Mark 6:11

And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) Whosoever shall not receive you.—The better MSS. give, “whatsoever place shall not receive you.” (See Note on Matthew 10:14.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:7-13 Though the apostles were conscious to themselves of great weakness, and expected no wordly advantage, yet, in obedience to their Master, and in dependence upon his strength, they went out. They did not amuse people with curious matters, but told them they must repent of their sins, and turn to God. The servants of Christ may hope to turn many from darkness unto God, and to heal souls by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See these verses fully explained in the notes at Matthew 10:9-15. In Matthew 10:5 they were commanded not to go among the Gentiles or Samaritans. Mark omits that direction, perhaps, because he was writing for the "Gentiles," and the direction might create unnecessary difficulty or offence. Perhaps he omits it also because the command was given for a temporary purpose, and was not in force at the time of his writing.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Mr 6:7-13. Mission of the Twelve Apostles. ( = Mt 10:1, 5-15; Lu 9:1-6).

See on [1440]Mt 10:1; [1441]Mt 10:5-15.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Mark 6:10"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And, whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you,.... Who would neither take them into their houses, nor hear what they had to say to them:

when ye depart thence; from the house or the city, or town, in which it is,

shake off the dust under your feet, for a testimony against them; that they had been with them, and attempted to preach the Gospel to them, but they despised and rejected it; wherefore they departed from them as an unworthy people, against whom the dust of their feet would rise as a testimony, in the day of judgment; See Gill on Matthew 10:14.

Verily, I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. This clause is omitted in some copies, and so it is in the Vulgate Latin version, and may perhaps be transcribed from Mat_. 10:15; see Gill on Matthew 10:15; though it is in most copies, and is read in the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions. It is certain that there will be a day of judgment; it is fixed, God has appointed it, though it is not known by men or angels: this will be universal; all must appear in it before God, the judge of all, Jews and Gentiles; such who have lived in the earlier ages of time, as well as those that will live nearer that day; such who have only had the dim light of nature to guide them, and also who have been favoured with the Gospel revelation: the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha, though they have had the judgments of God upon them in this world, they will not escape the righteous judgment of God hereafter; things are not over with them, there is still a reckoning to be made, an account to pass with them; their full punishment is not yet executed, even though they have been suffering the vengeance of eternal fire; their bodies must be raised, and they must receive for the things which they have done in them, and which they have so dreadfully and unnaturally abused; and yet, as vile sinners as they have been, and as sore a punishment as they are worthy of, their punishment will be milder and more tolerable, than that of the inhabitants of such places, where the Gospel has been preached, and they have despised and rejected it. May the inhabitants of our land, especially of some parts of it, as of London, and others, consider this!

Geneva Study Bible

{4} And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

(4) The Lord severely avenges evil done to his servants.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 6:11. καὶ ὃς ἆν τ.… ὑμῶν; another instance of inconsequent construction beginning with a relative clause and passing into a conditional one = and whatever place does not receive you, if (ἐάν understood) they, its people, do not listen to you (so Schanz and Weiss in Meyer).—ὑποκάτω, the dust that is under your feet, instead of ἐκ and ἀπὸ in Matthew and Luke. The dust of their roads adhering to your feet, shake it off and leave it behind you. Mark 6:12-13 report the carrying out of the mission by the Twelve through preaching and healing.—ἵνα μετανοῶσιν: the burden of their preaching was, Repent. Luke has the more evangelic term, εὐαγγελιζόμενοι. The other aspect of their ministry is summed up in the expulsion of many demons, and the cure of many suffering from minor ailments, ἀρρώστους (cf. Mark 6:5). In Mark’s account the powers of the Twelve appear much more restricted than in Matthew (cf. Mark 10:8). The use of oil in healing (ἐλαίῳ) is to be noted. Some have regarded this as a mark of late date (Baur). Others (Weiss, Schanz) view it as a primitive practice (vide Jam 5:14). Many conjectural opinions have been expressed as to the function or significance of the oil. According to Lightfoot and Schöttgen it was much used at the time by physicians.

The instructions to the Twelve present an interesting problem in criticism and comparative exegesis. It is not improbable that two versions of these existed and have been drawn upon by the synoptists, one in the Logia of Matthew, reproduced, Weiss thinks, substantially in Luke 10 (mission of Seventy), the other in Mark 6, used (Weiss) in Luke 9:1-6. Matthew, according to the same critic, mixes the two. Similarly Holtzmann, who, however, differs from Weiss in thinking the two versions entirely independent. Weiss reconstructs the original version of the Logia thus:—

1Matthew 9:38 = Luke 10:2, prayer for labourers.

2Luke 10:3 = go forth, I send you as lambs among wolves.

3Matthew 10:5-6, go not to Samaria, but to Israel only.

4Luke 10:4-11, detailed instructions.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. the dust under your feet] For instances of the carrying out of this command, compare the conduct of St Paul at Antioch in Pisidia, Acts 13:51, and at Corinth, Acts 18:6. The action must be regarded as symbolical of a complete cessation of all fellowship, and a renunciation of all further responsibility. It was customary with Pharisees when they entered Judæa from a Gentile land, to do this in token of renunciation of all communion with heathenism; those who rejected the Apostolic message were to be looked upon as those who placed themselves beyond the pale of fellowship and communion.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - Shake off the dust (τὸν χοῦν) literally, the soil - that is under your feet. St. Matthew and St. Luke use the word (κονιορτὸν) "dust." A very significant action. The dust was shaken off as an evidence of the toil and labour of the apostles in journeying to them. It witnessed that they had entered the city and had delivered message, and that their message had been refused. The very dust, therefore, of the place was a defilement to them. "It shall be more tolerable," etc. This clause is omitted by the best authorities; it was probably copied from St. Matthew. Mark 6:11