Charles Ellicott Commentary Mark 9:36

"And he took a little child, and set him in the midst of them: and taking him in his arms, he said unto them," — Mark 9:36 (ASV)

When he had taken him in his arms.—The act is expressed in the Greek by a single participle which occurs only here and in Mark 10:16. It may mean either that the child was taken up in our Lord’s arms, or that the arms were folded round him. The latter is somewhat the more probable.