He commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a staff only: no bread, no wallet, no money in their purse, but to wear sandals, and not put on two tunics.
Show the surrounding paragraph
Mark 6:8-9 sits inside this longer paragraph.
He called to himself the twelve, and began to send them out two by two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a staff only: no bread, no wallet, no money in their purse, but to wear sandals, and not put on two tunics. He said to them, “Wherever you enter into a house, stay there until you depart from there. Whoever will not receive you nor hear you, as you depart from there, shake off the dust that is under your feet for a testimony against them. Assuredly, I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!”
Parallel Translations
-
He commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a staff only: no bread, no wallet, no money in their purse,
but to wear sandals, and not put on two tunics.
-
And commaunded the that they shuld take nothinge vnto their Iorney save a rodde only: Nether scrippe nether breed nether mony in their pourses:
but shuld be shood with sandals. And that they shuld not put on two coottes.
Show all 3 translations
-
And commanded them that they should take nothing for their iourney, saue a staffe onely: neither scrip, neither bread, neither money in their girdles:
But that they should be shod with sandals, and that they should not put on two coates.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (6)
- Luke 9:3 (v8) He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey—no staffs, nor wallet, nor bread, nor money. Don’t have two coats each.
- Matthew 10:9-10 (v8) Don’t take any gold, silver, or brass in your money belts. Take no bag for your journey, neither two coats, nor sandals, nor staff: for the…
- Luke 10:4 (v8) Carry no purse, nor wallet, nor sandals. Greet no one on the way.
- Luke 22:35 (v8) He said to them, “When I sent you out without purse, wallet, and sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.”
- Acts 12:8 (v9) The angel said to him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” He did so. He said to him, “Put on your cloak and follow me.”
Show all 6 cross-references
- Ephesians 6:15 (v9) and having fitted your feet with the preparation of the Good News of peace,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv8–9 Faithful Pastors ought not to have their minds set,…
Faithful Pastors ought not to have their minds set, no not on things that are necessary for this life, if they may be an hindrance unto them, be it never so little.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv8–9 8 And commanded them that they should take nothing…
8 And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:
Ver. 8. Save a staff] Such a one as may ease and relieve you, not such as may cumber and hinder you, Mat 10:10. So that seeming contradiction is assoiled.
Read full note →
No money in your purses] Gr. No brass, χαλκον, in your belts. The most usual material of money among the Roman princes was seldom gold or silver, most times brass, sometimes leather. Corium forma publica percussum, as Seneca hath it. The like is said to have been used here in England, in the times of the Barons’ Wars. And why not? since opinion sets the price upon these outward good things; and anno 1574, the Hollanders, then being in their extremities, made money of pasteboard.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v9 Go in your ordinary habits, making no provision for…
Go in your ordinary habits, making no provision for yourselves, as travellers, who think they may need something before their return.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv8–9 And commanded them that they should take nothing for…
And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey,.... To accommodate them in it, except those things after directed to:
save a staff only; a single one, for staves in the plural number are forbidden; see Gill on Mat 10:10;
Read full note →
no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse. Travellers used to put their bread, or any other sort of food into their scrips, and their money in their girdles; but the disciples were not allowed to carry either, because provision was to be made for them wherever they came at free cost, it being what their labour was worthy of; See Gill on Mat 10:9, Mat 10:10.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv8–9 He commanded them to take nothing for their journey…
He commanded them to take nothing for their journey - That they might be always unincumbered, free, ready for motion. Save a staff only - He that had one might take it; but he that had not was not to provide one, Matt. x, 9. Luke ix, 3.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv8–9 Verse 8. A staff only] It is likely he…
Verse 8. A staff only] It is likely he desired them to take only one with every two, merely for the purpose of carrying any part of their clothes on, when they should be obliged to strip them off by reason of the heat; for walking staves, or things of this kind, were forbidden, see Mt 10:10. But, probably, no more is designed than simply to state that they must not wait to make any provision for the journey, but go off just as they were, leaving the provision necessary in the present case to the care of Divine Providence. St. James is represented in ancient paintings, as carrying a gourd bottle on a STAFF across his shoulder.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v8 Mar 6:8-9. He commanded that they should take nothing…
