The Greek in John 20:11 that is translated as “As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) as (Maria) weinte bitterlich, von Kummer und Schmerz gebeugt or “(Mary) cried bitterly, bent over with grief and pain.”
Berger/Nord (p. 24) explain: “The open question with [the traditional] translations is why a woman who cries suddenly bends over so that she can see through the low-set opening of the tomb, deep into the interior of the tomb where the two angels sit. We know that the bent back was part of the mourning ritual of antique Judaism and therefore [the translation above] makes the connection between the mourning and seeing the angels anatomically understandable.”
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 .
Following is a 1973 painting of the JESUS MAFA project, a response to New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings was selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings:
Dramatically picturesque, this painting of John’s resurrection narrative captures the moment when Mary recognizes Jesus outside the tomb where he was meant to be lying. She has fallen to her knees in joy and worship as she reaches out to touch him. Jesus holds his arm to himself as he commands her not to hold onto him for he “has not yet ascended to the father.” Mary’s happiness is infectious and stirs in the viewer a similar delight in believing that death does not have the final word.
From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Image retrieved March 23, 2026. Original source: librairie-emmanuel.fr.
Following are a number of back-translations of John 20:11:
Uma: “But Maria Magdalena stood outside the grave, continually crying. While she was crying, she stooped down to peer into the grave.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But Mariyam kept standing there beside the grave weeping. While she was weeping she bent down and peeped into the grave.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But as for Mary, by contrast, she was still outside the cave crying. And as she cried, she squatted down peeking into the cave.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But Maria however, she was still standing by the cave crying. She was crying bending-face-down to peer-inside the cave.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But as for Maria, who had returned to the grave, she was still there standing at the outside of that place-buried-in, keeping on crying. She bent still crying and looked inside the grave.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “But Mary stood outside the cave crying. While she was crying, she stooped to look inside of the cave.” (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®).
In some languages such an expression as Mary stood crying must be expressed by paratactically combined verbs, for example, “Mary stood there; she was crying.” The phrase outside the tomb must be combined with standing rather than with crying. Accordingly one may translate “Mary was standing there just outside the tomb; she was crying.”
Outside the tomb is more literally “at/by/near the tomb outside,” which Jerusalem Bible renders “outside near the tomb;” New English Bible “at the tomb outside;” and Goodspeed and Phillips “just outside the tomb.” Barclay has “beside the tomb outside it.” The Greek preposition indicates proximity. This force is implicit in Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version, Moffatt, and others by the rendering “outside.” New American Bible has “beside the tomb.”
She bent over and looked in the tomb is more literally “she bent over into the tomb.” The verb “to look” is definitely implied, and a number of other translations make this information explicit (Revised Standard Version “she stooped to look into the tomb”; Jerusalem Bible “she stooped to look inside”).
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 .
This section tells how Mary Magdalene remained at the tomb after the two disciples left. She was crying and saw two angels inside the tomb. They asked her why she was crying and she said that someone had taken Jesus’ body. Then she turned around and saw Jesus, but she did not recognize him until he said her name. He told her not to hold him, but to go tell his disciples what she had seen, which she did.
Here are other possible section headings:
Mary Magdalene saw Jesus at the tomb -or-
Jesus’ first resurrection appearance -or-
Mary from Magdala was the first to see Jesus
Paragraph 20:11–13
Mary apparently followed the two disciples to the tomb and was crying there. When she looked into the tomb, she saw two angels who asked her why she was crying. She told them it was because someone had removed Jesus’ body and she did not know where it was.
20:11a
But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping: By this time Mary had returned to the tomb. She did not understand that Jesus had risen. She still thought someone had moved Jesus’ dead body somewhere else. So she was crying. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
but Mary stood outside the tomb crying (New International Version) -or-
But Mary wept as she stood outside the tomb.
The author does not mention Mary’s return to the tomb. He does not say if she came back to the tomb before or after the two disciples left. It some languages it may be necessary to make her return explicit. For example:
But Mary ⌊came and⌋ stood outside the tomb crying. -or-
But Mary, ⌊returning,⌋ stood outside the tomb and wept.
Mary: This name refers to Mary Magdalene, which John makes explicit in 20:18a. You may want to make explicit here which Mary John refers to. For example:
Mary Magdalene (Contemporary English Version)
20:11b
And as she wept, she bent down to look into the tomb: Mary continued weeping as she stood at the open entrance to the tomb. While she was weeping, she stooped (bent down) to look inside the tomb. Connect the three actions of weeping, bending, and looking in a way that is natural in your language. For example:
While she was still crying, she bent over and looked into the tomb. (Good News Translation) -or-
She was still weeping as she stooped and looked in. -or-
Mary stooped to look inside the tomb, crying as she did.
she bent down to look into the tomb: The opening of the tomb was small, so Mary had to bend down to look in. See the note at 20:5a, where the same verb describes how “the other disciple” also bent over to look inside the tomb. See how you translated the idea there. Like the other disciple, Mary not only bent over in order to look inside but actually did look inside. So it may be natural to use two independent verbs. For example:
she stooped and looked in (New Living Translation (2004))
Another way to translate this is to make look the main verb. For example:
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.