“Jesus is doing something extremely dangerous here. The Thai temple is a place in which it is considered by religious people inappropriate to show any anger or strong emotions. It has to be an extremely urgent reason for someone to do something as violent as this in such a sacred space.”
Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)
Jesús y los discípulos fueron a Jerusalén y cerca del templo en la plaza afuera Jesús vio a las personas cambiando dinero y a otras personas vendiendo palomas.
Jesús caminó hacia ellos y quitaba las sillas y tiraba las mesas y el dinero se esparció. Las personas que estaban vendiendo y comprando Jesus los expulsó.
Jesús vio a otras personas que venían cargando cosas (y dijo): “¡Alto, está prohibido que uds se metan en el templo, tienen que dar la vuelta afuera!”
“Oigan, está escrito en el rollo que Dios dice: ‘El templo es mi casa para oración, todas las personas del país pueden congregar libremente para orar’, pero uds piensan que el templo parece una cueva donde entran los rateros y ladrones.”
Los líderes de los sacerdotes y los maestros de la Ley lo oyeron: “¡Caray!” tenían miedo y dialogaron acerca de que querían matar a Jesús, pero ¿cómo? Habría una estorba porque vieron a Jesús siempre enseñando y las personas que lo veían eran atraídos, lo consideraban maravilloso.
Después en la noche Jesús y los discípulos se fueron a otro lugar.
Jesus and the disciples went to Jerusalem and near the temple in the square outside it Jesus saw the people changing money and other people selling doves.
Jesus walked over to them and took away the chairs and threw over the tables and the money was spread out. The people who were selling and buying were thrown out by Jesus.
Jesus saw other people who came carrying things (and said): “Stop, it is prohibited to enter the temple, you have to go around it outside!”
“Hey, it is written in the scroll that God says: ‘The temple is my house for prayer, all the people of the country can gather freely to pray,’ but you think it is like a cave where pickpockets and thieves enter.”
The leaders of the priests and the teachers of the Law heard it: “Oh no!” They were afraid and discussed together that they wanted to kill Jesus, but how? There would be a disturbance because they always saw Jesus teaching and the people who saw him were attracted and thought it wonderful.
Afterwards, at night, Jesus and the disciples went off to another place.
Jesus and his disciples came to Jerusalem. Jesus went into the Temple courtyard. There he saw many people selling and buying animals and pigeons. There were tables of coin changers. Jesus looked at all this, became angry, and began to drive away both the sellers and the buyers. There was a great commotion. Jesus overturned the tables and overturned the benches of the pigeon sellers. And he forbade people to go through the Temple courtyard to trade.
Jesus began to teach:
— Long ago two prophets in the Bible wrote: “This place will be called the house of the Lord, a place of prayer,” and you have turned it into a gathering of criminals.
Jesus continued to teach. The older priests and teachers of the law heard this and they all got angry and began to discuss how they could kill Jesus. They were afraid that a great many people were listening to Jesus favorably.
Evening came. Jesus and his disciples left the city and traveled back.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Иисус вместе с учениками пришли в Иерусалим. Иисус вошел во двор Храма. Там он увидел, что множество людей продают и покупают животных и голубей. Были там столы обменщиков монет. Иисус посмотрел на все это, разгневался и начал прогонять прочь и продавцов и покупателей. Случился великий переполох. Столы Иисус перевернул, скамейки продавцов голубей тоже перевернул. И он запретил, чтобы люди проходили через двор Храма, чтобы торговать.
Иисус начал учить:
— Еще давно два пророка в Библии писали: «Это место будет названо домом Господа, местом молитвы», а вы превратили его в сборище преступников.
Иисус продолжал учить. Старшие священники и учителя закона услышали это, все они разозлились и стали обсуждать, как им убить Иисуса. Они боялись, что очень многие люди слушали Иисуса благосклонно.
Наступил вечер. Иисус с учениками покинули город и отправились обратно.
In many English translations the Greek terms “hieron” (the whole “temple” in Jerusalem or specifically the outer courts open to worshippers) and “naos” (the inner “shrine” or “sanctuary”) are translated with only one word: “temple” (see also for instance “Tempel” in German [for exception see below] and “tempel” in Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans).
