Mark 16
The chapter in full, then the passages inside it that are worth stopping on — what each one claims, what the Greek or Hebrew shows, and how the reading is arrived at.
Mark 16 WEB
- 1 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint him.
- 2 Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.
- 3 They were saying among themselves, "Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?"
- 4 for it was very big. Looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back.
- 5 Entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed.
- 6 He said to them, "Don't be amazed. You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him!
- 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see him, as he said to you.'"
- 8 They went out, and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come on them. They said nothing to anyone; for they were afraid.
- 9 Now when he had risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.
- 10 She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
- 11 When they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they disbelieved.
- 12 After these things he was revealed in another form to two of them as they walked, on their way into the country.
- 13 They went away and told it to the rest. They didn't believe them, either.
- 14 Afterward he was revealed to the eleven themselves as they sat at the table; and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they didn't believe those who had seen him after he had risen.
- 15 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the Good News to the whole creation.
- 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.
- 17 These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages;
- 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
- 19 So then the Lord, after he had spoken to them, was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
- 20 They went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.
Mark 16 closes the earliest of the four gospels with the discovery of the empty tomb and — depending on which manuscripts are used — either a bare, unfinished-sounding sentence at verse 8, or an added ending through verse 20. Mark has spent his whole narrative moving toward Jerusalem and the cross; this chapter is the turn from Friday's silence to Sunday's report, told with the same terse, breathless style that runs through the whole book.
16:1-4 Who will roll away the stone for us?
Three women — Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome — buy spices after the Sabbath ends, intending to complete the burial rites Joseph of Arimathea's haste on Friday evening had left incomplete (Mark 15:42-46). Their question, "Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?" (16:3), is entirely practical: a stone "very big" (16:4) sealing a rock-cut tomb was not something three women could move alone. They are not expecting resurrection; they are expecting a corpse, and planning for the mechanics of anointing it. Mark records no earthquake or angelic descent to move the stone — Matthew alone has that (Matthew 28:2) — Mark simply has them arrive and find it "rolled back." The women's practical dread and the anticlimax of finding the problem already solved is the chapter's first note: whatever happened, happened before anyone arrived to explain it.
16:5-6 He is not here
A "young man" (νεανίσκος, neaniskos) in a white robe meets them inside the tomb — Mark's spare word for what Matthew calls an angel and Luke calls two men; the whiteness of the robe (λευκός) is the gospels' consistent visual marker of the heavenly. His message is direct: "You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen! He is not here" (16:6). Mark does not narrate the resurrection itself — no gospel does. What is reported is absence and a claim: the body is gone, and the reason given is not theft or removal but ἠγέρθη, "he has risen," a perfect passive that in Greek carries the sense of a completed act with continuing effect — not "he rose" as a bare past event but "he has been raised" and remains in that state. The tomb is offered as evidence, not proof: "see the place where they laid him." Empty space argues nothing by itself; it is the word alongside it that makes the claim.
16:7 He goes before you into Galilee
The young man instructs the women to tell the disciples "and Peter" — a small phrase worth noticing. Peter had denied Jesus three times; naming him specifically, rather than letting him vanish into "the disciples," is a deliberate act of restoration built into the announcement itself, before any resurrection appearance to Peter is even recorded. The promise that follows, "he goes before you into Galilee," fulfills Jesus's own word at the Last Supper (Mark 14:28): the risen Christ keeps appointments he made before he died. Galilee — not Jerusalem — is where the story of Jesus began and where it will resume; the resurrection does not simply cap the story, it reopens it.
16:8 They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid
Here the oldest and best manuscripts (Codex Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, among others) stop: "They went out, and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come on them. They said nothing to anyone; for they were afraid." This is one of the most argued textual questions in the New Testament. Some scholars (following the earliest witnesses) hold that Mark genuinely ended here, deliberately — the gospel closing not on resolution but on stunned silence and fear, leaving the reader to supply the missing proclamation the women, for the moment, cannot. Others find this too abrupt for an ancient biography and suppose the original final leaf was lost before these manuscripts were copied — an accident of transmission, not a literary choice. What is not seriously disputed is that verse 8 is where the most reliable textual evidence ends, and that verses 9-20 are absent from the earliest and best manuscripts, appearing later and in more than one form (a longer ending printed here, and a separate "shorter ending" in other witnesses) — signs that the church itself, early on, sensed the narrative needed completing and supplied it from material drawn from the other gospels' resurrection accounts.
