Gospel of Mark 1.12 · 1.12

<p><span class="gk">ἐκβάλλει</span> is present tense in a past narrative — Mark's habitual historic present, which every English version converts to past. It is the verb used of casting out demons, throwing people out of a synagogue, and expelling. Matthew and Luke both replace it with gentler verbs meaning "led up" and "was led."</p><p><span class="gk">ἔρημος</span> is an adjective meaning deserted or abandoned, used of people as often as places. Dodson gives it as "deserted, desolate, waste; hence: the desert … of a person: deserted, abandoned, desolate." The word is about absence of people, not sand.</p>

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