Image taken from the Wiedmann Bible. For more information about the images and ways to adopt them, see here .
For other images of Willy Wiedmann paintings in TIPs, see here.
For more information on the Wiedmann Bible and the Wiedmann Bible Foundation, see wiedmannbible.org.
The Greek that is translated as “Let anyone with ears to hear listen” or similar in English was translated in Costa Rican Sign Language as “If you want to understand, understand!” (See also Mark 4:1-9 in Mexican Sign Language and Mark 4:1-9 in Russian Sign Language.)
Elsa Tamez (in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 59ff. ) explains: “A literal translation of this verse: ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’ (Luke 8:8) is not appropriate for the Deaf community; it is difficult to understand and it can easily be misunderstood. Deaf people have ‘ears to hear’ but they cannot hear.”
In Tzotzil it is translated as “You all who with one heart want to learn, think about what I said,” in San Mateo Del Mar Huave as “Every one of you have heard this story. Now put it in your hearts,” in Gwichʼin as “He that will hear me, let him pay attention to me” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.), and in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) as Denkt gut darüber nach or “Think about it carefully.”
Willy Wiedmann rendered this phrase artistically in the following way:
Click here to see the image in higher resolution.
Image taken from the Wiedmann Bible. For more information about the images and ways to adopt them, see here .
For other images of Willy Wiedmann paintings in TIPs, see here.
Image taken from the Wiedmann Bible. For more information about the images and ways to adopt them, see here . For other images of Willy Wiedmann paintings in TIPs, see here.
Following is a contemporary tempera / gouache on leather painting by an unknown Ethiopian artist:
Source: Sacred Art Pilgrim website .
Following is a painting (“Annunciation”) by He Qi:
Image taken from He Qi Art . For purchasing prints of this and other artworks by He Qi go to heqiart.com . For other images of He Qi art works in TIPs, see here.
The German Good News Bible (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) (1st edition: 1968, latest edition: 2018) says this about the translation of the Greek expressions that in English are often translated as “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of heaven” respectively:
“An example for how a term evolved is the rendering of ‘heavenly kingdom’ or ‘kingdom of God.’ A verbatim translation will be misunderstood by most readers today: as if it talks about a kingdom that is located in heaven, when in reality it refers in the Bible to God being the ruler, to that area in which that rule has been realized and everything that human beings can expect because of that. Dependent on the context, the term is therefore translated differently in this present version: When it focuses on the presence of God’s kingdom it is rendered as ‘God establishes his rule’ (Gott richtet seine Herrschaft auf), when the focus is on the future it is translated as ‘Once God finalizes his creation (or ‘work’) . . . ‘ (Wenn Gott sein Werk vollendet . . .), and when the focus is on that finished creation it is ‘God’s new world’ (Gottes neue Welt).” (p. 299 — for a longer exposition, see Rudolf Kassühlke in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 236ff. )
The respective translation choice in that German translation:
Likewise in the Gurung translation the term was also, depending on context, rendered in four different ways:
(Source: Warren Glover in The Bible Translator 1978, p. 231ff. — here you can also find a comprehensive list of examples where which translation was applied.)
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages:
In Mairasi, a language “where people would rather say something in a new way than in an old way,” there are a number of translations, including “Great Above One’s (=God) rule,” “His power,” “His control,” or “His place of authority/power.” (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
In Q’anjob’al, the translators stumbled on an additional difficulty. Newberry and Kittie Cox (in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. ) explain: “‘The kingdom of God’ may be translated ‘where God supervises’ (or literally ‘guards’). However, in Mark 10:15 and Luke 18:17 it is not possible to speak of ‘receiving the kingdom of God,’ for this would imply that one simply takes over the responsibility for guarding God’s country while He rests. Accordingly, the translation is adapted to meet the cultural and linguistic requirements of the language by the form ‘receive God as king.’
In British Sign Language it is translation with a sign that combines the signs for “God” and “rule.” (Source: Anna Smith)
“Kingdom of God” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
The artist Willy Wiedmann envisioned Jesus foretelling the kingdom of God like this:
Click here to see the image in higher resolution. Image taken from the Wiedmann Bible. For more information about the images and ways to adopt them, see here . For other images of Willy Wiedmann paintings in TIPs, see here.
See also your kingdom come and kingdom of God (Japanese honorifics).
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven .