From Anointing to Arrest. Some Observations on the Composition of Mark... 21 words spoken by others than Jesus (see the second D-column of Chart 2) divide into 87 + 58 = 145 s., or (3 + 2) x 29 = 5 x 29 s. 12.3 Chart 2 also allows us to pay attention to the fact that in the last two scenes of the drama, Gethsemane and the arrest, the proportion of N(arrative) and D(iscourse) is almost that of the ‘golden mean’: for Mark 14:32-52 we find: N + D = 420 + 265 = 685 s.39 The size of Jesus’ Amen- sayings with their annexes, we remind ourselves, is also 265 s. The Arrest: Mark 14:43-52 13. In addition to the first section of Mark 14 we will also attempt a numerical analysis of the final episode, the account of the arrest of Jesus in Mark 14:43-52.40 13.1 In his last short speech, Mark 14:48-49, see Chart 1, # (14), Jesus addresses those who have come to arrest him. He reacts to what is happening partly in words that echo the narrative of the context (see Mark 14:43). The little speech is the highlight in Mark 14:43-52; it uses 56 syllables in 28 out of 140 words, as our Chart 841 documents. In this case it seems appropriate to start analizing the compostion from the number of its words. 39 Multiplying the terms 13, 21, 34 of Fibonacci’s sequence by twenty one finds: 260 + 420 = 680. 40 D. Dormeyer, ‘Joh 18.1-14 par Mk 14.43-53 ...’, NTS 41 (1995) 219-239, in his ‘Se- quenzenanalyse’ includes all of v. 53 as ‘(Sub)sequenze’ # 7, see p. 222. In our Charts 2, 8 and 9a and 9b one finds good reasons for accepting the current view that the division is at v. 52/53, rather than at v. 53/54. 41 In Mark 14:47 we read εἷς δέ τις ... , see above, n. 13. For a design based on an aliquot part of 28 words one could compare Mark 2:1-12, the healing of a paralytic. The debate with the scribes, § 3, uses 84 = 3 x 28 words; Jesus deals with the paralytic in § 2 and § 4, again 84 words. A little Chart: Mark 2:1-12: The Number of Words §1 2:1-2 12 + 16 = 28 2 3-5 46 3.1 6-8a 42 3.2 8b-10a 42 | 84 4 10b-12 38 | 84 | 196 words