Beginnings
GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomy
Judges
JoshuaJudgesRuth
Kingdoms
1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings
Chronicles
1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEsther
Poetry
JobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of Solomon
Prophets
IsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDaniel
Minor Prophets
HoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicah
NahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachi
Messiah
MatthewMarkLukeJohnActs
Paul's Letters
Romans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians
1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrews
General Letters
James1 Peter2 Peter1 John
2 John3 JohnJude
Revelation
Revelation
Kept for this visit
Notes, starred verses and bookmarks kept while signed out last until this visit ends. Create a free account and everything you keep here moves into it, saved for good.
Create an account Sign in

People of the Bible

John Mark

also called Marcus

Family

Mother
Mary (Mother of John Mark)

In the story

A dot is a moment; a bar is something that lasted, drawn to its length.

  • First Missionary Journey · 45 AD
  • First missionary journey begins · 45 AD
  • Barnabas and Saul go to Cyprus · 45 AD
  • Mission to Antioch in Pisidia · 45 AD
  • Second Missionary Journey · 46 AD
  • Paul and Barnabas part ways · 47 AD

Easton’s Bible Dictionary

The evangelist; “John whose surname was Mark” (Acts 12:12, 25). Mark (Marcus, Col. 4:10, etc.) was his Roman name, which gradually came to supersede his Jewish name John. He is called John in Acts 13:5, 13, and Mark in 15:39, 2 Tim. 4:11, etc.

He was the son of Mary, a woman apparently of some means and influence, and was probably born in Jerusalem, where his mother resided (Acts 12:12). Of his father we know nothing. He was cousin of Barnabas (Col. 4:10). It was in his mother’s house that Peter found “many gathered together praying” when he was released from prison; and it is probable that it was here that he was converted by Peter, who calls him his “son” (1 Pet. 5:13). It is probable that the “young man” spoken of in Mark 14:51, 52 was Mark himself. He is first mentioned in Acts 12:25. He went with Paul and Barnabas on their first journey (about A.D. 47) as their “minister,” but from some cause turned back when they reached Perga in Pamphylia (Acts 12:25; 13:13). Three years afterwards a “sharp contention” arose between Paul and Barnabas (15:36-40), because Paul would not take Mark with him. He, however, was evidently at length reconciled to the apostle, for he was with him in his first imprisonment at Rome (Col. 4:10; Philemon 1:24). At a later period he was with Peter in Babylon (1 Pet. 5:13), then, and for some centuries afterwards, one of the chief seats of Jewish learning; and he was with Timothy in Ephesus when Paul wrote him during his second imprisonment (2 Tim. 4:11). He then disappears from view.

From M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary (1893), in the public domain.

Named in 10 verses

Acts
12:12, 12:25, 13:5, 13:13, 15:37, 15:39
Colossians
4:10
2 Timothy
4:11
Philemon
1:24
1 Peter
5:13

The family, dates and events on this page come from Theographic, a knowledge graph of the Bible by Robert Rouse, used and shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. It is a work in progress, and its dates follow one reconstruction of biblical chronology among several. The dictionary article above is separately in the public domain.