betray

The Greek that is translated as “betray” in English does not have an immediately corresponding term in Tado. The term that was chosen there was “sell.” (Source: Budy Karmoy in this blog post )

judge vs. condemn

The Greek terms krino and katakrino/katadikazo that are translated as “judge” and “condemn” respectively in English are translated with only one term in Kutu (tagusa). (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

See also do not condemn.

scribe

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The Greek that is usually translated as “scribe” in English “were more than mere writers of the law. They were the trained interpreters of the law and expounders of tradition.”

Here are a number of its (back-) translations:

  • Yaka: “clerk in God’s house”
  • Amganad Ifugao: “man who wrote and taught in the synagogue”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “teaching-writer” (“an attempt to emphasize their dual function”)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “book-wise person”
  • San Blas Kuna: “one who knew the Jews’ ways”
  • Loma: “educated one”
  • San Mateo del Mar Huave: “one knowing holy paper”
  • Central Mazahua: “writer of holy words”
  • Indonesian: “expert in the Torah”
  • Pamona: “man skilled in the ordinances” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Sinhala: “bearer-of-the-law”
  • Marathi: “one-learned-in-the-Scriptures”
  • Shona (1966): “expert of the law”
  • Balinese: “expert of the books of Torah”
  • Ekari: “one knowing paper/book”
  • Tboli: “one who taught the law God before caused Moses to write” (or “one who taught the law of Moses”) (source for this and 5 above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Noongar: Mammarapa-Warrinyang or “law man” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Mairasi: “one who writes and explains Great Above One’s (=God’s) prohibitions” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Chichewa: “teacher of Laws” (source: Ernst Wendland)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “teachers of law”
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “writer”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “person who teaches the law which Moses wrote”
  • Alekano: “man who knows wisdom” (source for this and four above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Saint Lucian Creole French: titcha lwa sé Jwif-la (“teacher of the law of the Jews”) (source: David Frank in Lexical Challenges in the St. Lucian Creole Bible Translation Project, 1998)
  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “one who teaches the holy writings”
  • Atatláhuca Mixtec: “teacher of the words of the law”
  • Coatlán Mixe: “teacher of the religious law”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “one who is a teacher of the law which God gave to Moses back then”
  • Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “one who know well the law” (Source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Huixtán Tzotzil: “one who mistakenly thought he was teaching God’s commandments”(Huixtán Tzotzil frequently uses the verb -cuy to express “to mistakenly think something” from the point of view of the speaker; source: Marion M. Cowan in Notes on Translation 20/1966, pp. 6ff.)
  • Sumau: “law-knowing men” (source: this blog post by Todd Owen)
  • German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “theologian” and the 1998 translation by Walter Jens: “interpreter of scriptures” (Schriftausleger)
  • English translation by Scot McKnight (The Second Testament, publ. 2023): Covenant Code scholar

In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines the signs for “expert” and “law.” (Source: Anna Smith)


“Scribe” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL , used with permission)

Mark 10:32-34 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 10:32-34 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

Jesus and his twelve disciples were going into the city of Jerusalem. The people were following them. Jesus went in front, followed by all the others. The disciples were very astonished. The rest of the people who were walking behind were in fear. Jesus stopped, called the twelve disciples to him and said to them:

— I am going to tell you what will happen to me later. We are now going to the city of Jerusalem. There, in Jerusalem, the chief priests and scribes will seize me, the Son of God, who was transformed into a man, sentence me to death, then give me to the Gentiles, they will mock me, beat me, and then kill me, and I will die. But in three days I will rise from the dead, I will be alive again. That’s how it will be.

Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):

Иисус с двенадцатью учениками шли в город Иерусалим. За ними следовал народ. Иисус шел впереди, за ним все остальные. Ученики сильно удивлялись. Остальные люди, которые шли позади, были в страхе. Иисус остановился, подозвал к себе двенадцать учеников и сказал им:

— Я сейчас вам поведаю, что со мною будет потом. Мы сейчас идет в город Иерусалим. Там, в Иерусалиме, первосвященники и книжники схватят меня, сына Бога, который преобразился в человека, приговорят меня к смерти, потом отдадут меня язычникам, те будут глумиться надо мной, избивать, а потом убьют меня, и я умру. Но через три дня я воскресну из мертвых, снова стану живым. Так будет.

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

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Mark 10:35-45 in Russian Sign Language >>

Mark 10:32 - 34 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 10:32-34 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)

Jesús estaba caminando (hacia Jerusalén) y atras venían los discípulos viendolo y preguntandose ¿porqué vamos a Jerusalén? Otros estaban asustados y tenían miedo, y subieron juntos.

Jesús se volteó a verlos ylos llamó y los doce discípulos se pusieron enfrente de él y otra vez los explicó y los advirtió: “ahora vamos a Jerusalén y uds verán que personas traicionarán el hijo de hombre y lo arrestarán y lo llevarán a los líderes de los sacerdotes y los maestros de la Ley, y ellos lo juzgarán (diciendo): ‘tú debes morir’.

Lo agarrarán y lo llevarán a personas extranjeras, que no son judíos, y ellos chistarán y se burlarán de él y le escupirán y lo maltratarán y le darán latigos y lo matarán, el hijo de hombre morirá pero después de tres días resucitará y vivirá otra vez.”


Jesus was walking up (to Jerusalem) and behind him came the disciples, they looked and wondered: why are we going to Jerusalem? Others were scared and afraid, as they walked up together.

Jesus turned around to look at them and he called them and the twelve disciples gathered in front of him and he explained to them and warned them again: “we are now going to Jerusalem and you will see that people will betray the Son of Man and will arrest him and take him to the leaders of the priests and the teachers of the law, and they will judge him (saying): ‘you must die’.

“They will take him to foreigners who are not Jews and they will ridicule him and laugh at him and spit at him and mistreat him and whip him and kill him, the Son of Man will die but after three days he will rise and live again.”

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

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Mark 10:35-45 in Mexican Sign Language >>

gentiles / nations

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).

Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).

In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also nations.

complete verse (Mark 10:33)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 10:33:

  • Uma: “He said: ‘Listen! We are now going toward Yerusalem. There I the Child of Mankind will be handed over to the leading priests and the religion teachers, and they will decide to kill me. After that I will be handed over to people who are not Yahudi.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “‘Listen,’ he said, ‘we (incl.) are going-up to Awrusalam. When we (incl.) are there, I, the Son of Mankind, will be handed over into the hands/holding of the leading priests and the teachers of the religious law. Then their judgment for me (will be) that I be killed. Then they will also hand me over into the hands/holding of the people not Yahudi.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “He said, ‘You know that we are going to Jerusalem and when we arrive in there, I, the older sibling of mankind, will be turned over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. And they will agree that I should be caused to be killed, and they will turn me over to the people who aren’t Jews.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Whereupon Jesus called his twelve disciples aside and he said to them, ‘Listen. Here we are climbing-uphill to Jerusalem. When we arrive there, I who am Child of a Person, I will be handed-over to the leaders of the priests and the teachers of the law. They will sentence me to die, then they will hand-me-over to the Gentiles” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “He said, ‘Today/now we (incl.) are going to Jerusalem. When we are there, I who am the One From Heaven Born of Man/human will be traded to the chiefs of the priests and the explainers of law. They will sentence me to death. And I will be handed over to the people who aren’t Judio.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)