The term that is transliterated as “Mary Magdalene” in English is translated in American Sign Language with a sign signifying 7 demons having gone out, referring to Luke 8:2. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Mary Magdalene” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
The following is a stained glass window in the All Saints’ Church, Highgate, London, of the late 19thy century:
Photo by John Salmon, hosted by Wikimedia Common under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )
Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
For purchasing artworks by Kateryna Shadrina go to IconArt Gallery .
In Gbaya, the notion of early morning is emphasized with the ideophone sút as in the referenced verses.
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
The following is a stained glass window from 1855 by artist H. Beiler over the altar of the Evangelische Stadtkirche Bad Rappenau, Bad Rappenau, Germany:
Photo by Llez, hosted by Wikimedia Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )
Following are a number of back-translations of John 20:1:
Uma: “On Sunday early in the morning, still dark, Maria Magdalena went to the grave. Arriving there, she saw, the closing stone was shoved from the door of the grave.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Very early on Sunday, it was still dark, Mariyam, the woman from Magdala went to the grave. She saw that the stone that closed the grave had been removed.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “When it was beginning to get light on Sunday, Mary Magdalene went to the burial cave while it was still dark. She saw that the stone which was used ss a door for the cave had been removed.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Before its getting-light on Sunday, plural Maria Magdalena went to Jesus’ burial-place. When they arrived, they saw that the stone was removed which had closed (lit. doored) the cave.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “It was still a bit dark on the Sunday when Maria Magdalena went there to that grave of Jesus. On her arrival, she looked, that rock which had been used to block off the mouth of the grave had been removed.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “On the first day of the week, early, Mary Magdalene went to where Jesus was put in (the cave). It was still dark. She saw that the stone which closed the cave was not in place.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
Early … morning translates the same Greek adverb rendered early in the morning at 18.28. On Sunday (so also Barclay; New English Bible “on the Sunday”) is literally “on the first day of the week” (so most translations); Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “on the day after the Sabbath.” “The first day of the week” is Sunday, and Good News Translation, New English Bible, and Barclay make this information explicit. The entire phrase Early on Sunday morning could include all or part of the period from around three A.M. to around six A.M. (see note at 18.28). John further qualifies the time as while it was still dark. Mark has “very early on Sunday morning, at sunrise” (16.2), and Luke has “very early on Sunday morning” (24.1), a term which implies daylight. Matthew also indicates that it was daylight, “after the Sabbath, as Sunday morning was dawning” (28.1).
Although the Greek word sabbatōn occurs in this verse, its plural form has the meaning “week” and not “sabbath.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch‘s “after the Sabbath” has the difficulty that for many Christians “the sabbath” is erroneously identified with Sunday, rather than with Saturday. A literal translation of the Greek phrase, “the first day of the week,” could be misleading, since for many people Monday is the first day of the week, and Sunday is part of the “weekend.” Therefore, it is usually better to identify the particular day of the week, rather than to use a possibly ambiguous expression.
Mary Magdalene was first mentioned in 19.25 (see comments there). The number and names of the women who go to the tomb differ in the various Gospel accounts. Matthew names two women, and Mark three. Luke mentions three women by name and includes in addition “the other women.” In each case Mary Magdalene is mentioned first.
John does not suggest why the women went to the tomb, but Mark and Luke indicate that they were going to anoint Jesus’ body, while Matthew states that they went to see the tomb.
Although (Mark 15.46) and (Matthew 27.60) indicate that a large stone was rolled against the entrance to the tomb after the burial of Jesus, 20.1 is the first mention of the stone in John’s Gospel. John does not indicate how the stone had been taken away, but the implication is that it was done by supernatural means.
Since the stone has not been mentioned earlier in John’s Gospel, there may be some difficulty in translating the phrase literally. The final clause of this verse may therefore be modified to read “that a stone which had been at the entrance to the tomb had been taken away” or “… had been moved.” In some languages the passive expression “had been moved” may cause difficulty because it may be necessary to indicate an agent, and no agent is mentioned in the text. Therefore it may be best to say simply that the stone “was no longer there.”
From the entrance (so also New English Bible) is literally “from the tomb” (so most translations). The results of archaeological studies indicate that the entrance to burial tombs of this type was on ground level through a small entryway, usually no more than three feet (or one meter) high. Hence, to enter the tomb, an adult would have to bend over and crawl in (note verse 5: He bent over). The entrance may be expressed in some languages as “the hole that led into the tomb” or “the hole by which a person could go into the tomb.” The use of such a term as “hole” may be necessary to indicate that the tomb was entered by a small opening, rather than an ordinary door.
Several different types of tombs were in use in Palestine in Jesus’ day. Verse 12 (two angels … sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head and the other at the feet) suggests that Jesus’ body had lain in a niche carved in one of the sides of the cave. Under no circumstances was the body laid on the floor.
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 .
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