Μετὰ δὲ τὸ παραδοθῆναι τὸν Ἰωάννην ἦλθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν κηρύσσων τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ
The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry
14Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God
The Greek that is translated as “has seen and heard” in English is translated in the Catholic Mandarin Chinese Sigao version with a historical Chinese idiom: suǒjiàn suǒwén (所見所聞 / 所见所闻) or “what I saw and heard (lit. “all seen, all heard”).”
Note that the Protestant Union Version also uses it in John 3:32. (Source: Toshikazu S. Foley in Hong Kong Journal of Catholic Studies, 2011, p. 45ff.)
The name that is transliterated as “John (the Baptist)” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language and Mexican Sign Language as “baptize” (source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. ).
“John the Baptist” in Mexican Sign Language (source: BSLM )
In German Sign Language (Catholic) it is translated with the sign for the letter J and the sign signifying a Catholic baptism by sprinkling on the head.
“John” in German Sign Language (catholic), source: Taub und katholisch
In American Sign Language it is translated with the sign for the letter J and the sign signifying “shout,” referring to John 1:23. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“John” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
Similarly, in French Sign Language, it is “prepare the way.” (Source: Lexique – Explications en langue des signes)
In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign for leaping in the womb (see Luke 1:41) and baptism. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)
“John” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL
A question of cultural assumptions arose in Tuvan. The instinctive way to translate this name denotatively would be “John the Dipper,” but this would carry the highly misleading connotation that he drowned people. It was therefore decided that his label should focus on the other major aspect of his work, that is, proclaiming that the Messiah would soon succeed him. (Compare his title in Russian Orthodox translation “Иоанн Предтеча” — “John the Forerunner.”) So he became “John the Announcer,” which fortunately did not seem to give rise to any confusion with radio newsreaders! (Source: David Clark in The Bible Translator 2015, p. 117ff. )
For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .
In Noongar it is translated as John-Kakaloorniny or “John Washing” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
A new oral translation into Yao / Ciyawo, spoken in Mozambique, uses John the one who ceremoniously washes/pours water, using a term (kusingula) that “indicates a ceremonial washing or pouring of water on a person in the Yawo’s expression of Islam which can be used for an act done in repentance of sin.” (Source: Houston 2025, p. 236)
See also John the Baptist (icon) and learn more on Bible Odyssey: John the Baptist .
Following is the translation of Mark 1:14-20 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:
Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество
Here’s what happened. This is the messenger John. He was captured and imprisoned. After that Jesus went back to Galilee. There are villages there. Jesus went through the villages and preached. Jesus was speaking to the people:
— God has a kingdom and authority. They approached. Repent, be changed! Stop your sins and evil deeds. Come back to be one with God. Believe what I say to you.
Jesus went and spoke to the people. There is a lake there. Jesus came to the lake. There were two men by the lake. The first man’s name was Simon and the second man’s name was Andrew. They were brothers. They were casting nets to catch fish. Jesus was passing by, noticed them and said to them:
— Follow me! I will give you my authority, and you will no longer be fishers of fish, but fishers of men. Follow me.
The brothers looked at Jesus and agreed. They threw down their nets and followed Jesus.
After a while, the laborers and fishermen gathered there. There were two men on the boat. The first was James and the second was John. They were brothers. Their father was also with them. They were mending torn nets. Jesus was passing by, noticed them and said:
— Both of you, follow me!
The brothers looked at Jesus, agreed. To their father and all the workers they said:
— We are going to follow Jesus.
Вот что случилось. Вот вестник Иоанн. Его схватили и заключили в тюрьму. После этого Иисус вернулся в Галилею. Есть там деревни. Иисус ходил по деревням и проповедовал. Иисус обращался к людям:
— У Бога есть царство и власть. Они приблизились. Вы покайтесь, изменитесь! Прекратите ваши грехи и злые дела. Вернитесь к единению с Богом. Верьте в то, что я говорю вам.
