476 Gustavo Martin Ezekiel and elsewhere. Lastly, the clouds are a theophanic symbol in the Hebrew scriptures, and it seems far more natural for the clause in Dan 7,13 to be describing God’s abode, rather than the fashion of the one like a son of man’s coming. In light of this, it is curious, argues Scott, that in the New Testament quotations of this passage, the order of the clause is altered, to make ejn nefevlai" qualify the manner of the Son of Man’s coming, affirming as well that his coming is seen by humans on earth. In the Christian context, therefore, we no longer have the visionary setting in which God’s heavenly abode is opened up to the seer ’s view. Instead, the Son of Man is now seen coming with the clouds to earth. The change in clause structure effectively emphasizes this new perspective in the New Testament context. Thus, Mark is indeed using the Daniel passage, but he rewrites it in order to apply it to the Son of Man’s future coming to earth, to vindicate and gather the elect. As we saw in the analysis of the previous section, in v. 20, Mark is emphasizing that the elect are God’s: “But on behalf of the elect, which He chose, [the Lord] shortened the days.” In v. 27, however, the elect are the Son of Man’s elect (62), and the manner of his coming to gather them is depicted in the language of theophany(63), the coming or appearing of God Himself upon the cloud on behalf of His people, as in Ex 34,5 (64). Downward coming is in fact the natural reading of our text in the context of the section and the entire chapter. For the determination of the referent of “they will see” in v. 26, Pesch suggested we should turn to the trial scene of 14,62 and allow that passage to shed light on 13,26. The subject thus ought to be understood, argues Pesch, as the opponents of Jesus and his word (65). This is also Hatina’s view (66). But the aspect of judgment or condemna- (62) The possessive pronoun aujtou' is omitted by D, L, W, and others, but the reading which includes the possessive is generally acknowledged to be the original one. (63) BEASLEY-MURRAY (Last Days, 430) affirms: “A theophany is always from heaven to the world of humankind…the representative of heaven comes from heaven to accomplish God’s purpose in the world”. See also E. ADAMS, The Stars will Fall from Heaven (LNTS 347; New York 2007) 151. See also SCOTT, “Behold”, 132; CARAGOUNIS, Vision and Interpretation, 74; J. LUZARRAGA, Las tradiciones de la Nube en la Biblia y en el Judáismo primitivo (AnBib 54; Rome 1973) 220. (64) In this reference, the theophany is a coming down of YHWH upon the cloud (katebh). v (65) PESCH, Naherwartungen, 168. (66) HATINA, “Who”, 24-27. The sharp distinction between insiders and “bystanders” Hatina sees in Mark 8,38–9,1 does not take into account that Jesus’