16:9-20 The longer ending
This section — Jesus's appearances to Mary Magdalene, to two disciples, to the Eleven; his rebuke of their unbelief; the Great Commission ("Go into all the world and preach the Good News," 16:15); the promises of signs including serpent-handling and immunity to poison (16:17-18); and the ascension (16:19) — is bracketed in most modern translations, including the WEB text printed above, because of this manuscript evidence. It is not scripture manufactured from nothing: its content is corroborated by Matthew, Luke, John, and Acts, and the church has long read it liturgically. But responsible handling means saying plainly that it very likely was not written by Mark's own hand, and that doctrine — including the passage on signs, sometimes cited to require snake-handling or poison-drinking as marks of faith — should not be built on a foundation this uncertain when the same content stands on firmer ground elsewhere in the canon.
What the chapter asks
Whichever ending is original, the chapter's claim does not soften: the tomb was found empty, the reason given was resurrection, not disappearance, and the messenger's word turns the women — and everyone who reads after them — toward Galilee, toward the ordinary places where the story must now be lived out rather than merely visited. Josh McDowell frames the stakes without room to sit in the middle: "The resurrection of Jesus Christ is either one of the most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted upon the minds of men, or it is the most remarkable fact of history" (More Than a Carpenter, ch. 9). Mark's own narrative refuses a third, comfortable option: fear, silence, and flight are exactly what the first witnesses did with the news — and the chapter leaves it an open question whether the reader will do differently.
The verses this turns on
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint him.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
Καὶ διαγενομένου τοῦ σαββάτου Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ καὶ Μαρία ἡ τοῦ Ἰακώβου καὶ Σαλώμη ἠγόρασαν ἀρώματα ἵνα ἐλθοῦσαι ἀλείψωσιν αὐτόν.
- Καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- διαγενομένου διαγίνομαι verb · aorist middle deponent participle, genitive singular neuter G1230
- τοῦ ὁ article · genitive singular neuter G3588
- σαββάτου σάββατον noun · genitive singular neuter G4521
- Μαρία Μαρία noun · nominative singular feminine G3137
- ἡ ὁ article · nominative singular feminine G3588
- Μαγδαληνὴ Μαγδαληνή noun · nominative singular feminine G3094
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- Μαρία Μαρία noun · nominative singular feminine G3137
- ἡ ὁ article · nominative singular feminine G3588
- τοῦ ὁ article · genitive singular masculine G3588
- Ἰακώβου Ἰάκωβος noun · genitive singular masculine G2385
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Luke 23:56 They returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
- Matthew 28:1 Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.
- John 20:1 Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
- Mark 15:40 There were also women watching from afar, among whom were both Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;
- Mark 14:8 She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for the burying.
They were saying among themselves, "Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?"discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
καὶ ἔλεγον πρὸς ἑαυτάς Τίς ἀποκυλίσει ἡμῖν τὸν λίθον ἐκ τῆς θύρας τοῦ μνημείου;
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ἔλεγον λέγω verb · imperfect active indicative, 3rd person plural G3004
- πρὸς πρός preposition G4314
- ἑαυτάς ἑαυτοῦ reflexive pronoun G1438
- Τίς τίς interrogative pronoun · nominative singular masculine G5101
- ἀποκυλίσει ἀποκυλίω verb · future active indicative, 3rd person singular G617
- ἡμῖν ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
- τὸν ὁ article · accusative singular masculine G3588
- λίθον λίθος noun · accusative singular masculine G3037
- ἐκ ἐκ preposition G1537
- τῆς ὁ article · genitive singular feminine G3588
- θύρας θύρα noun · genitive singular feminine G2374
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 2
- Mark 15:46 He bought a linen cloth, and taking him down, wound him in the linen cloth and laid him in a tomb which had been cut out of a rock. He rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.
