Exegesis:

kata monas (only here and Lk. 9.18 in N.T.) ‘alone’: no place is specified in the text; it is simply indicated that Jesus withdrew from the crowd.

ērōtōn (7.26; 8.5) ‘they asked,’ ‘they asked a question’ (in this passage and in 8.5); in late Greek it came to mean ‘request,’ ‘ask for’ (as in 7.26).

hoi peri auton ‘those about him,’ i.e. ‘his followers’ (cf. Lk. 22.49, Acts 13.13). Compare par’ autou, 3.21.

sun tois dōdeka ‘with the Twelve’: a title, not simply a number (cf. 3.16).

Translation:

The clause when he was alone can, in a literal rendering, introduce a very confusing contradiction. People often ask, “How could he be alone, and still be in the presence of those who could ask him questions?” Obviously, the expression was alone must not be taken in the absolute sense, or it cannot be harmonized with the following clause. In some languages the only way to treat this expression satisfactorily is to render it ‘when he was no longer with the crowd’ or ‘when the crowd was no longer there,’ for this is the meaning of the expression in the Greek text.

Those who were about him with the twelve poses a problem in some languages: “Who asked the question? Those who were about him, not including the twelve apostles, or should the twelve be included in the group of interrogators?” The English form of this expression might lead one to think that those who asked the question were the ones around Jesus and the twelve. The Greek text, however, makes it clear that Jesus was questioned by the twelve and those who clustered around, namely, his somewhat larger band of followers. In many languages this relationship must be made more explicit, e.g. ‘when the twelve and those who were also around Jesus…’ (Yaka), ‘those who were around Jesus and also the twelve…’ in which it is quite clear that the preposition ‘around’ goes only with Jesus and not with the twelve (Highland Oaxaca Chontal).

As noted in 3.14, it is often necessary to add some classifier to the expression ‘the twelve.’

For parables see 3.23.

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 .