is highlighted as the first witness of the resurrection, and Mark notes that Jesus had cast seven demons out of her — a detail that underscores her profound transformation before she became one of Jesus' most faithful followers.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Marcos 16:1Anointing a body with fragrant spices was part of the Jewish custom of preparing for burial, since there was no embalming as in Egypt and the smell of decay had to be masked. The women buy these spices as soon as the sabbath ends, showing they considered the burial work still unfinished.
  2. Marcos 16:2Going to the tomb very early, at sunrise, shows the women's urgency to complete the anointing ritual they had not had time to finish before the sabbath began.
  3. Marcos 16:3Their concern about the stone is quite practical: this kind of round stone, rolled across the entrance, usually took several people to move, and they were going alone with no help arranged.
  4. Marcos 16:4The detail that the stone was “very great” underscores just how strange it was to find it already moved away, with no one around to have helped.
  5. Marcos 16:5A young man dressed in white sitting in the tomb is the understated way the gospels often describe a heavenly messenger, without calling him an angel outright. The women's startled reaction is that of people running into something out of the ordinary, not just any young man.
  6. Marcos 16:6The young man offers two things at once: a direct explanation of what happened and an invitation to see with their own eyes the empty place where the body had been laid.
  7. Marcos 16:7Mentioning Peter separately, alongside the other disciples, sounds like special care — after denying Jesus three times, he is given assurance that he is still included in the promised reunion in Galilee.
  8. Marcos 16:8In the oldest surviving manuscripts of Mark's gospel, the book ends exactly here, with the women afraid and silent, an abrupt ending that has puzzled readers for centuries. It is this short ending that later gave rise to attempts to complete the story with a more traditional close.
  9. Marcos 16:9The oldest and most reliable manuscripts of Mark's gospel stop at verse 8; this final section, verses 9 through 20, appears only in later copies and has a different writing style from the rest of the book. That is why most biblical scholars, across varied traditions, regard this ending as a later addition and not part of the original text — yet it made its way into the printed Bible and is still debated today.
  10. Marcos 16:10The account describes the disciples still overcome with grief and weeping, caught up in mourning, at the exact moment the news of the resurrection reaches them.
  11. Marcos 16:11Their initial disbelief shows that the resurrection was not accepted right away or easily, even coming from someone who was part of the inner circle.
  12. Marcos 16:12“In another form” suggests that Jesus appeared in a way that was not recognized right away, an episode another gospel tells in more detail on the road to Emmaus.
  13. Marcos 16:13The disbelief repeats itself: even with two reports of His appearing already on record, the rest of the group still refuses to believe.
  14. Marcos 16:14Only when He appears in person to the eleven does Jesus directly rebuke their unbelief, using the same phrase, “hardness of heart,” already used earlier in the gospel to describe the disciples' lack of understanding.
  15. Marcos 16:15The command to preach throughout the whole world, to every creature, expands the mission far beyond the Jewish audience Jesus had reached until then.
  16. Marcos 16:16The statement links faith and baptism as signs of accepting the message, drawing a direct contrast between two possible outcomes.
  17. Marcos 16:17The list of signs promised to those who believe includes things like casting out demons and speaking in new tongues, abilities the book of Acts later describes the first Christians exercising.
  18. Marcos 16:18The mention of picking up serpents and drinking poison without harm has been read very differently throughout history — most readers take it as a sign of divine protection in dangerous situations, not as a ritual test to be sought out on purpose.
  19. Marcos 16:19The ascension is described briefly, using the same image of “sat on the right hand of God” that had already appeared in Jesus' answer to the high priest back in chapter 14.
  20. Marcos 16:20The closing summary describes the church's missionary activity right after, and the “Amen” at the end is a common closing formula for texts used in worship at the time.

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