In the Yatzachi Zapotec translation of the Gospel of John, any reference to the evangelist and presumed narrator is done in the first person.
The translator Inez Butler explains (in: Notes on Translation, September 1967, pp. 10ff.):
“In revising the Gospel of John in Yatzachi Zapotec we realized from the start that the third person references of Jesus to himself as Son of Man had to be converted into first person references, but only more recently have we decided that similar change is necessary in John’s references to himself as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’ As I worked on those changes and questioned the informant about his understanding of other passages in the Gospel, I discovered that the reader misses the whole focus of the book as an eyewitness account unless every reference to the disciples indicates the writer’s membership in the group. In view of that we went back through the entire book looking for ways to cue in the reader to the fact that John was an eyewitness and a participant in a many of the events, as well as the historian.
“When the disciples were participants in events along with Jesus, it was necessary to make explicit the fact that they accompanied him, although in the source language that is left implicit, since otherwise our rendering would imply that they were not present.”
In this verse, the Yatzachi Zapotec says: “And I stooped and looked into the grave, and I saw the clothes on the ground, but I did not enter.”
Note that the EnglishLiving Bible (publ. 1971) translates the same way.
Following are a number of back-translations of John 20:5:
Uma: “He stooped over to peer inside, but he did not enter. He saw that the cloth that Yesus was buried with was still there.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “He bent down and peeped inside and he saw the shroud of Isa there. But he did not go inside.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “He squatted down to peek into the cave. He saw the white cloth lying there but he did not go in.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “He bent-face-down to peer-inside, and he saw the cloth that had been wrapped-in-strips-around Jesus, but he didn’t enter.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “On his arrival he bent and peered inside. He saw that the cloths which had been used to wrap Jesus were indeed there, but he didn’t go inside.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “He stooped to look inside. He saw the cloth which had wrapped Jesus was lying there. But he didn’t go inside.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Flax Linum usitatissimum, from which linen cloth is made, was cultivated in the Middle East, including Canaan, at least as early as 5000 B.C. A document from Gezer (in Israel) from around King Saul’s time (1000 B.C.) refers to the cultivation of flax and states that flax and wool were the main materials for making cloth. According to Joshua 2:6, the Israelite spies were hidden under flax stalks by Rahab. Flax was grown extensively in Egypt and made into cloth and mats.
Pesheth and pishtah are probably the original Hebrew words for flax, if indeed the plant was domesticated in the Holy Land, as Zohary (Plants of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1982) proposes. They may be related to the word pashat, meaning “to strip off” or “to flay,” or to the word pasas, meaning “to disintegrate.” Pesheth and pishtah are used twenty times in the Old Testament, twice referring clearly to the plant itself (Exodus 9:31; Joshua 2:6). Other references are to the processed flax (Judges 15:14 et al.). A few cases refer to finished products, namely wicks (Isaiah 42:3 et al.), cords (Ezekiel 40:3), and items of clothing (Jeremiah 13:1 et al.).
It is likely that the Hebrews acquired the word shesh from the Egyptians during their sojourn in Egypt, since flax was cultivated there also. The Egyptian word for flax was shent (via shen-suten). Shesh is used thirty-eight times in the Old Testament: for the material that Pharaoh put on Joseph, for the Tabernacle curtains and hangings in Exodus, for the ephod, and for the priests’ tunics. The wise woman of Proverbs 31:22 wears it. In Ezekiel 16:10 et al. it is paired with silk, and in Ezekiel 27:7 “shesh from Egypt” is spoken of as material for the sails of ships.
Several references to linen use the Hebrew word bad. In Exodus 28:42 the priests’ underwear are made from bad, and it is used thereafter in Leviticus to describe various items of clothing—coat, breeches, girdle, and turban. It turns up again in Samuel’s and King David’s “ephods” and then again in Ezekiel and Daniel, where we see visions of “a man clothed in bad.”
Linen is referred by the Hebrew word buts in 1‑2 Chronicles, Esther, and Ezekiel, where the robes of the Temple choir, kings, and rich men are described.
The Old Testament has some references to the Hebrew word sadin (“linen garment”): Judges 14:12 (Samson promises them to his opponents), Proverbs 31:24 (the wise woman makes them), and Isaiah 3:23 (the rich women of Jerusalem wear them). The Septuagint uses the Greek word bussos or sindōn in these passages.
The Hebrew word ’etun occurs only in Proverbs 7:16, where it refers to a linen bedspread from Egypt.
In the New Testament there are three primary Greek words for linen: linon/linous, sindōn, and othonē/othonion. Linon is used to refer to garments of the angels in Revelation 15:6 as well as to the “smoldering wick” in Matthew 12:20. The synoptic Gospel writers refer to the linen cloth that Joseph and Nicodemus used to wrap Jesus’ body as a sindōn. Mark uses the same word to refer to the cloth that was worn by the unidentified young man at the time of Jesus’ arrest (Mark 14:51f.). John uses a different Greek word for Jesus’ burial cloths: othonion.
The rich man referred to in the Lazarus story (Luke 16:19) is clothed in “fine linen” (bussos). The Greek word bussos is the root word for bussinos, which refers to tunics, robes and turbans made from linen fabric (Revelation 18:12 et al.).