- Matthew 27:60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out in the rock. Then he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed.
for it was very big. Looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
καὶ ἀναβλέψασαι θεωροῦσιν ὅτι ἀνακεκύλισται ὁ λίθος· ἦν γὰρ μέγας σφόδρα.
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ἀναβλέψασαι ἀναβλέπω verb · aorist active participle, nominative plural feminine G308
- θεωροῦσιν θεωρέω verb · present active indicative, 3rd person plural G2334
- ὅτι ὅτι conjunction G3754
- ἀνακεκύλισται ἀνακυλίω verb · perfect passive indicative, 3rd person singular G0617
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- λίθος· λίθος noun · nominative singular masculine G3037
- ἦν εἰμί verb · imperfect active indicative, 3rd person singular G1510
- γὰρ γάρ conjunction G1063
- μέγας μέγας adjective · nominative singular masculine G3173
- σφόδρα. σφόδρα adverb G4970
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 3
- Luke 24:2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
- Matthew 28:2 Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky and came and rolled away the stone from the door and sat on it.
- John 20:1 Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
Entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
καὶ εἰσελθοῦσαι εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον εἶδον νεανίσκον καθήμενον ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς περιβεβλημένον στολὴν λευκήν, καὶ ἐξεθαμβήθησαν.
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- εἰσελθοῦσαι εἰσέρχομαι verb · aorist active participle, nominative plural feminine G1525
- εἰς εἰς preposition G1519
- τὸ ὁ article · accusative singular neuter G3588
- μνημεῖον μνημεῖον noun · accusative singular neuter G3419
- εἶδον ὁράω verb · aorist active indicative, 3rd person plural G3708
- νεανίσκον νεανίσκος noun · accusative singular masculine G3495
- καθήμενον κάθημαι verb · present middle or passive deponent participle, accusative singular masculine G2521
- ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
- τοῖς ὁ article · dative plural neuter G3588
- δεξιοῖς δεξιός adjective · dative plural neuter G1188
- περιβεβλημένον περιβάλλω verb · perfect passive participle, accusative singular masculine G4016
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- John 20:11 But Mary was standing outside at the tomb weeping. So as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb,
- Luke 24:3 They entered in, and didn't find the Lord Jesus' body.
- John 20:8 So then the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed.
- Matthew 28:3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.
- Luke 1:29 But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered what kind of salutation this might be.
He said to them, "Don't be amazed. You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him!discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ὁ δὲ λέγει αὐταῖς Μὴ ἐκθαμβεῖσθε· Ἰησοῦν ζητεῖτε τὸν Ναζαρηνὸν τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον· ἠγέρθη, οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε· ἴδε ὁ τόπος ὅπου ἔθηκαν αὐτόν.
- ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
- δὲ δέ conjunction G1161
- λέγει λέγω verb · present active indicative, 3rd person singular G3004
- αὐταῖς αὐτός personal pronoun · dative plural feminine G846
- Μὴ μή particle · nominative G3361
- ἐκθαμβεῖσθε· ἐκθαμβέω verb · present middle or passive imperative, 2nd person plural G1568
- Ἰησοῦν Ἰησοῦς noun · accusative singular masculine G2424
- ζητεῖτε ζητέω verb · present active indicative, 2nd person plural G2212
- τὸν ὁ article · accusative singular masculine G3588
- Ναζαρηνὸν Ναζαρηνός adjective · accusative singular masculine G3479
- τὸν ὁ article · accusative singular masculine G3588
- ἐσταυρωμένον· σταυρόω verb · perfect passive participle, accusative singular masculine G4717
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Revelation 1:17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, "Don't be afraid. I am the first and the last,
- 1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
- Luke 24:46 He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,
- Matthew 28:4 For fear of him, the guards shook, and became like dead men.
- John 2:19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see him, as he said to you.'"discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
ἀλλὰ ὑπάγετε εἴπατε τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ τῷ Πέτρῳ ὅτι Προάγει ὑμᾶς εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν· ἐκεῖ αὐτὸν ὄψεσθε, καθὼς εἶπεν ὑμῖν.