Иисус ходил и обращался к людям. Есть там озеро. Иисус пришел к озеру. Возле озера были два человека. Первого звали Симон, второго — Андрей. Они были братья. Они закидывали сети, чтобы ловить рыбу. Иисус проходил мимо, заметил их и сказал им:
— Следуйте за мной! Я дам вам мою власть, и вы больше не будете ловить рыбу, но будете ловцами людей. Следуйте за мной.
Братья посмотрели на Иисуса и согласились. Они бросили сети и последовали за Иисусом.
Через какое-то время там собрались рабочие и рыбаки. На лодке были два человека. Первый — Иаков, второй — Иоанн. Они были братья. С ними был также их отец. Они чинили порванные сети. Иисус проходил мимо, заметил их и говорит:
— Вы оба, следуйте за мной!
Братья посмотрели на Иисуса, согласились. Своему отцу и все работникам они сказали:
— Мы пойдем следовать за Иисусом.
Back-translation by Luka Manevich
<< Mark 1:9-13 in Russian Sign Language
Mark 1:21-28 in Russian Sign Language >>
In choosing a word for the Greek that is typically translated as “gospel” in English, a number of languages construct a phrase meaning “good news,” “joyful report” or “happiness-bringing words.” In some instances such a phrase may be slightly expanded in order to convey the proper meaning, e.g. “new good word” (Tzotzil), or it may involve some special local usage:
“In Rutul, it was only during the most recent consultant checking session that I realized that the Rutul word for Gospel – Incir (from Arabic إنجيل — Injil) — sounds and looks exactly like the word that means ‘fig’ in Rutul. This is a case of homonymy, in which two completely non-related words from differing historical sources have come to sound exactly alike. Most Rutul speakers know that incir means ‘fig’ because they grow this fruit in their yard or buy it at the market every week. However, because the religious sphere of discourse was heavily disparaged during the Soviet era, most people simply never encountered Incir with the meaning of ‘Gospel.’ This meaning of the word, which Rutuls of the pre-Soviet era knew from the Koran, simply fell into disuse and never had much reason for returning into contemporary Rutul since there is no Christian church established among the people. So if the translator continues to use the term Incir as the rendering for ‘Gospel,’ he runs the risk that most readers will, at best, read the word with a smile because they know that it also means ‘fig,’ and, at worst, will completely misunderstand the word. The seemingly ‘easy’ solution in this case is for the translator to use a Rutul neologism meaning ‘Joyful Message’ or ‘Good News,’ [see above] instead of Incir; but in fact it is not all that easy to make this change if the translator himself insists on using the historical word because at least some Rutuls still understand it as meaning ‘Gospel.’ This is a situation in which the translation team has to gradually grow into the understanding that a fully intelligible translation of Scripture is preferable to one that maintains old words at the cost of alienating much of the readership.”
For “good news,” see also Isaiah 52:7.
Following is the translation of Mark 1:14-15 into Mexican Sign Language with back-translations into Spanish and English underneath:
© La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios
Después de un tiempo los soldados arrestaron a Juan el Bautista y lo metieron en la cárcel. Jesús fue a Galilea donde predicaba y anunciaba algo maravilloso: ya es cumplido, el reino de Dios se ha acercado, uds necesitan creer y arrepentirse.
After some time soldiers arrested John the Baptist and put him in prison. Jesus went to Galilee where he preached and announced something wonderful: it has been fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come near, you need to believe and repent.
Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios
<< Mark 1:9-13 in Mexican Sign Language
Mark 1:16-21a in Mexican Sign Language >>
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 1:14:
Following is a Syriac Orthodox icon of John the Baptist from the 18/19th century (found in the Cathedral of Saints Constantine and Helen, Yabrud, Syria).
The wings are often depicted in icons of John the Baptist because of his status as a messenger. The scroll that John the Baptist holds quotes John 1:29 and reads (translated into English): “I saw and witnessed concerning him, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.’”
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 )
See also John the Baptist.
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. )
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