Mark 10:40 (DRB)

Passage

But to sit on my right hand or on my left is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared.

Nearby Context

Mark 10:38 And Jesus said to them: You know not what you ask. Can you drink of the chalice that I drink of or be baptized with the baptism wherewith I am baptized?

Mark 10:39 But they said to him: We can. And Jesus saith to them: You shall indeed drink of the chalice that I drink of; and with the baptism wherewith I am baptized you shall be baptized.

Mark 10:40 But to sit on my right hand or on my left is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared.

Mark 10:41 And the ten, hearing it, began to be much displeased at James and John.

Mark 10:42 But Jesus calling them, saith to them: You know that they who seem to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them: and their princes have power over them.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "right", "hand", "left", "mine", "give", and "prepared". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "right" and "hand", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 39's "But they said to him We can..." into verse 41's "And the ten hearing it began to...", so "right" and "hand" belong inside that flow. In Mark context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "right" and "hand" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.