Translation commentary on Mark 2:7

Exegesis:

ti ‘why?’: the question is thoroughly rhetorical: ‘Can it be that he thus blasphemes?’ i.e. ‘Why! He thus blasphemes!.’

houtos ‘this one’ is probably contemptuous (cf. Taylor) – perhaps something like ‘this fellow!’

lalei blasphēmei ‘he speaks, he blasphemes’ (disregarding punctuation): although most commentators and translations separate the two verbs, translating blasphēmei ‘he blasphemes,’ Black holds that we have here an example of an Aramaic construction in which the second verb has the force of an adverb, modifying the first one: “What is this man thus blasphemously saying?”

blasphēmei (3.28, 29; 15.29) ‘he blasphemes’; the verb in this passage contemplates God as the object of the blasphemy, ‘to speak impiously (of God),’ ‘to profane (God).’ As such, by O.T. law, it was punishable by death (Lev. 24.15, 16; 1 Kings 21.13).

tis dunatai … ei mē ‘who is able … except…?’: the scribes felt Jesus was usurping the right of God and actually forgiving sins, not simply declaring them to be forgiven, as Nathan did (2 Sam. 12.13).

heis ho theos ‘one, (even) God,’ ‘God alone’: it has been suggested that the phrase means, in accordance with Hebrew theology, ‘the One God.’

Translation:

It is blasphemy is much more conveniently translated as a verb expression, following the Greek text. In almost all languages there are adequate terms for such behavior, but they are quite diverse in form and cultural content: ‘speak evil of God’ (Huanuco Quechua), ‘to hurt God’ (Conob), ‘to break God’s name’ (Southern Bobo Madaré), ‘to spoil the name of God’ (Loma (Liberia)), ‘to insult God’ (Luvale), ‘to slander God’ (Pamona, Malay), ‘to defame God’ (Javanese), ‘to bring curses (or ‘calamitous words’) against God’ (Tae), and ‘to talk to pieces’ (Uab Meto). In some languages translators have introduced an expression here meaning ‘to make oneself equal with God,’ but this does not seem to be required by the context. It is the insulting of God, rather than the usurping of God’s prerogatives, which should be brought out by this second clause. The following sentence specifically indicates the degree to which Jesus was accused of usurping divine authority.

The elliptical expression but God alone, in combination with the preceding clause, must in some languages be expanded into a kind of paratactic expression, ‘Who can forgive sins? Only God can forgive sins.’

The direct discourse of this entire verse must in some languages be introduced more specifically with a verb of direct address, e.g. ‘saying to themselves’ or ‘asking themselves.’ Note that the meaning here is reflexive, not reciprocal, for they did not speak openly to one another but only questioned within their own hearts.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Mark 3:17

Text:

Instead of onoma ‘name,’ Textus Receptus, Tischendorf, Soden, Souter, Vogels, Lagrange, and Merk have onomata ‘names’; the singular is preferred by Nestle, Westcott and Hort, Taylor and Kilpatrick.

Exegesis:

Iakōbon ton tou Zebedaiou ‘James the son of Zebedee’ (cf. the same construction in 2.14).

Boanērges ‘Boanerges’: cf. Dalman for problems connected with the correct understanding of this proper name, and possible solutions.

huioi brontēs ‘sons of thunder’: the Semitic idiom means that the men thus named are characterized by a wrathful disposition, and so are like thunder (cf. same idiom 2.19 huioi numphōnos ‘sons of the bridegroom’s chamber’).

Translation:

For a discussion of the order of names and attributive expressions in James the son … of James, see 1.19. In this passage a frequently acceptable equivalent is ‘James and his younger brother John, both sons of Zebedee.’

Whom he surnamed Boanerges may be translated as ‘he also called them a second name Boanerges.’ This last term should be transliterated, following the principles of sound equivalence established for the handling of such infrequent proper names.

That is (reflecting Greek ho estin) is a kind of formula for ‘which means.’ The interpretation of such strange names in a language may need to be introduced as ‘which means in our language’ or ‘which tries to say.’

