Exegesis:

korban (only here in the N.T.; cf. korbanas Mt. 27.16) ‘a gift’: the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew karban ‘offering.’ The word indicates a gift consecrated to God which could not, therefore, be used for any other purpose. As Black points out, the meaning is not that such things really had been dedicated as an offering to God but were to be considered as such.

ho ean ex emou ōphelēthēs ‘that of mine which might have been of benefit to you.’

ōpheleō (cf. 5.26) ‘profit,’ ‘benefit,’ in the passive, as here, ‘be benefited,’ ‘be helped.’ The construction in the Greek is somewhat difficult, but the sense is clear: literally, ‘that of mine, in regard to which you might have been benefited.’ The verb is accented as a subjunctive form by all editions of the Greek text, with the exception of Nestle and Kilpatrick, who accent it as an indicative form.

Translation:

There are several structural problems involved in this verse and in what immediately follows: (1) the included direct discourse consisting of essentially three layers: the two introduced by words of speaking and the explanatory parenthesis, (2) the condition contrary to fact: what you would have gained (but did not), and (3) the shift of subjects in the conditional sentence, i.e. ‘If a man…, then you….’ The double discourse can not be avoided, but in some languages it may be clearer to shift the second one into an indirect form, e.g. ‘tells his father or his mother that what they would have gained from him….’

What you would have gained from me is Corban is variously translated, e.g. ‘that which I would have given to you is Corban’ (Copainalá Zoque), ‘I have now dedicated to God all I could have helped you with’ (Central Mazahua), ‘that which should really have been my help for you’ (Batak Toba), ‘what you could have gotten from me is Corban’ (Southern Subanen), ‘everything that is mine that could have helped you is Corban’ (Tabasco Chontal), ‘earlier I could have given you this gift, but I am not able to do this now, for it is Corban,’ a rather paraphrastic means of indicating a contrary-to-fact situation (Chicahuaxtla Triqui).

That is, given to God should be treated as parenthetical and introduced in the regular manner as all such explanatory additions, e.g. ‘as we say, I give it to God’ (Copainalá Zoque).

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 .