Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("say")

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, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Mark 10:42

Exegesis:

proskalesamenos (cf. 3.13) ‘calling to him,’ ‘summoning.’

hoi dokountes archein tōn ethnōn ‘those appearing to rule the Gentiles’ the exact force of hoi dokountes ‘those who seem’ (cf. 6.49) is not certain. Moffatt‘s ‘so-called rulers’ would seem too extreme: it does not appear that Jesus was intending to deny the fact of their authority in this case. Arndt & Gingrich have ‘those who are reputed to be rulers’; Manson ‘those who claim to be rulers’; The Modern Speech New Testament ‘those who are deemed rulers’; Translator’s New Testament has ‘those who consider themselves to be rulers’ and, in a footnote, the alternative ‘are considered to be rulers.’ Perhaps best of all is ‘those who are regarded as rulers’ (cf. Montgomery, Swete).

archō (only here in the active voice in Mark; elsewhere always middle archomai ‘begin’; cf. also the participle ho archōn ‘ruler’ in 3.22) ‘to rule.’

ta ethna (cf. 10.33) ‘the nations,’ ‘the foreigners,’ ‘the Gentiles.’

katakureuousin (only here in Mark) ‘they have the mastery over.’

katexousiazousin (only here in Mark) ‘they exercise authority over.’

Translation:

Called them must refer here to all the disciples, though in many translations the reference is erroneously understood to apply only to the two immediately preceding disciples, at whom the rest were angry.

To rule is translatable as ‘to command,’ ‘to boss,’ or ‘to govern.’

For Gentiles see 10.33.

Lord it over may be rendered as referring to exorbitant demands ‘make them run back and forth’ in the sense of constantly running errands (Copainalá Zoque) or to self-exaltation, e.g. ‘raise themselves up’ (Tzeltal).

Great is usually interpreted in terms of (1) physical strength, with metaphorical extensions: ‘Strong,’ ‘mighty,’ ‘powerful’ or (2) authority or position to command: ‘with much authority’ or ‘who says strong commands.’

Exercise authority may be rendered as ‘tell them exactly what to do’ or ‘constantly boss them.’

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 .