Text:

Instead of edidoun ‘they were giving’ of the majority of modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus and Souter have epoioun ‘they were making,’ and Tischendorf has epoiēsan ‘they made.’

Exegesis:

exelthontes ‘going out (of the synagogue).’

Hērōdianōn (12.13) ‘Herodians’: partisans and friends of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee.

sumboulion edidoun ‘they held counsel,’ ‘they plotted,’ ‘they planned’: not simply the idea of consultation, but that of deliberation, resolution (cf. Lagrange). Arndt & Gingrich take this phrase to be the equivalent of the Latin consilium capere ‘to plan,’ ‘to purpose.’ The imperfect tense of the verb here may have the meaning ‘they began to counsel.’

hopōs ‘in order that,’ ‘so that’: as an adverb hopōs expresses manner ‘how’ (so Revised Standard Version); if used as a conjunction, it indicates purpose, ‘so that they might destroy him’; or, following a verb meaning ‘to plan,’ hopōs may mean ‘with a view to.’

apolesōsin (cf. 1.24) ‘they might destroy him,’ i.e. put him to death.

Translation:

Went out, i.e. of the synagogue.

Herodians, the political followers and friends of Herod, may be identified as ‘those who walked with Herod’ (Mitla Zapotec).

The Shilluk idiom for taking counsel is an interesting and typical one, ‘gathered mouths together.’

Against him, how to destroy him may give rise to serious difficulties if one attempts to translate literally. However, the expression can be efficiently related to the preceding by translating as ‘got together with the followers of Herod in order to plan how they could destroy Jesus’ (or ‘kill him’). This was no plot merely against his influence, but against his life.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .