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 )
The term that is transliterated as “John (the disciple)” in English is translated in American Sign Language with the sign for the letter J and the sign signifying “beloved,” referring to John 13:23 et al. (Source: RuthAnna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“John” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with with the sign for “young.” This refers to the traditional belief that he was the youngest of the apostles and the fact that he was younger than his brother James (see relative age of James and John. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Many languages in the world distinguish between plural and dual (and sometimes trial) pronouns (for instance, “you” specifically addressing many, two, or three people).
In Matt. 20:22 (“You do not know what you are asking…” in one English translation) it is left open whether “you” refers to James and John or James and John and their mother (who had asked the questions preceding Jesus’s answers).
While one Fijian translation uses a trial and the Wantoat uses a plural (both indicating that the mother is included), the Bislama translators (in the Nyutesteman long Bislama of 1980) and the Tok Pisin translators use a dual (indicating that the mother is not included).
One of the translators explains: “Here, because of differences between this Matthew passage and the parallel passage which begins at Mark 10:35, the translator must enter into the issues of the so-called ‘Synoptic Problem’ when deciding how many people Jesus is addressing. I suggest the following guidelines for making a decision here and in the passage considered below: a single real historical event is recounted by both Mark and Matthew, both without error, although each with their own selection of material and emphasis. So what do we make of the fact that Matthew has James and John’s mother asking the question, whereas Mark does not mention her at all, having the two men themselves ask it? We conclude that she must have been there, since Matthew says she was; but she was not important in Mark’s eyes, and so he abbreviates her out of his account. Now the answer Jesus gave to the question is identical in the Greek text of the two gospels; and it must have had only one intention, even though as it stands in Greek, it is ambiguous as to dual or trial reference. I suggest that although the mother asked the question, Jesus either perceived that she was merely a ‘front’ for the two men, or else his primary interest was in them anyway, and so he bypasses the mother and makes his answer directly to them. This is certainly the way Mark saw the situation.”
Source: Ross McKerras in Notes on Translation 2/1 1988, p. 53-56.
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 10:35:
Uma: “After that Yakobus and Yohanes, the children of Zebedeus, approached Yesus, they said to him: ‘Teacher, we (excl.) have something we (excl.) want to request of you (sing.).'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “So-then Yakub and Yahiya, the sons of Sebede, came close to Isa. They said to him, ‘Sir, we (excl.) would like to ask you (something) to do for us (excl.).'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Then the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, came to Jesus, they said, ‘Oh teacher, we have something to ask from you.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then Santiago and Juan who were Zebedeo’s children went to Jesus and they said, ‘Sir teacher, we (excl.) would have something to request from you (sing.).'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “And then Santiago and Juan, the sons of Zebedeo, came up to Jesus and said, ‘Master, there is something we want hopefully to ask you for. If possible/acceptable, please do it.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding Jesus).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
Before huioi ‘sons’ Nestle, Westcott and Hort, Kilpatrick, and Taylor include duo ‘two,’ which is omitted by the majority of editions of the Greek text.
After aitēsōmen ‘we ask (of)’ Textus Receptus omits se ‘you’ which is retained by all modern editions of the Greek text.
Exegesis:
prosporeuontai (only here in the N.T.) ‘they come near,’ ‘they approach.’
thelomen hina (cf. 6.25; 9.30) ‘we want that’ with the request following: ‘you should do for us whatever we ask of you.’
aitēsōmen (cf. 6.22) ‘we should ask for,’ ‘we should request.’
Translation:
The appositional expression the sons of Zebedee may be treated in some languages as a kind of relative modifier, e.g. ‘who were the sons of Zebedee’ or as a paratactically combined sentence ‘these were Zebedee’s sons.’
To him may require in some languages the use of the noun, e.g. ‘to Jesus.’
For teacher see 2.13.
Whatever we ask of you may be adapted to a conditional clause in some languages, e.g. ‘if we ask something of you, we want you to do it for us.’
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 .