Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)
Jesús y los discípulos fueron otra vez a Jerusalén y cuando Jesús estaba caminando frente al templo algunos líderes de los sacerdotes y maestros de la ley y ancianos vinieron hacia él.
Dijeron: “Jesús, ¿quién te dio permiso, te mandó a quitar las mesas y tirarlas y a predicar y enseñar diferentes cosas? ¿Quién te entregó la autoridad? Dinos.”
Jesú (dijo): “Alto, primero yo tengo una pregunta, uds diganme (la respuesta) y después yo les diré. Oigan, ¿quién mandó a Juan el Bautista a que bautizara con agua? ¿Dios o personas? Diganme.”
¡Caray! Fueron a dialogar juntos. “¿Cómo (vamos a responder)? Si nosotros decimos que Dios mandó a Juan el Bautista a que bautizara con agua a la gente sabemos que seguramente Jesús nos insultará (preguntandonos) porqué no hemos creído a Juan el Bautista.
Si decimos que un hombre le mandó…..” Dijeron: “No sabemos.” Jesús (dijo): “Si uds no me dicen, yo tampoco les diré nada.”
Porque tenían miedo porque todas las personas creían que Juan el Bautista era un verdadero profeta.
Jesus and the disciples went again to Jerusalem and when Jesus was walking in front of the temple some leaders of the priests and teachers of the Law and elders came up to him.
They said: “Jesus, who gave you permission, who ordered you to throw over the tables and to preach and teach all kinds of things? Who gave you the authority? Tell us.”
Jesus (said): “Stop, first I have a questions, you tell me (the answer) and then I will tell you. Listen, who ordered John the Baptist to baptize with water? God or people? Tell me.”
Oh no! They went to discuss it together. “How (are we going to answer)? If we say that God ordered John the Baptist to baptize people with water we know that Jesus will surely insult us by asking us why we haven’t believed John the Baptist.
“If we say that a man ordered him….” They said: “we don’t know.” Jesus (said): If you don’t tell me then I won’t tell you anything either.”
Because they were afraid because all the people believed that John the Baptist was a true prophet.
Jesus and his disciples came back to Jerusalem. Jesus was walking in the Temple courtyard. The older priests and the scribes and elders came up to him in a crowd. They asked Jesus:
— Behold, you recently drove the merchants out of here, overturning the tables. Who authorized you to do such things?
Jesus said to them:
— I’m going to ask you one question first. If you answer it to me, I will also tell you who authorized me to do such things. John the messenger was performing the rite of immersion over a multitude of people. Who commanded him to do this? God or people? Answer me!
The chief priests, scribes, and elders began to discuss among themselves how to answer:
— If we say that God commanded John the messenger, then Jesus would ask: “Why then did you not believe John the messenger?” No, we won’t say that. Or say that people commissioned John the messenger? No. Scary! Everyone around them thinks that John was a prophet.
They thought, they thought, how to answer — God or people? — and finally they said:
— We don’t know who commanded John the messenger, God or men.
Jesus said:
— Then I will not tell you who authorized me to do these things.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Иисус вместе с учениками снова пришли в Иерусалим. Иисус прохаживался по двору Храма. Там к нему подошли толпой старшие священники, а также книжники и старейшины. Они спросили Иисуса:
— Вот ты недавно выгнал отсюда торговцев, столы перевернул. Кто тебе разрешил делать такие вещи?
Иисус им сказал:
— Я сначала задам вам один вопрос. Если вы мне на него ответите, то и я скажу вам, кто мне разрешил делать такие вещи. Иоанн вестник совершал обряд погружения в воду над множеством людей. Кто ему повелел это делать? Бог или люди? Ответьте мне!
Первосвященники, книжники и старейшины стали между собой совещаться, как ответить:
— Если скажем, что Бог велел Иоанну вестнику, тогда Иисус спросит: «Почему же вы тогда не поверили Иоанну вестнику?» Нет, так говорить не будем. Или сказать, что люди поручили Иоанну вестнику? Нет. Страшно! Все кругом считают, что Иоанн был пророк.
Думали они, думали, как ответить — Бог или люди? — и наконец, сказали:
— Мы не знаем, кто повелел Иоанну вестнику, Бог или люди.
Иисус сказал:
— Тогда и я вам не скажу, кто мне разрешил делать такие вещи.
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 inclusive form (including the chief priests, elders, and scribes talking among themselves).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 11:31:
Uma: “The Yahudi leaders talked among themselves, they said: ‘How should we answer him? If we say his power was from God, he will say to us: ‘If that’s the case, why didn’t you believe him?'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “So-then they planned/discussed, they said, ‘If for example we say that Yahiya’s authority to bathe the people was from God, he will say, ‘Na, why did you not believe Yahiya?'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Then they asked each other saying, ‘If we say that it was God, then he will ask us why we didn’t believe John.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then they asked-each-other saying, ‘What shall we answer? If we say that God is the one who gave his authority, Jesus will probably say, ‘If that is so, then why didn’t you believe/obey him?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When they heard that, they talked among themselves, ‘If we (incl.) say, ‘From God,’ he will then say to us, ‘Well why don’t you believe/obey him?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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 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®).
Instead of dielogizonto ‘they debated’ of the majority of editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus and Soden have elogizonto ‘they reasoned.’
After legontes ‘saying’ Soden, Taylor, and Kilpatrick add ti eipōmen; ‘what shall we say?’ which is omitted by the majority of modern editions of the Greek text.
Exegesis:
dielogizonto pros heautous ‘they were debating among themselves,’ ‘they were arguing with one another.’
dialogizomai (cf. 2.6) ‘discuss,’ ‘debate.’
pros heautous (cf. 9.10) ‘among themselves.’
dia ti ‘why?’ (also in 2.18; 7.5).
episteusate (cf. 1.15) ‘you believed’: not in the Christian sense of ‘to have faith’ by means of which God’s grace effects salvation, but in the sense of believing John, i.e. accepting his message as true.
autō ‘him’: grammatically this could be ‘it,’ i.e. John’s baptism, the subject of the question (v. 30). There is nothing in Marcan usage of pisteuō ‘believe’ to compel decision one way or the other: ‘him,’ however, is the almost unanimous choice of translators (Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale has à sa parole ‘in his message’).
Translation:
Argued may be rendered ‘talked back and forth,’ a good description of what must have taken place among the men gathered to trap Jesus.
From heaven, as a highly elliptical expression, may require some contextual expansion, e.g. ‘the baptism was from heaven.’ Otherwise ‘from heaven’ might be related to the immediately preceding verb of speaking.
If we say may need to be translated as ‘if we reply’ and similarly he will say may require a rendering such as ‘he will ask,’ verbs which give some clue to the following forms.
Believe him carries the meaning of ‘believe what he said’ or ‘trust his words.’
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 .
They deliberated among themselves what they should answer: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as They deliberated among themselves what they should answer is more literally “And they were reasoning with each other, saying.” The verb “reasoning” and “saying” refer to the same action. The following verses tell what the leaders said to each other in their discussion. In some languages, it is not necessary to have both “reasoning” and “saying” here. Here are some other ways to translate this:
They started to argue among themselves (Good News Bible) -or-
They talked to each other about it. They said (NIRV)
They deliberated among themselves: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as They deliberated is literally “they were discussing.” If you need to make explicit what they were discussing, you could say:
They deliberated among themselves how they should answer him -or-
They were deliberating the matter among themselves
You could also use direct speech here. For example:
They asked one another, “How shall we answer his question?”
They: The pronoun They refers to “the chief priests, the scribes and the elders” in 11:27c. You may need to refer to them specifically rather than use a pronoun here.
11:31b–32a
The Jewish leaders discussed how they should answer Jesus. They imagined what would happen if they gave each possible answer. So one way to express 11:31b–32a would be to use the “if…then” form. For example:
31b If we say…31cthen he will ask…32abut if we say…
The thought in 11:32a is interrupted, so there is not a “then” clause in 11:32b.
11:31b
The Jewish leaders considered one possible answer that they could give Jesus.
If we say, ‘From heaven’: There is a textual issue in this part of the verse. In some Greek manuscripts, this part of the verse starts with the question “What shall we say?”:
(1) Some Greek manuscripts do not have the question “What shall we say?” For example, the New Living Translation says:
If we say it was from heaven
(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, NET Bible, New American Standard Bible, God’s Word, New Living Translation, Contemporary English Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, New Century Version, English Standard Version)
(2) Some Greek manuscripts have the question “What shall we say?” For example, the Good News Bible says:
What shall we say? If we answer, “From God,”
(Good News Bible, Revised English Bible)
It is recommended that you follow option (1), as the majority of English versions do.
The phrase ‘From heaven’ is a quote within another quote. The Berean Standard Bible shows this with single quote marks around ‘From heaven.’
In some languages it may be necessary to express 11:31b as an indirect quotation. For example:
If we say that his authority came from heaven… -or-
If we say that John’s baptism was from heaven… -or-
If we say it was from heaven… (New Living Translation)
You may need to supply words such as “his authority” or “John’s baptism” to make their reply into a complete sentence. If that is true, use wording that agrees with what you used in 11:30a.
From heaven: The phrase From heaven refers to God, as in 11:30a. In some languages, it may be necessary to make this explicit. For example:
If we answer, “John’s baptism was from God…” (New Century Version)
See heaven, Meaning 3, in the Glossary.
11:31c
He will ask: The pronoun He refers to Jesus. The Jewish leaders began to imagine here what Jesus would say if they said that John’s authority was from God. The words He will ask introduce what they believed Jesus would say to them.
‘Why then did you not believe him?’: The question Why then did you not believe him? is a quote within another quote. The Berean Standard Bible shows this with single quotes around this question. In some languages it may be necessary to express this as an indirect quotation. For example:
…then he will ask us why we did not believe him.
believe him: Here the phrase believe him means “believe what John said.”
Here are some other ways to translate this:
accept that what he said was true -or-
agree with what John said
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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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