The Seventh Commandment (image)

Painting by Wang Suda 王肅達 (1910-1963),
Copyright by the Catholic University Peking, China

Text under painting translated from Literary Chinese into English:
The Seventh Commandment
The holy woman washes the Lord, a wicked disciple chastises her

Image taken from Chinese Christian Posters . For more information on the “Ars Sacra Pekinensis” school of art, see this article , for other artworks of that school in TIPs, see here.

complete verse (John 12:7)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 12:7:

  • Uma: “Yesus said: ‘Leave her alone! What she is doing is thinking about / considering the day of my burial.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then Isa said, ‘Leave this woman alone. She has kept this fragrant oil for the day of my burial.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then Jesus said, ‘Leave Mary alone. Let her keep the remainder in order to annoint my body when I am buried.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Whereupon Jesus answered Judas and said, ‘Let-her -alone, because she has reserved/kept this perfume so that it-will-be-the-first (lit. precede) to be-applied-to (lit. oiled-on) my body for my burial.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Jesus answered him, saying, ‘Leave her alone. This which she is doing, it’s her preparing-ahead for when I will be buried.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Then Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone and don’t say anything. Because she was keeping the oil to anoint my body when I would be buried.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on John 12:7

In most translations the punctuation of this verse is similar to that of Good News Translation. That is, a break is made after Leave her alone, though it is possible on the basis of the Greek to punctuate otherwise. La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée is apparently the only modern translation that follows the alternative possibility: “Let her keep the perfume for the day of my burial.”

Let her keep what she has for the day of my burial may be interpreted in several different ways. (1) It is possible to understand the verb keep as meaning “keep in mind,” and so to translate “On the day of my burial, let her keep in mind what she has done.” (2) In Mark the parallel passage in 14.8 the meaning is obvious: “She did what she could; she poured perfume on my body to prepare it ahead of time for burial.” But it is not necessary to assume that the meaning here is the same as in Mark. If, however, the Markan meaning is seen in the present verse, then this verse may be translated “(Unknowingly) she has kept what she has done for the day of my burial.” (3) Finally, there are those who see in John a possible Aramaic origin for the Greek and so translate “Should she keep the perfume till the day of my burial?” None of these possibilities is wholly satisfactory. Arguments for an Aramaic origin are not conclusive; one cannot insist that John must have the same meaning that Mark has; and to take the verb keep in the sense of “to keep in mind” seems somewhat farfetched.

There is relatively little difficulty in translating Leave her alone! It can be rendered “Do not bother her” or “Do not make it difficult for her.” However, it is extremely difficult to know how to translate Let her keep what she has for the day of my burial, since, as already indicated, we really do not know what is meant by the Greek expression. None of the alternatives is completely satisfactory. It would be possible to translate this sentence “Let her keep what she has left so that she may use it on the day of my burial,” but this interpretation is out of keeping with the fact that Mary had already poured the ointment on Jesus’ feet. If the meaning “bear in mind” is followed, it may be possible to say “Let her bear in mind what she has done, since it was done in anticipation of the day when I would be buried.” However, it may be more satisfactory to translate in a relatively obscure way, since in the original text itself the statement is obscure, and the translator should not attempt to be clearer than the original text.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on John 12:7

12:7a

Leave her alone: This clause is a rebuke to Judas. Jesus did not want Judas to bother or trouble Mary. He told Judas to stop criticizing her. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

Do not bother/trouble her
-or-
Stop criticizing her

12:7b

She has kept this perfume in preparation for the day of My burial: The Greek more literally says “so that she may keep it for/until the day of my burial.” Most commentaries say that the Greek text leaves out words and leaves them implied. One possibility is to add the clause “she did not sell it.” For example:

⌊She did not sell it⌋ so that she might keep it for the day of my burial

The New International Version adds the phrase “It was intended.” This implies that the intention was God’s rather than Mary’s:

It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.

Here is a more literal translation that may provide an example:

She has kept it for the day of my burial (NET Bible Bible)

Your translation should indicate that Mary had kept (not sold) the perfume so that she could use it for Jesus’ burial. She may or may not have known that this was why she kept it, but God knew. And this was a good thing, and the reason that Judas should not criticize her.

the day of My burial: This phrase means “the day when I will be buried.” The Jewish custom was to anoint a dead body with perfume or nice-smelling oils before they placed it in a tomb. It was not the Jewish custom to bury a body in the ground. See the note on 11:17. Like Lazarus, Jesus was placed in a cave tomb, not buried in the ground. It may therefore be natural to say:

for the day/time when they/men will place me in my tomb

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