Exegesis:

etarachthēsan (only here in Mark) ‘they were frightened,’ ‘they were terrified,’ ‘they were troubled.’

elalēsen met’ autōn kai legei autois ‘he spoke with them and says to them’: unlike other constructions in which two almost synonymous verbs are used (one as a participle and the other in a finite form), expressing one idea only, ‘said,’ ‘answered,’ ‘spoke’ (cf. 1.7, 24; 3.33; 6.37), in the present passage two actions are indicated by the verbs: (1) ‘he spoke with them’ (the only place in Mark laleō is used with the preposition meta ‘with’), and (2) ‘he said to them.’

tharseite (10.49) is an imperative ‘cheer up!’ ‘courage!’ ‘take heart!’

egō eimi (13.6; 14.62) ‘it is I.’

mē phobeisthe ‘quit being afraid.’

Translation:

For terrified compare 4.40, but in this context the Greek expression is stronger than the one used in 4.40 and implies the active fright of the disciples rather than an intense feeling of awe and latent fear. However, in many languages the same basic idioms are employed, often with qualifiers to indicate the intensity of the emotion.

Take heart is an interesting English idiom, meaning ‘have courage,’ ‘don’t be afraid,’ and ‘buck up’ (to use another figure of speech). This same concept is rendered in other languages in a variety of ways: ‘have a hard heart’ (Miskito), ‘make your heart firm’ (Mossi ), ‘strengthen your heart’ (Pamona), ‘bring your heart to rest’ (Javanese), ‘make your heart rest’ (Southern Subanen), and ‘be strong in your heart’ (Highland Puebla Nahuatl). The basic meaning of the Greek implies the overcoming of fear, and hence any expression – figurative or not – which accurately denotes this experience is valid.

It is I must be recast in many languages to read ‘I am Jesus.’

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 .