The name that is transliterated as “Jerusalem” in English is signed in French Sign Language with a sign that depicts worshiping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:
While a similar sign is also used in British Sign Language, another, more neutral sign that combines the sign “J” and the signs for “place” is used as well. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Jerusalem” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
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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 Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) 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, aruiteo-rare-ru (歩いておられる) or “walking” is used.
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In the latter two languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
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®).
hoi archiereis kai hoi grammateis kai hoi presbuteroi (cf. 8.31 for all three groups) ‘the chief priests and the scribes and the elders’: it is not necessary to suppose that all of them were there, in formal meeting as the Sanhedrin (as is true of 14.53 and 15.1).
Translation:
Came may be rendered ‘went.’ He may require substitution by ‘Jesus.’
For chief priests see 2.26 and 8.31; for scribes see 1.22; and for elders see 8.31.
If in the receptor language a distinction is made between (1) the sanctuary and (2) the temple, including the sanctuary and grounds (Greek hieron), the latter meaning is the one to use at this point.
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 .
Jesus and his disciples arrived in Jerusalem for the third time in three days. This time the Jewish leaders confronted him directly. They questioned Jesus about his right to do the things he had been doing. They did not believe that God had authorized Jesus to do and say what he did.
Jesus responded by asking the Jewish leaders a question. He asked them who gave John the Baptist his authority. The Jewish leaders did not want to answer Jesus’ question. If they answered, they would either appear to agree that God had sent John the Baptist or show that they did not believe that God sent him. So they refused to answer. Jesus then refused to answer their question, because he knew that they would not accept his answer.
It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
The Authority of Jesus (NET Bible) -or-
A Question about Jesus’ Authority (Contemporary English Version) -or-
Leaders Doubt Jesus’ Authority (New Century Version) -or-
The Jewish leaders did not believe that Jesus came with God’s authority
There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 21:23–27 and Luke 20:1–8.
Paragraph 11:27–33
11:27a
The events in this section probably occurred immediately after those in 11:20–25. In 11:20–25 Jesus and his disciples walked to Jerusalem in the morning. In 11:27 they arrived in Jerusalem. In some languages, it may be natural to begin this section with a time word. For example:
Then
After their: The pronoun their refers to Jesus and his disciples. In some languages, it will be natural to make this explicit.
return to Jerusalem: The word return indicates that Jesus and his disciples had already been to Jerusalem. In fact, this was the third time they had gone to Jerusalem in three days.
The first time was in 11:11 when Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey. The second time was the next day (11:12, 11:15) when they walked from Bethany to Jerusalem. The third time began the next morning (11:20) when they started walking to Jerusalem. So here in 11:27 they return to the city.
11:27b
Jesus was walking in the temple courts: When Jesus and his disciples arrived in Jerusalem, they again went to the courtyard of the temple. In some languages, it may be natural to add the implied information that they went to the temple. For example:
…and went again to the temple. While Jesus was walking in the temple courtyard…
temple courts: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as temple courts is literally “temple” (as in most English versions). The temple consisted of the temple building and the walls and courtyards that surrounded it. Here “temple” refers specifically to the courtyard. People did not meet inside the temple building because only the priests could go there.
See how you translated this word in 11:16. Also see temple, Meaning 1, in the Glossary for more information about the temple and how to translate it.
11:27c
All three of these terms (“chief priests”, “scribes”, and “elders”) also occur in 8:31c.
the chief priests: The chief priests were the leading priests. This same term occurs in 11:18a.
scribes: The scribes were the experts in the religious law. See how you translated this term in 11:18a.
See teacher of the law in the Glossary.
and elders: The elders were the civil leaders or rulers. They were generally older men. See how you translated this term in 8:31c.
came up to Him: They came to Jesus while he was in the temple courtyard.
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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