Other languages make a distinction: (Click or tap here to see more)
Navajo (Dinė): “house in which worship is carried out” (for naos)
Balinese: “inner part of the Great Temple” (“the term ‘inner part’ denoting the hindmost and holiest of the two or three courts that temples on Bali usually possess”) vs. “Great Temple”
Telugu: “womb (i.e. interior)-of-the-abode” vs. “abode”
Thai: a term denoting the main audience hall of a Buddhist temple compound vs. “environs-of-the-main-audience-hall”
Kituba: “place of holiness of house-God Lord” vs. “house-God Lord”
Shipibo-Conibo: “deep in God’s house” vs. “God’s house” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Germandas Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “inner court of the temple” (Tempelinnenhof) vs. “temple”
Languages that, like English, German, Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans, don’t make that distinction include:
Toraja-Sa’dan: “house that is looked upon as holy, that is sacred, that is taboo and where one may not set foot” (lit. “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” — because taboo is violated — using a term that is also applied to a Muslim mosque) (source for this and the three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Aguaruna: “the house for talking to God” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Guhu-Samane: “festival longhouse of God” (“The biiri, ‘festival longhouse’, being the religious and social center of the community, is a possible term for ‘temple’. It is not the ‘poro house’ as such. That would be too closely identified with the cult of poro. The physical features of the building, huge and sub-divided, lend it further favor for this consideration. By qualifying it as ‘God’s biiri’ the term has become meaningful and appropriate in the context of the Scriptures.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
Enga: “God’s restricted access house” (source: Adam Boyd on his blog )
Another distinction that tends to be overlooked in translations is that between hieron (“temple” in English) and sunagógé (“synagogue” in English). Euan Fry (in The Bible Translator 1987, p. 213ff. ) reports on this:
“Many older translations have simply used transliterations of ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ rather than trying to find equivalent terms or meaningful expressions in their own languages. This approach does keep the two terms separate; but it makes the readers depend on explanations given by pastors or teachers for their understanding of the text.
“Translators who have tried to find meaningful equivalents, for the two terms ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ have usually made a distinction between them in one of two ways (which focus on the contrasting components of meaning). One way takes the size and importance of the Temple to make a contrast, so that expressions such as ‘sacred meeting/ worship house of the Jews’ and ‘big sacred meeting/worship house of the Jews’ are used. The other way focuses on the different nature of the religious activity at each of the places, so that expressions such as ‘meeting/worship house of the Jews’ and ‘sacrifice/ceremony place of the Jews’ are used.
“It is not my purpose in this article to discuss how to arrive at the most precise equivalent to cover all the components of meaning of ‘temple’. That is something that each translator really has to work through for himself in the light of the present usage and possibilities in his own language. My chief concern here is that the basic term or terms chosen for ‘temple’ should give the reader of a translation a clear and correct picture of the location referred to in each passage. And I am afraid that in many cases where an equivalent like ‘house of God’ or ‘worship house’ has been chosen, the readers have quite the wrong picture of what going to the Temple or being in the Temple means. (This may be the case for the word ‘temple’ in English too, for many readers.)”
Here are some examples:
Bambara: “house of God” (or: “big house of worship”) vs. “worship house” (or: “small houses of worship”)
Toraja-Sa’dan: “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” (see above) vs. “meeting house for discussing matters concerning religious customs” (and “church” is “house where one meets on Sunday”)
Navajo (Dinė): “house in which worship is carried out” vs. “house of gathering” (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida)
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Herod’s temple (source: Bible Lands 2012)Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing synagogues in New Testament times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 11:16:
Uma: “He didn’t permit people to carry stuff through the yard of the House of God.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “He did not allow anybody to pass through the prayer-house carrying their things.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “He did not permit anyone to carry their equipment through the yard of the church.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “He also forbid those carrying loads from walking through the Temple area.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “He also forbade those carrying merchandise there in that like-a-yard of the Templo.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Highland Oaxaca Chontal: “Then he would not give anyone permission to carry their loads through the patio of the big church.” (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
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 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. )
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®).
hina ‘that’: as so often in Mark hina plus the subjunctive of the verb is equivalent to the complementary infinitive, indicating the content rather than the purpose of the action contained in the verb.
tis dienegkē skeuos dia tou hierou ‘any one should carry a vessel through the temple’: many would walk through the Court of the Gentiles using it as a short cut between the city and the Mount of Olives (cf. Swete).
diapherō (only here in Mark) ‘carry through,’ ‘take through.’
skeuos (cf. 3.27) ‘a vessel’: here, as Arndt & Gingrich observe, any sort of object used for any purpose.
Translation:
Would not allow anyone to … may be changed in some languages to a form of direct discourse, ‘he said, You cannot…’ and in others to a paratactic form, ‘he stopped people; they could not carry….’ Where the negative not allow does not exist, it is sometimes possible to translate as ‘he prohibited them from….’
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 .
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