Flax is a little taller than a sesame plant, about a meter (3 feet) tall. Its leaves are narrow and the flowers are bright blue with five petals. The seed capsule contains oil that is used for cooking and also for thinning paint. After flax ripens, the plants are uprooted and the stalks are left to dry for a while. The stalks are then soaked, dried, and beaten to separate the fibers, which are then combed and woven into cloth.
Linen cloth was relatively costly in Israel, and being light and easy to dye it was highly valued. Their priests wore linen garments to combat sweating (see Ezekiel 44:18). They had to remove these holy garments when they left the Temple, “lest they communicate holiness to the people” (Ezekiel 44:19). The high esteem given to linen by the Jews is shown also by the fact that they used it for burying the dead, and we are told that the Dead Sea Scrolls were wrapped in linen cloths. However, the flax plant was special in other ways. The crushed stalks of flax plants were also used for making rope and lamp wicks. The seed was used for oil.
Today flax is raised more for the oil that comes from the seeds (called linseed oil) than for the fibers, although flax stalks are also made into special kinds of paper.
Metaphorical uses of flax are relatively few in the Bible, and all suggest the weakness of the material. In Judges 15:14 flax fiber is used as a simile for Samson’s fetters (they snapped like linen thread). Isaiah 42:3 says the Messiah will be gentle with weak people (“a dimly burning wick [pishtah] he will not quench”), in contrast to the typical iron-fisted tyrants of the day. Isaiah 43:17 describes the fate of the Babylonian enemies: they will be snuffed out “like a wick [pishtah].”
Linen cloth (or other cloth with a similar name) is surprisingly widespread. Cloth merchants in the translators’ area may know it under a trade language name, and if so, that can be used.In some places it is used only for burying people. In that case, if it is used in translation at all, the difference in culture should be explained in a footnote. Since linen is bleached white, a generic phrase such as “beautiful white cloth” can be considered in many places. In the three metaphorical passages mentioned above, an appropriate cultural image may be substituted, or an adverb expressing weakness or fragility.
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 Greek this verse continues the sentence begun in verse 4 (literally “and bending over…”). Care must be exercised in the translation of bent over, since it might be taken to mean “looked down at his feet” with the implication that the linen cloths were left in a pile outside the tomb. It may be necessary in some languages to translate “he stooped down and looked in and saw the linen cloths” or “he bent over to look in and saw the linen cloths.”
We are not told why the other disciple did not go in, and speculation is useless. This verse implies that there was now at least some daylight, otherwise the other disciple would not have been able to see the linen cloths (the same word discussed in 19.40) when he looked into the tomb.
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 .
He bent down: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as He bent down is more literally “having bent down.” It indicates that the disciple stooped (bent his upper body down). It implies that he did so in order to see inside the tomb.
He had to bend down because the opening of the cave was short, probably less than one meter (three feet) high. A person standing up could not see inside. In your translation, make it clear that the disciple looked inside the tomb, not down at the ground outside. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
He stooped (New Living Translation (2004)) -or-
He bent over (God’s Word)
and looked in at the linen cloths lying there: The Greek expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates as looked in at the linen cloths lying there here indicates that this disciple saw only the linen wrappings. They were lying by themselves, not wrapped around a body, and probably limp and collapsed. It is implied but not explicitly stated that there was no body inside. In some languages a literal translation may be enough to imply this. For example:
saw that the burial cloths were lying there
In other languages it may be clearer to make the implied information more explicit. For example:
saw ⌊just⌋ the linen wrappings lying there -or-
saw the linen wrappings lying there ⌊by themselves⌋
the linen cloths: The Berean Standard Bible translates the Greek phrase literally as the linen cloths. See how you translated this phrase in 19:40. It refers to the cloths that the Jews wrapped around a dead body at burial. The emphasis is on the use of these cloths, not on what they were made of. It may be more natural to just say what the cloths were used for. For example:
the burial cloths
linen: The word linen refers to a type of cloth made from a plant called flax. Linen was considered a good-quality cloth and was known for being white.
lying there: This phrase indicates that this disciple could see that the burial cloths remained in the tomb. They had been left behind, abandoned. The cloths were probably lying either on the ground or on the shelf where Jesus’ body had been. The text does not indicate exactly where they were. But in some languages it may be natural to say explicitly to what the word there refers. If that is so in your language, it is best to use a general expression. For example:
lying inside the tomb (Contemporary English Version) -or-
lying where ⌊Jesus’ body had been⌋
20:5c
but he did not go in: This disciple did not go into the tomb at this point. In some languages it may be natural to say what he did not enter. For example:
but he did not enter ⌊it⌋ -or-
but he did not go into/inside ⌊the cave/tomb⌋
Because he did enter a few minutes later, in some languages it may be more natural to say:
but he did not ⌊yet⌋ enter
but: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as but introduces a contrast. The contrast is between what we might expect the disciple to do (enter) and what he actually did (stay outside). Although he saw only the linen cloths, this second follower of Jesus did not go inside the burial cave.
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