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 since Jesus knew that the Pharisees had realized that more people were following him, we left the district of Judea and we returned to the district of Galilee.”
Following are a number of back-translations of John 4:3:
Uma: “So, when Yesus knew that the Parisi people had heard that news, he went out from Yudea land returning to Galilea land.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When Isa knew about this talk, he left with his disciples from Yahudiya returning to the place Jalil.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The Pharisees heard the news that Jesus was making more disciples and Jesus was baptizing more people than John was; however Jesus himself wasn’t baptizing, but it was his disciples. And when Jesus also heard this news he left the province of Judea and he returned to the province of Galilee.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When plural Jesus came-to-know that that’s what the Pharisees had heard-reported, they left Judea in order to return to Galilea.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When Jesus knew that, he left Judea. He and his disciples went home to Galilea.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Knowing that it was known what he was doing, Jesus left Judea to go to Galilee.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The name that is transliterated as “Judah” or “Judea” in English (referring to the son of Jacob, the tribe, and the territory) is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “lion” (referring to Genesis 49:9 and Revelation 5:5). This sign for lion is reserved for regions and kingdoms. (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. and Steve Parkhurst)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, mukaw-are-ru (向かわれる) or “go/travel” is used.
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®).
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 .
In some languages it may be natural to start a new sentence here. If you do that, it would be good to supply a connecting word such as “so” or “then.” For example:
So he left Judea and returned to Galilee. (New Living Translation (2004))
He left Judea and returned to Galilee: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as returned is more literally “went away again.” Jesus left the province of Judea, where he had gone in 2:13, and started his journey back to Galilee. Galilee was a province that was north of Judea.
He: The Greek does not mention Jesus’ disciples here. In some languages it is more natural to mention his disciples here. For example:
When Jesus knew that, he ⌊and his disciples⌋ left Judea and went home again to Galilee.
returned to Galilee: Jesus began to journey north, from Judea in the south to Galilee further north. He and his disciples probably all walked. They did not complete their trip at this time. So in your translation you should not indicate that they reached Galilee.
Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
set out once more for Galilee (Revised English Bible) -or-
began to travel/walk back to Galilee -or-
headed for Galilee again
General Comment on 4:1–3
The first three verses are one sentence in Greek. In many languages it may be natural to have more than one sentence and put the clauses in a different order. You should order this information in the way that is most natural in your language. Several English translations reorder the ideas in these verses. For example:
News now reached the Pharisees that Jesus was winning and baptizing more disciples than John; although, in fact, it was his disciples who were baptizing, not Jesus himself. When Jesus heard this, he left Judaea and set out once more for Galilee. (Revised English Bible) -or-
The Pharisees heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more followers than John, although Jesus himself did not baptize people, but his followers did. Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard about him, so he left Judea and went back to Galilee. (New Century Version) -or-
Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John. (Actually, Jesus was not baptizing people. His disciples were.) So he left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee (God’s Word)
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.