Mark 3:17

James the son of Zebedee; and John, the brother of James, (whom he called Boanerges, which means, Sons of Thunder);

World English Bible
Learn

Your notes

Private to you. Anything you write on this verse, here or while reading, shows up here and in My study.

Other translations

WEBBE

James the son of Zebedee; and John, the brother of James, (whom he called Boanerges, which means, Sons of Thunder);

BSB

James son of Zebedee and his brother John ( whom He named Boanerges, meaning “Sons of Thunder”),

KJV

And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder:

ASV

and James the [son] of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and them he surnamed Boanerges, which is, Sons of thunder:

BBE

And to James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, he gave the second name of Boanerges, which is, Sons of thunder:

Original Greek

Look up a word

Tap a word to see what it means and everywhere else it's used.

The early church

(Vict. Ant. e Cat. in Marc.) He calls the sons of Zebedee by this name, because they were to spread over the world the mighty and illustrious decrees of the Godhead.
Pseudo-Chrysostom · d. 500Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)
James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother. Namely, James who has supplanted all the desires of the flesh, and John, who received by grace what others held by labour. There follows: And he surnamed them, Boanerges. (Gen. 27:36. v. Aur. Cat. in Matt. 10:2) Or by this the lofty merit of the three mentioned above is shown, who merited to hear in the mountain the thunders of the Father, when he proclaimed in thunder through a cloud concerning the Son, This is my beloved Son; that they also through the cloud of the flesh and the fire of the word1, (Matt. 17:1) might as it were scatter the thunderbolts in rain on the earth, since the Lord turned the thunderbolts into rain, so that mercy extinguishes what judgment sets on fire.
Pseudo-Jerome · d. 9999Catena Aurea (Aquinas, 1274)

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verses 13–21

Christ calls whom he will; for his grace is his own. He had called the apostles to separate themselves from the crowd, and they came unto him. He now gave them power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils. May the Lord send forth more and more of those who have been with him, and have learned of him to preach his gospel, to be instruments in his blessed work. Those whose hearts are enlarged in the work of God, can easily bear with what is inconvenient to themselves, and will rather lose a meal than an opportunity of doing good. Those who go on with zeal in the work of God, must expect hinderances, both from the hatred of enemies, and mistaken affections of friends, and need to guard against both.

Read Matthew Henry on Mark 3 →

Parallel passages

3

The same words or events elsewhere.

Cross-references

12

People & places

Topics

Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Hebrew and Greek data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. Library: sources.