Punctuation:

The last three words of v. 18 kai ou mnēmoneuete ‘and do you not remember’ are joined directly to v. 19 (instead of being punctuated as a separate question, as done by Revised Standard Version) by the Greek texts of Tischendorf, Westcott and Hort, Nestle, Merk, Taylor, and Lagrange; by the Vulgate; and by the following modern translations: Goodspeed, Moffatt, Berkeley, Williams, Zürcher Bibel, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada.

Exegesis:

The first part of the verse reflects such O.T. passages as Jer. 5.21, Ezek. 12.2; there is probably a backward glance at 4.12 where Isa. 6.9, 10 is quoted as applying to those “outside,” as if to suggest that the verdict there pronounced on them is here being applied to the disciples who, apparently, could not see and could not hear. ‘You have eyes, have you not? Can you not see? You have ears, have you not? Can you not hear?’

ophthalmous (8.25; 9.47; 12.11; 14.40) ‘eyes.’

ōta (cf. 4.9) ‘ears.’

echontes ‘having’: the participle is concessive, ‘though you have eyes … though you have ears….’

mnēmoneuete (only here in Mark) ‘you remember,’ ‘recall,’ ‘recollect.’

Translation:

Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear may be adapted in some languages to a positive-negative contrast, e.g. ‘you have eyes, but do you not see; you have ears, but do you not hear?’ The answer to the question implies a ‘yes,’ but it is contextually conditioned in a rather subtle way, implying that they should, but they actually do not.

The separation of the last clause from the following verse 19, may result in a simpler syntactic arrangement, but the relationship seems considerably less meaningful.

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 .