- ἀλλὰ ἀλλά conjunction G235
- ὑπάγετε ὑπάγω verb · present active imperative, 2nd person plural G5217
- εἴπατε λέγω verb · aorist active imperative, 2nd person plural G3004
- τοῖς ὁ article · dative plural masculine G3588
- μαθηταῖς μαθητής noun · dative plural masculine G3101
- αὐτοῦ αὐτός personal pronoun · genitive singular masculine G846
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- τῷ ὁ article · dative singular masculine G3588
- Πέτρῳ Πέτρος noun · dative singular masculine G4074
- ὅτι ὅτι conjunction G3754
- Προάγει προάγω verb · present active indicative, 3rd person singular G4254
- ὑμᾶς σύ personal pronoun G4771
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Mark 14:28 However, after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee."
- Matthew 26:32 But after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee."
- Matthew 28:10 Then Jesus said to them, "Don't be afraid. Go tell my brothers that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see me."
- Matthew 28:7 Go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has risen from the dead, and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him.' Behold, I have told you."
- Matthew 28:16 But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them.
They went out, and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come on them. They said nothing to anyone; for they were afraid.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
καὶ ἐξελθοῦσαι ἔφυγον ἀπὸ τοῦ μνημείου, εἶχεν γὰρ αὐτὰς τρόμος καὶ ἔκστασις· καὶ οὐδενὶ οὐδὲν εἶπαν· ἐφοβοῦντο γάρ.
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ἐξελθοῦσαι ἐξέρχομαι verb · aorist active participle, nominative plural feminine G1831
- ἔφυγον φεύγω verb · aorist active indicative, 3rd person plural G5343
- ἀπὸ ἀπό preposition G575
- τοῦ ὁ article · genitive singular neuter G3588
- μνημείου, μνημεῖον noun · genitive singular neuter G3419
- εἶχεν ἔχω verb · imperfect active indicative, 3rd person singular G2192
- γὰρ γάρ conjunction G1063
- αὐτὰς αὐτός personal pronoun · accusative plural feminine G846
- τρόμος τρόμος noun · nominative singular masculine G5156
- καὶ καί conjunction G2532
- ἔκστασις· ἔκστασις noun · nominative singular feminine G1611
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Luke 24:9 returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
- Matthew 28:8 They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word.
- Luke 24:37 But they were terrified and filled with fear, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
- Luke 24:22 Also, certain women of our company amazed us, having arrived early at the tomb;
- Mark 16:5 Entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe; and they were amazed.
Now when he had risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904
[[Ἀναστὰς δὲ πρωῒ πρώτῃ σαββάτου ἐφάνη πρῶτον Μαρίᾳ τῇ Μαγδαληνῇ, παρ’ ἧς ἐκβεβλήκει ἑπτὰ δαιμόνια.
- [[Ἀναστὰς ἀνίστημι verb · aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine G450
- δὲ δέ conjunction G1161
- πρωῒ πρωΐ adverb G4404
- πρώτῃ πρῶτος adjective · dative singular feminine G4413
- σαββάτου σάββατον noun · genitive singular neuter G4521
- ἐφάνη φαίνω verb · aorist passive indicative, 3rd person singular G5316
- πρῶτον πρῶτος adverb G4412
- Μαρίᾳ Μαρία noun · dative singular feminine G3137
- τῇ ὁ article · dative singular feminine G3588
- Μαγδαληνῇ, Μαγδαληνή noun · dative singular feminine G3094
- παρ’ παρά preposition G3844
- ἧς ὅς relative pronoun · genitive singular feminine G3739
Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.
See also 5
- Luke 8:2 and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out;
- John 20:14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, and didn't know that it was Jesus.
- Mark 15:47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses, saw where he was laid.
- John 20:12 and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
- Matthew 27:56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
From the interpretive tradition
Our old history ends with the cross; our new history begins with the resurrection.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is either one of the most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted upon the minds of men, or it is the most remarkable fact of history.