Sons of thunder, translated literally, has been misunderstood in a number of translations in which readers have assumed that Jesus was actually describing these men as the supernatural offspring of the local deity “Thunder” (the fact that the men had a stated human father seemed either noncontradictory, or as in one instance, Zebedee was taken to be the name of Thunder). In order that the reader may understand precisely what is the meaning of this Semitic idiom, many translations have used certain equivalent phrases, e.g. ‘men like thunder’ (San Mateo del Mar Huave, Navajo, Central Pame), ‘sons like thunder’ (Amganad Ifugao), and ‘men who are strong like thunder’ (Highland Puebla Nahuatl , Highland Oaxaca Chontal). In some languages one may find that the phrase ‘sons of thunder’ is already in use in a very specialized meaning. For example, in Chicahuaxtla Triqui the expression is the name of a small toad, so named after an ancient pagan rain god. However, by changing the phrase somewhat by the introduction of ‘noise,’ the proper referent was understood, e.g. ‘sons of the noise of thunder.’

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Mark 4:26 – 4:27

Exegesis:

hōs … balē ‘as though he might throw.’

ballō (cf. 2.22) ‘throw’: here used of scattering seed upon the ground in the process of sowing (cf. 4.3).

sporon (4.26, 27) ‘seed’: used as a synonym for sperma ‘seed’ (4.31).

kai katheudē kai egeirētai ‘and he should sleep and rise’: notice the two present tenses here in contrast with the aorist balē ‘throw.’ ‘Sleep and rise night and day’ means ‘sleep at night and rise by day’ (cf. Moffatt) i.e. the normal routine of daily activities: cf. Lagrange sa vie tranquille.

katheudō (4.38; 5.39; 13.36; 14.37, 40, 41) ‘sleep.’

egeirō ‘rise’: here, rise from sleep (cf. 1.31).

blasta (only here in Mark) ‘it sprouts,’ ‘it buds.’

mēkunētai (only here in Mark) ‘it becomes long’ (from mēkos ‘length’), ‘it grows.’

hōs ouk oiden autos ‘he doesn’t know how’: i.e. the man does not know how this process of germination and growth of the seed he planted takes place.

Translation:

For kingdom of God see 1.15 and 4.11.

Is as if introduces a difficult grammatical construction, which requires some expansion in some languages, e.g. ‘This is how God rules; it is as a man who…’ (Copainalá Zoque).

For scatter seed in the sense of ‘sowing’ see 4.3.

Ground should be ‘prepared soil’ or some other expression denoting the ground for planting, not just thrown on the ground indiscriminately.

The generic seed must often be translated as plural ‘seeds’ or ‘grains’ (Tabasco Chontal).

If one translates literally sleep and rise night and day it may mean as in one language that the person is constantly disturbed night and day while he is sleeping. Many languages require that the sleeping and rising be properly paired with the night and day, e.g. ‘sleep in the night and rise in the day’ (Central Mazahua, Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Chicahuaxtla Triqui, Southern Subanen, Southern Bobo Madaré). However, in some languages one must shift the order of ‘night and day’ to ‘day and night,’ since the ordinary way of speaking of such succession is first to mention the day and then the night (Tetelcingo Nahuatl).

He does not know how must in some instances be expanded because of the implied ellipsis following how, e.g. ‘he does not know this happens’ (or ‘how they grow’), referring to the germination and growing process (Barrow Eskimo; cf. Toraja-Sa’dan and Indonesian ‘but he does not know how the growth goes’).

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Mark 6:1

Exegesis:

eis tēn patrida autou ‘to his own native place’: rather than the generalized sense of ‘fatherland,’ ‘country’ (Revised Standard Version), the word patris (6.4) has here the more specialized meaning of ‘home town.’ The town of Nazareth is meant (cf. 1.9, 24).

akolouthousin (cf. 1.18) ‘they follow,’ ‘they accompany’: in the physical sense of going along with, not the specialized sense of ‘follow as a disciple.’

Translation:

His own country must be translated in the sense of ‘region (or ‘place’) in which he lived,’ not ‘the land which he owned,’ as is sometimes the case in poor translations. Cf. ‘the town where he grew up’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), ‘the town from which he came’ (Javanese).

For disciples, see 2.15, and for follow see 1.17.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Mark 6:42 – 6:43

Text:

In v. 43 instead of kophinōn plērōmata ‘basketfuls’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has kophinous plēreis ‘baskets full.’

