The Greek and Hebrew terms that are often translated as “leprosy (or: defiling/skin disease)” or “leprous (person)” in English is translated in Mairasi as “the bad sickness,” since “leprosy is very common in the Mairasi area” (source: Enggavoter 2004).
Usila Chinantec “sickness like mal de pinta” (a skin disease involving discoloration by loss of pigment) (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
Hiligaynon: “dangerous skin disease” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “fearful skin disease” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “terrible rotting” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “myrrh” in English is translated as “bitter medicine” in Michoacán Nahuatl and as “myrrh perfume” in Tzotzil (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.).
In Mark 15:23, Usila Chinantec translates it as “the herb myrrh which is useful so that one not feel pain in his body.” (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
Myrrh is probably the most precious spice in the Bible. It was worth more than its weight in gold. Our experts agree that the Hebrew word mor refers to the resin of one of the Commiphora genus, either myrrha, abyssinica or schimperi, all of which grew in what is now Yemen, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Madagascar. Other kinds of myrrh may have come from India (Commiphora erythraea, Commiphora opobalsamum). A more difficult question is the meaning of the word deror in Exodus 30:23. In the other places where it occurs it means “freedom” or “liberty.” This is the basis for the word “liquid” in some versions, but there is no certainty that “free” means “liquid.” The fact that myrrh was sometimes mixed with wine may suggest that deror means “liquid” here, but on the other hand, the weight of the myrrh is given in dry measure rather than liquid measure, which argues against it.
The myrrh plant is a bush or shrub with thick thorny branches that project and bend at odd angles. The leaves come in sets of three. The fruit is oval like a plum. The wood and bark have a pleasant smell. The gum oozes naturally from the branches, though some harvesters incise the branches to increase the flow. The sap or gum is clear or yellowish brown when it comes out, but gets darker as it dries. The taste of the gum is bitter (note the similarity of mor to the Hebrew word mar meaning “bitter”). In markets the gum is often found mixed with that of the kataf bush (bisabol).
God prescribed myrrh as an ingredient of the holy anointing oil (Exodus 30:23), and it is used as perfume in Esther, Psalms, Proverbs, and eight times in Song of Songs. It was brought as an expensive gift by the Magi to the new King (Matthew 2:11). As Jesus was dying on the cross, sympathetic bystanders may have offered it to him mixed with wine (Mark 15:23; see the parallel account in Matthew 27:34). Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes to prepare Jesus’ body for burial (John 19:39). In ancient Egypt myrrh was burned on the altars of the sun god, and in Persia it was attached to the crowns of kings when they appeared in public. Romans burned myrrh at funerals and cremations, which helps to explain its inclusion in the list of spices in Revelation 18:13. Today it is used in perfumes, lotions, and even in toothpaste.
Varieties of myrrh grow in the Horn of Africa and Madagascar, so people from those areas should have no difficulty finding words for it. As to whether the myrrh in Exodus 30:23 was liquid or solid, there seems to be no consensus, and the translator may be forgiven for simply ignoring the Hebrew word deror . Possible transliterations are Hebrew mor, Arabic mar, French mireh, and Spanish/Portuguese mirra.
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 4:14:
Uma: “The planter(s), they are people who announce God’s Word.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “The person who broadcasted seeds,’ said Isa, ‘if explained, he is the man teaching/preaching the word/message of God to the people.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “In my parable, the meaning of the person’s planting is the spreading of the word of God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The meaning of the parable is this. The seeds that were sown, that is the word of God.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “This is the meaning of that one. That seed which was scattered is the word of God which is being taught.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Isthmus Mixe: “The sowing person he sowed the seed; thus it is also how God’s word is spread.”
Usila Chinantec: “The one who sows is like one who speaks the word of God.”
Chuj: “The man who sowed the seed, that means he spread forth the word of God.”
San Mateo Del Mar Huave: Then he began to tell them what he taught the story about. He said,Well, that sower there is like one who talks the word of God. (Here the transition to the explanation has been made explicit as required by San Mateo Del Mar Huave) (Source for this and three above: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.).
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 8:16:
Uma: “But they did not know the meaning of that riddle, so they began talking among themselves, they said: ‘The reason he said that is that we don’t have any bread.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “His disciples spoke-among-themselves about what he had said because they did not understand it. They said, ‘Perhaps that’s why he speaks like that, because we (incl.) didn’t take bread along.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “They didn’t understand that it wasn’t really for bread he was talking about. So they were talking together, they said, ‘The reason he says this is because we did not bring our supply of bread.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When he told them that, they talked-together saying, ‘Jesus said that because we have no bread for our pack-lunch.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When those disciples heard, they said-among-themselves, ‘He spoke like that because we don’t have any bread with us.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Usila Chinantec: “They asked each other why he had said this, and finally decided that it was because they had no bread.”
Michoacán Nahuatl: “Then they began to say to each other, He said this because we didn’t bring bread. They spoke thus because they did not know that Jesus was talking about the teaching of the Pharisees and of Herod.”
Tzotzil: “There they began to say among themselves, In all probability it is because he knows that we have not brought bread. The disciples said this among themselves because they did not realize what the yeast was that Jesus talked about, that it is like the teachings of the Pharisees and of Herod.” (Source for this and two above: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 9:49:
Uma: “According to the Law of Musa long ago, all food that is offered to God must be salted. So all every person must be made holy with suffering.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Isa said yet, ‘All people have to pass through fire, that means through difficulties, in order that their trust becomes strong.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Every disciple of mine shall be prepared by means of salt and fire, which is to say, by means of hardship, so that his faith might be strenghtened.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “‘All people, they must experience difficulties so-that their behavior becomes-good, like the food that must be salted so-that it is delicious.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “It’s true, there are hardships which will be experienced by all, which cause improvement of their ways/nature. For like the action of salt and fire, these hardships remove whatever is not good or is worthless.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Shuar: “If a person wants to give a meat killed gift to God, he is to salt it that it be good. So also people will taste/experience suffering like fire so that their heart may be good.”
Mezquital Otomi: “The animals long ago, those that were burned as gifts for God, it was necessary that salt be put on them as God had commanded. Also, you all are like those animals which are burned, because it is necessary that you pass through bad happenings.”
Tlahuitoltepec Mixe: “All of God’s people are going to suffer here on earth and when they thus do they will result much better. Thus we will imagine it like an animal sacrifice comes out much better when it is sacrificed with salt.”
Usila Chinantec: “Everyone will be made good through suffering, which feels like fire. All offerings to God are acceptable to him when they are salted.”
Mopán Maya: “Thus it was. They put salt on the animals they burn before God. It is the same with someone who is believing/obeying me. He will have tribulation [meet pain] so that that man will become good before God,”
Totontepec Mixe: “Everyone will have hearts like good salt when they have suffered here. This suffering is like fire. . .”
Sierra de Juárez Zapotec: “Everyone is going to be tried with suffering in this world.” (Source for this and six above: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): “This fire is as imperishable as salt. Everyone comes into contact with it. If it is not consumed, it is preserved.”