Mar 6:8-9. He commanded that they should take nothing for their journey — That they might be always unencumbered, free, ready for motion. Save a staff only — He that had one might take it; but he that had not, was not to provide one. No scrip, no bread — Our Lord intended by this mission to initiate them into their apostolic work. And it was, doubtless, an encouragement to them all their life after, to recollect the care which God took of them when they had left all they had, and went out quite unfurnished for such an expedition. In this view our Lord himself leads them to consider it, Luk 22:35, When I sent you forth without purse or scrip, lacked ye any thing? See the note on Mat 10:9-10; where the particular directions here given are explained at large.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v8 See these verses fully explained in the notes at…
See these verses fully explained in the notes at Mat 10:9-15. In Mat 10:5 they were commanded not to go among the Gentiles or Samaritans. Mark omits that direction, perhaps, because he was writing for the “Gentiles,” and the direction might create unnecessary difficulty or offence. Perhaps he omits it also because the command was given for a temporary purpose, and was not in force at the time of his writing.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv8–9 8. A staff only — The caution in Matthew…
8. A staff only — The caution in Matthew against two staves, is part of the prohibition against extra provision. Some have ridiculed this mode of reconciliation, as if contradictions in Scripture might be allowed in such minutiae. They might as well say that it was ridiculous for our Lord to allow one coat and forbid two.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv8–9 8. and commanded them] Now follows a brief summary…
8. and commanded them] Now follows a brief summary of the charge, which the Lord proceeded to give them on this occasion, and which is recorded at far greater length by St Matthew, Mat_10:5-42.
save a staff] They were to go forth with their staff as they had it at the time, but they were not (Mat_10:10) to “seek,” or “procure one carefully” for the purposes of this journey. The “staff” in Mat_10:10, depends on “acquire not” or “provide not for yourselves” in Mar_6:9.
Read full note →
no scrip] Scrip, from Sw. skrâppa, denotes a “wallet” or “small bag.” Comp. 1Sa_17:40, “And (David) took his staff in his hand and chose him five smooth stones, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip.” It was so called, perhaps, because it was designed to hold scraps, trifling articles, scraped off as it were from something larger. It was part of the pilgrim’s or traveller’s equipage: comp. Piers Ploughman’s Vis. 3573;
“I seigh nevere palmere
With pyk ne with Scrippe,”
and Shakespeare, As you like it, III. 2. 171,
“Though not with bag and baggage, yet with scrip and scrippage.” The scrip of the Galilean peasants was of leather, “the skins of kids stripped off whole, and tanned by a very simple process,” used especially to carry their food on a journey, and slung over their shoulders (Thomson’s Land and the Book, p. 355).
no money] “There was no departure from the simple manners of the country in this. At this day the farmer sets out on excursions, quite as extensive, without a para in his purse, and a modern Moslem prophet of Tarshîshx thus sends forth his apostles over this identical region. No traveller in the East would hesitate to throw himself on the hospitality of any villager.” Thomson’s Land and Book, p. 346.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv8–9 (8) Save a staff only.—St, Matthew (Mat_10:10) gives, “neither…
(8) Save a staff only.—St, Matthew (Mat_10:10) gives, “neither staves”—i.e., they were to take one only.
No money.—As the margin gives, no brass, or rather bronze, or money. The coins referred to are probably the “farthing” and the “mite” of Mar_12:42.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv8–9 They should take nothing for their journey, save a…
They should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only. St. Matthew says, (Mat_10:10) according to the best authorities (mhde rabdon), they were not to take a staff. St. Luke says the same as St. Matthew. The meaning is that they were not to make any special provision for their journey, but to go forth just as they were, depending upon God. Those who bad a staff might use it; those who had not one were not to trouble themselves to procure one. The scrip (phra) was the wallet for food. They were to take no money in their purse (mh eiv thnhn calkon); literally, brass in their girdle. St. Mark, writing for Romans, uses this word for money. St. Luke, writing for Greeks, uses the term (argurion) "silver." St. Matthew (Mat_10:9) says, "provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv8–9 8. Save a staff only. Only the staff that…
8. Save a staff only. Only the staff that each had already. Matthew. forbids a supply for future use.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v8 take nothing (See Scofield "Mat 10:9")
take nothing (See Scofield "Mat 10:9")
scrip provision-bag.
Read full note →
purse belt.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v8 6:8-9 The instructions for the disciples’ mission were about…
6:8-9 The instructions for the disciples’ mission were about what they should leave behind (food . . . bag . . . money . . . change of clothes). They were to travel light, counting on Jewish hospitality for food and lodging (cp. Luke 22:35-37).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.