Exegesis:

echortasthēsan (7.27; 8.4, 8) ‘they were fed,’ ‘they were filled,’ ‘they were satisfied.’

kai ēran klasmata dōdeka kophinōn plērōmata ‘and they took up (the) broken pieces, twelve basketfuls.’ While it is possible that the subject of ‘they took up’ is the disciples, it is more probable that the verb is used impersonally, meaning simply ‘twelve basketfuls were taken up.’

klasma (8.8, 19, 20) ‘fragment,’ ‘broken piece’: it should be made clear in translation that these were pieces that remained uneaten, not crumbs that were dropped in eating.

dōdeka kophinōn plērōmata literally ‘twelve fillings of baskets,’ ‘twelve basketfuls’: plērōma is ‘that which fills,’ ‘complement’ (cf. 2.21), and the phrase here indicates the amount (in terms of capacity) of broken pieces of bread which remained. The strict meaning is rather ‘twelve basketfuls’ than ‘twelve baskets full of….’

kophinos (8.19) ‘basket’: a stiff wicker basket in which the Jews carried provisions. There is no agreement as to the precise size, nor does it seem that difference in size is what distinguished it from the spuris ‘basket’ of 8.8. It appears that spuris was a flexible mat-basket, made of rushes, perhaps, especially used by fishermen for carrying fish or food generally.

kai apo tōn ichthuōn ‘and of the fish,’ i.e. ‘and some of the fish’ (Translator’s New Testament): for this same kind of construction cf. 5.35 (cf. Arndt & Gingrich: ‘the remnants of the fish’).

Translation:

They all would evidently refer not only to the people but to the disciples and Jesus. One may translate ‘everyone ate.’

When the receptor language demands an active construction, specifying who took up the fragments, it is probably justifiable to use ‘the disciples took up.’ They did not pick up the food from the ground, and hence one may translate as in some languages ‘received back from the people pieces of bread and fish, enough to fill twelve baskets.’

Though the Greek word for ‘basket’ kophinos does not indicate the specific size of the container involved, it is entirely legitimate to select in the receptor language a term which would identify a relatively large basket, the type of container that might be carried by people who were out gathering supplies in the fields or who used the baskets for transporting produce.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Mark 7:23

Exegesis:

ponēra (as an adjective only here and in v. 22; cf. the noun ponēriai in v. 22) ‘wicked,’ ‘evil.’

Translation:

The translation of this verse, as regards the form of things come from … must, of course, follow the pattern of the first part of verse 21. Accordingly, one may need to translate this as ‘because of what is within a person he does all these bad deeds.’

For defile see 7.15.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Mark 8:20

Exegesis:

This question refers to the second feeding of the multitude, narrated in 8.6-9.

hote tous hepta literally ‘when the seven’: as the previous verse shows, this is the concise way of saying, ‘When I broke the seven loaves….’

posōn spuridōn plērōmata klasmatōn ērate; ‘how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?’ The meaning of the question is perfectly obvious but the details of the grammatical relations of the words in Greek should not be overlooked. The verb ērate ‘you took up’ has for its direct object posōn spuridōn plērōmata literally ‘the fillings of how many baskets,’ ‘how many basketfuls’ (cf. 6.43 for identical construction, and for the meaning of plērōma ‘filling,’ ‘complement’); klasmatōn ‘of broken pieces’ is another genitive which indicates the nature of ‘basketfuls,’ i.e. ‘basketfuls of broken pieces.’

spuris (cf. 8.9) ‘basket.’

Translation:

The key words in this verse should be related to those terms used in 8.6-9.

The seven for the four thousand is a highly elliptical expression, quite regularly employed in many languages, but impossible in others. The expansion may require ‘when seven loaves were given to be eaten by the four thousand people’ (Southern Subanen), or ‘when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand people,’ in order to preserve more parallelism with the preceding verse.

Said to him may be ‘answered him.’

Seven may require expansion to ‘seven baskets’ or ‘we took up seven baskets.’

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Mark 9:14

Text:

Instead of elthontes … eidon ‘they came and saw’ of the majority of editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus, Soden and Vogels have elthōn … eiden ‘he came and saw.’

Exegesis:

All the words of this verse have already been dealt with: for ochlos polus ‘a great crowd’ cf. 5.24; grammateis ‘scribes’ cf. 1.22; suzēteō ‘disputes’ cf. 1.27.

Translation:

The they of this verse is the same as the first they of verse 9. However, in order to make the reference clear one must in some cases translate the disciples as ‘the other disciples,’ since Peter, James, and John had accompanied Jesus.

A great crowd around them may be rendered as ‘a great many people gathered around them’ (referring to the other disciples, not to Jesus and those accompanying him).

For scribes see 1.22.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .