Mark 1:29-34 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 1:29-34 into Mexican Sign Language with back-translations into Spanish and English underneath:


© La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)

Cuando terminaron en el templo, Simón y Andrés fueron a su casa acompañados por Jesús, Jacobo y Juan.

La gente dijo a Jesús que la suegra de Simón estaba inferma con fievre, acostada en la cama.

Jesús caminó hacia ella y vio la mujer acostada, la tomó de las manos y la mujer acostada se levantó y estaba sana, aliviada, y empezó atenderlos y tratarlos.

Después en la noche todas las personas del pueblo con diferentes enfermedades y personas que tenían adentro demonios fueron llevados a la casa por la gente.

Jesús salió y vio las personas enfermas y puso las manos sobre uno y sanó, se alivió, puso las manos sobre otro y sanó, y siguió poniendo las manos sobre ellos.

Jesús vio las personas que tenían demonios (y pensó): Me conocen, mejor antes expulsar a todos. Y los demonios se asustaban y salían de las personas y se iban.


When they were done in the religious building Simon and Andrew went to their house accompanied by Jesus, James and John.

The people told Jesus that the mother-in-law of Simon was ill, she was lying in bed with a fever.

Jesus walked over and saw the woman lying down, he took her by the hand and the woman lying down got up and was well, healthy, and she started attending to them and caring for them.

Afterwards, at night all the people in the village with different illnesses and people that had demons inside them were all taken over to the house by people.

Jesus came out and looked around at the ill people and he layed his hands on one and he got healed, he lay his hands on another and he got healed, and he kept laying his hands on people.

Jesus saw the people that had demons inside (and he thought): They know me, better throw them out beforehand. And the demons took fright and went out of the people and left.

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

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Mark 1:35-39 in Mexican Sign Language >>

complete verse (Mark 1:34)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 1:34:

  • Uma: “There were many people whom he healed of their many kinds of sicknesses. Also many demons that were possessing people he expelled. But he did not permit the demons to speak, because they knew that he was the Child of God.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Many people who had all kinds of sickness were healed by Isa and also many demons were cast-out (lit. caused-to-get-out) by him. He commanded the demons not to speak for they really knew as to who Isa was.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Jesus healed many who were sick with many kinds of diseases. There were also many demons he caused to go away from people. And those demons, Jesus would not allow them to speak, because they knew who Jesus really was.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And he healed the many who were sick of many-kinds of sicknesses. He also caused-the many evil-spirits -to-leave while-simultaneously making-them-be-quiet, because they knew who he was.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Many who were sick were healed by Jesus, no matter what kind of illness they were asking help for. Many also were the evil spirits he drove out. He did not allow the evil spirits to speak because they were well-aware of who he really was.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “Then he arranged many sick ones, those with mixed sicknesses. Thereupon he expelled many demons. He did not permit the demons to speak, since they knew him.” (Source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
  • Balinese: “Many were healed by Him. who were ill by various sicknesses, moreover many demons were expelled. and they were not allowed to speak. because they knew Him already.” (Source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 75ff. )

demon

The Greek that is typically translated/transliterated in English as “demon” is translated by other languages in the following ways:

  • Central Mazahua: “the evil spirit(s) of the devil” (source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.)
  • Kupsabiny: “bad spirit(s)” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “bad bush-spirit(s)” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Hausa: “unclean spirit” (see note below) (source: Hausa Common Language Back Translation)
  • Mandarin Chinese: “dirty spirit” (污灵 / wūlíng) (Protestant); “evil spirit/demon” （邪鬼 / xiéguǐ) (Catholic) (source: Zetzsche)
  • Sissala: kaŋtɔŋ, which traditionally referred to “either a spirit of natural phenomena such as trees, rivers, stones, etc., or the spirit of a deceased person that has not been taken into the realm of the dead. Kaŋtɔŋ can be good or evil. Evil kaŋtɔŋ can bring much harm to people and are feared accordingly. A kaŋtɔŋ can also dwell in a person living on this earth. A person possessed by kaŋtɔŋ does not behave normally.” (Source: Regina Blass in Holzhausen 1991, p. 48f.)
  • Umiray Dumaget Agta: hayup or “creature, animal, general term for any non-human creature, whether natural or supernatural.” Thomas Headland (in: Notes on Translation, September 1971, p. 17ff.) explains some more: “There are several types of supernatural creatures, or spirit beings which are designated by the generic term hayup. Just as we have several terms in English for various spirit beings (elves, fairies, goblins, demons, imps, pixies) so have the Dumagats. And just as you will find vast disagreement and vagueness among English informants as to the differences between pixies and imps, etc., so you will find that no two Dumagats will agree as to the form and function of their different spirit beings.” This term can also be used in a verb form: hayupen: “creatured” or “to be killed, made sick, or crazy by a spirit.”
  • Yala: yapri̍ija ɔdwɔ̄bi̍ or “bad Yaprija.” Yaprijas are traditional spirits that have a range presumed activities including giving or withholding gifts, giving and protecting children, causing death and disease and rewarding good behavior. (Source: Eugene Bunkowske in Notes on Translation 78/1980, p. 36ff.)
  • Lamnso’: aànyùyi jívirì: “lesser gods who disturb, bother, pester, or confuse a person.” (Source: Fanwong 2013, p. 93)
  • Paasaal: gyɩŋbɔmɔ, “beings that are in the wild and can only be seen when they choose to reveal themselves to certain people. They can ‘capture’ humans and keep them in hiding while they train the person in herbalism and divination. After the training period, which can range from a week to many years, the ‘captured’ individual is released to go back into society as a healer and a diviner. The gyɩŋbɔmɔ can also be evil, striking humans with mental diseases and causing individuals to get lost in the wild. The Pasaale worldview about demons is like that of others of the language groups in the area, including the Northern Dagara [who use kɔ̃tɔmɛ with a similar meaning].” (Source: Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)

In the still widely-used 1908 Tswana (also: Setswana) translation (by Robert Moffat, revised by Alfred Wookey), the term badino or “ancestor spirit” is used for “demon,” even though in the traditional understanding there is nothing inherently negative associated with that term. Musa Dube (in: Journal of Society of New Testament 73, 1999, p. 33ff. ) describes this as an example of “engaging in the colonization of the minds of natives and for advancing European imperial spaces. The death and burial of Setswana culture here was primarily championed through the colonization of their language such that it no longer served the interests of the original speakers. Instead the written form of language had equated their cultural beliefs with evil spirits, demons and wizardry. This colonization of Setswana was in itself the planting of a colonial cultural bomb, meant to clear the ground for the implantation of a worldwide Christian commonwealth and European consciousness. It was a minefield that marked Setswana cultural spaces as dangerous death zones, to be avoided by every intelligent Motswana reader or hearer of the translated text.”

In Kachin, the term Nat (or nat) us used for “demon” (as well as “devil” and “unclean/evil spirit“). Like in Tswana, the meaning of Nat is not inherently negative but can be positive in the traditional Nat worship as well. Naw Din Dumdaw (in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 94ff.) argues that “the demonization of Nat created a social conflict between Kachin Christians and Kachin non-Christians. Kachin converts began to perceive their fellow Kachins who were still worshipping Nats as demonic and they wanted to distance themselves from them. Likewise, the Nat-worshiping Kachin community perceived the Kachin converts as betrayers and enemies of their own cultural heritage. (…) The demonization of the word Nat was not only the demonization of the pre-Christian religion but also the demonization of the cultural heritage of the Kachin people. When the word Nat is perceived as demonic, it creates an existential dilemma for Kachin Christians. It distances them from their cultural traditions.”

Note that often the words for “demon” and “unclean spirit / evil spirit” are being used interchangeably.

See also devil and formal pronoun: demons or Satan addressing Jesus.

let / allow (Japanese honorifics)

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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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.

The Hebrew that is translated as “let” or “allow” in English is translated in the Shinkaiyaku Bible as o-yurushi (お許し), combining “allow/permit” (yurushi) with the respectful prefix o-. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Mark 1:34

Exegesis:

etherapeusen (3.2, 10; 6.5, 13) ‘he healed,’ ‘he cured,’ ‘he restored’: as the context indicates, both in this passage and elsewhere, the meaning is not that of caring for, or treating a sick person; it means to effect a cure.

pollous kakōs echontas poikilais nosois ‘many who were gravely ill with various diseases.’

kakōs echontas (see v. 32) ‘sick,’ ‘ill.’

poikilais nosois (only here in Mark) ‘with various diseases’: the words are in the dative instrumental case.

kai daimonia polla exebalen ‘and he cast out many demons’: notice that hoi daimonizomenoi ‘the demon-possessed ones’ in v. 32 are the same as the man en pneumati akathartō ‘in an unclean spirit’ of vv. 23, 26. No distinction is drawn between ‘the unclean spirits’ and ‘the demons’; they are the same.

ekballō (cf. 1.12) ‘cast out,’ ‘drive out,’ i.e. cast out the demon, or spirit, from the person possessed by it.

hoti ‘because’: here it is causative, not declarative (as Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale translates it).

ēdeisan auton ‘they knew him’: the demons recognized Jesus himself and knew who he was, not merely what was his mission (Lagrange).

Translation:

Sick with various diseases is not to be understood that the same people had numerous different diseases. The sense is distributive, many people and different diseases.

Cast out … demons is an expression which must in many instances be adapted to the local psychological viewpoint. For example, in one instance a native speaker asked, “How could Jesus ‘throw out’ the demons? Was he inside the man in order to do it?” Obviously, the translation in that language had failed to take into consideration the appropriate manner in which one must speak of the process of healing demon-possessed persons. In many languages one must say ‘to cause to come out’ (More), in others ‘take out demons’ (Huautla Mazatec), ‘drove many evil spirits from behind them’ (Kpelle, Loma (Liberia)).

The same verb for ‘know’ employed in verse 24 should be used here.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on Mark 1:34

1:34a

And He healed many: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as many in this context refers to all the sick people who came to Jesus to be healed. In some languages a literal translation might imply that Jesus did not heal all the sick people who came to him. If that is true in your language, you will need to translate in a different way. For example:

And he healed the many sick people
-or-
Jesus healed great numbers of sick people (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)
-or-
Jesus healed all kinds of terrible diseases (Contemporary English Version)

healed: The word healed means “cured” or “made well.” In this context it indicates that Jesus cured people miraculously. He did not use medicine to cure them. In some languages there is no term that refers unambiguously to miraculous healing. If that is true in your language, you may be able to use a more general expression that is correctly understood in this context. For example:

caused to become well
-or-
helped

Make sure that the expression you use refers clearly to miraculous healing.

various diseases: The phrase various diseases indicates here that Jesus healed many kinds of sicknesses. It does not imply that each sick person had several different diseases.

1:34b

and drove out many demons: Jesus drove out demons by commanding the demons to leave. In some languages it may be necessary to translate this clause by using a direct quote. For example:

and commanded many demons, saying, “Leave(sing) that person.”

If you use a direct quote, you may need to decide whether to use a singular or plural form of a verb like “leave.” Jesus commanded many demons, but he probably commanded them one at a time. Use what is natural in your language for this kind of situation.

drove out: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as drove out is literally “cast/threw out.” In this context it means that Jesus caused many evil spirits to stop controlling people. He did this by commanding the evil spirits to leave, as 1:25b indicates.

Jewish people often spoke of evil spirits as being in someone. Different cultures have different ways of speaking about people being controlled by demons and being released from the control of demons. Use a natural expression for this in your language.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

sent the demons away
-or-
exorcized the evil spirits
-or-
freed people who were controlled by an evil spirit

many demons: There were many demons that were disturbing the people who came to Jesus. He expelled these demons from the people. The phrase many demons does not imply that Jesus did not expel some of the demons. In some languages it may be necessary to make this clear. For example:

the many demons
-or-
all the demons

For the word demons, see the note in 1:32b. See also evil spirit in the Glossary.

1:34c

But: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But is often translated as “and,” as in the Revised Standard Version. In this context it connects two things that Jesus did to the demons. He expelled the demons from people, and he would not let them speak. Connect these two clauses in a natural way in your language.

He would not allow the demons to speak: As in 1:34b, it may be more natural in some languages to express this clause as a direct quote. For example:

…he ordered them, “Be(sing) silent.”

If you use a direct quote here, you may need to decide whether to use a singular or plural form of the verb or pronoun. See the note in 1:34b.

Some languages use different commands for a person of higher status and lower status. If that is true in your language, you should use a form that is appropriate for a person of higher status giving orders to someone of lower status.

1:34d

because they knew who He was: The clause they knew who He was means in this context that the demons knew that Jesus was the Son of God and the Christ/Messiah. See 1:11 and 1:24. It does not mean that the demons merely knew that his name was Jesus or that he was Mary’s son. (Jesus did not want the demons to reveal who he was, because he did not want information about himself to be revealed by evil powers. He also did not want people to find out that he was the Messiah before he had accomplished what God wanted him to do.)

You should translate the phrase who He was in a general way if possible. If a general phrase is not possible or if people understand it to refer to Jesus’ name, you may use an expression similar to the one that you used in 1:24. For example:

they knew that he was the Son of God
-or-
they knew that he was the Christ/Messiah

General Comment on 1:34c–d

In some languages it may be more natural to change the order of 1:34c and 1:34d. For example:

34d But because they knew who he was, 34che refused to allow the demons to speak. (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)

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