s
Michael Turton's
Historical Commentary on the Gospel of Mark
Previous Chapter
 Home
 Topical Index
 Next Chapter
Chiastic Structure of Mark
Annotated Version
If this does not line up properly, see .JPG version

The opening of the gospel cannot be done, as no rule can be deduced for v1-3


Markan A brackets typically involve geographical movement






This type of ABCABC interior is rare in Mark.









Here is a classic Markan chiasm -- ABCDDCBA, with a center in which two brackets are action-reaction, statement-summary, or similar doubling.








Again the classic center.







ABBA structures typically offer sayings or chreia.











Note how the two B brackets reflect similarly-themed actions. Markan brackets offer talk to each other this way, echoing but not copying.




All Markan centers are twinned; there are no exceptions.


Long speeches form a single bracket usually, but there is no other speech like it, so this blocking is tentative.































ABAB centers are very common in Markan chiasms.




























Note how one center bracket summarizes the other one. A common doublet pattern in Mark.







Like many speeches in Mark, this long monologue from Jesus is itself a chiasm, in this case, of doublets























"And he said" typically signals a new bracket.






"And he said" typically signals a new bracket.










Here the two center brackets talk to each other with the word "hear", the second responding to the first.













The A and B brackets here have some play; one of those two "And-s" signals a new bracket, but it is not important which one.























Here is a common feature in Markan chiasms, an ABAB center.




























"For..." when offered as a comment on a previous action always signals a new bracket.
























































I consider the C and D brackets here to be vintage Markan style. The C bracket offers a juxtaposition of Elijah, John, and the prophets that we see elsewhere in Mark, while the D bracket has the Markan "For..." where the text turns back on itself. Beyond that I think it is all interpolated.


There is no other doublet center in Mark where the center is a simpleminded repetition. Markan brackets talk to each other, but they don't repeat each other. Conclusion? This is not from the writer's hand.





Somewhere in here the original writer's hand resumes.

















It looks nice, but is it a Markan chiasm? The brackets don't talk to each other, and the center is pathetically dull.
















A surprisingly Markan center. And the brackets talk to one another. I suspect the original writer's hand.























Here is another ABCABC center.













This interior has a Markan air. Perhaps the Bethsaida section isn't entirely interpolated, but merely rearranged and heavily edited.




Although I have constructed what looks like a chiasm here, it is not. There is nothing else in Mark quite like the CDE bracket here, and no other volley like the EDC brackets. Hence, I am suspicious of this chiasm and this pericope.





This is very Markan in structure; the brackets talk to each other nicely, and the doublet in the middle feels right.











Although the center is attractive, this chiasm isn't real, as the brackets hardly talk to each other at all. I doubt the writer of Mark produced this.





This structure is quite Markan. ABBA structures with sayings are common.






No chiasm here at all. I doubt this is from the writer's hand. The center is hopeless.










Very Markan with the fancy interior. Perhaps the unMarkan vocabulary has overwritten something else the writer created.






Here we see a clearly Markan chiasm, where the brackets talk to one another and one center bracket summarizes the other's actions.











Let us end the debate over Mk 9:1. It clearly belongs to the previous pericope.





A very Markan center with a "For..." where the text turns back on itself.







































An ABA bracket. Perhaps something has been removed, or I have blocked it wrong.



















The formula "Truly I say..." signals a new bracket.




Is there a new bracket at "For every one...?"















An ABA bracket. Perhaps something has been removed, or I have blocked it wrong.



















Another beautiful ABAB interior.












Has something been removed here? This A bracket is quite strange.










Another ABAB interior.






Here, where the words addressed to the apostles give way to a general statement about Jesus' fate, a new bracket is called for.

No other A bracket has two geographic references like this. Something has been deleted.



The chiastic structure of this is so clear and beautiful that it is suspicious. The brackets talk to each other almost too well.





















I have lumped this A bracket together. There is no other bracket like it in Mark, so I cannot deduce how to block it.





















Should we start a new bracket with the "Truly I say to you..."?





 






















Psalm 118, found in Romans 8:31.

Here begins a chiasm that crosses the center of Mark 12, and parallels Romans and 1 Corinithians 15, showing that the writer knew Paul.




Romans 13:1-7. Discussion of state and what is owed to it.




1 Corinthians 15 discusses those who do not believe the resurrection



1 Corinthians 15 discusses what bodies will be like in heaven.






Injunction to love: Romans 13:7-10.








Psalm 110: 1 Cor 15 End of Pauline chiasm.


























Looking at this, it becomes clear why the formulas are found at the beginning of Jesus' words. They signal the start of a new bracket.








































A new bracket is always signaled by the formula starting with "And..." that follows directly on a speech.
























At first glance it doesn't look like a chiasm, but the the BCDE brackets are all about the betrayal of Jesus, while the EDCB brackets illustrate him becoming a sacrifice. The two sides mirror each other.

























The bracketing of this speech was not very clear.










A verse is missing in the interior.




























Another ABAB center with a doubled summary of the action. Vintage Markan style.




























Perhaps I have broken this out too finely, for the center seems to be the ABBA structure in the HIJJ brackets.


























The C bracket has a doublet of ABCD actions. Originally I believe there was a verse referring to the guards that functions as the D bracket and opposed the Centurion's Declaration in 15:39. Interestingly, Mt 27:36 has the guards seated facing Jesus at this point.


An ABBA interior.













This A bracket has three women opposed to 3 men,  a mother of two sons opposed to a father of two sons, following as opposed to taking up a cross, from Galilee as opposed to coming in from the fields, and Jerusalem as opposed to Golgotha. Very well crafted.

Count the actions. The D brackets are parallel.





The lack of an A bracket to complement 16:2 suggests that the original Gospel did not end at 16:8, which looks more like a B bracket to me.
A
  In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

B
 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove;

B
 and a voice came from heaven, "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased."
A
 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.

B
 And he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan;

B
 and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him.
A
 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel."

B


 A
 And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen.


B
 And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men."



C
 And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

B


 A
 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zeb'edee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.


B
 And immediately he called them;



C
 and they left their father Zeb'edee in the boat with the hired servants, and followed him.
A
 And they went into Caper'na-um; and immediately on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught.

B
 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.


C
 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God."



D
 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!"



D
 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.


C
 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him."

B
 And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.
A
 And immediately he left the synagogue, and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.

B
 Now Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him of her.


C
 And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her; and she served them.



D
 That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.



D
 And the whole city was gathered together about the door.


C
 And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons;

B
 and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
A
 And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed.

B And Simon and those who were with him pursued him,and they found him and said to him, "Every one is searching for you."

B
 And he said to them, "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out."
A
 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

B
 And a leper came to him beseeching him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean."


C
 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I will; be clean."



D
 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.



D
 And he sternly charged him, and sent him away at once, and said to him, "See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to the people."


C
 But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in the country;

B
 and people came to him from every quarter.
A
 And when he returned to Caper'na-um after some days, it was reported that he was at home.

B
 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them.


C
 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.



D
 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay.




E
 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven."




E
 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, "Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"



D
 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you question thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, `Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, `Rise, take up your pallet and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- he said to the paralytic -- "I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home."


C
 And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all;

B
 so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"
A
 He went out again beside the sea;

B
  and all the crowd gathered about him, and he taught them.