complete verse (Mark 1:21)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 1:21:

  • Uma: “From there, Yesus with his followers went to Kapernaum-town. On the Yahudi worship day, he entered into the worship house and began to teach.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Isa and company went to the town Kapernaum. When Saturday came, the day of-no-work of the Yahudi, Isa went to the prayer-house to preach/teach to the people.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “They went to the town Capernaum, and when it was Saturday which is the Day of Rest, Jesus went into the Church of the Jews and there Jesus taught the people.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Plural Jesus went to Capernaum. On the day for-resting, they entered the sinagoga (synagogue), and Jesus began to teach.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “They went to Capernaum. When it was the Day of Rest, they entered the worship-place and then Jesus taught there.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “Then they arrived at Capernaum. Then on the very day to rest, having entered into the small house to praise God in. he taught them.” (Source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
  • Balinese: “Then He together with those followers went to the city Kapernaum. There, when it was Sabat, He entered the place of worship and gave teaching.” (Source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 75ff. )
  • English translation by Michael Pakaluk (2019): “So they make their way into Capernaum. And right away he began teaching in the synagogue there, on the Sabbath.”

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("start")

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 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, hajime-rare-ru (始められる) or “start” is used.

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

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("teaching")

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 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, oshie-rare-ru (教えられる) or “teaching” is used.

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

Scriptures Plain & Simple (Mark 1:21-28)

Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Mark 1:21-28:

Jesus and his followers went to the town of Capernaum,
and when the Sabbath rolled around,
       Jesus entered the synagogue and started teaching.

Everyone was amazed at his powerful teaching —
       they’d never heard anything like this.

Suddenly a demon-possessed man rushed in, shouting,
“Jesus of Nazareth, have you come here to destroy us?
       I know you — you’re God’s Chosen One!”

“You demon, come out of this man!
       Be silent!” shouted Jesus.
After sending the man into a convulsion,
       the demon yelled and left.

Translation commentary on Mark 1:21

Text:

Instead of eiselthōn eis tēn sunagōgēn edidasken ‘entering into the synagogue he taught’ in Textus Receptus, Westcott and Hort, Souter, Vogels, Nestle, Lagrange, and Merk, the reading edidasken eis tōn sunagōgēn ‘he taught in the synagogue’ is adopted by Tischendorf, Soden, Turner, Taylor, and Kilpatrick. The evidence, both external and internal, entitles this reading to consideration.

Exegesis:

eisporeuontai … eiselthōn … edidasken ‘they went into … he entered … and taught’: on the change from the third plural of the first verb to the third singular of the next two verbs.

eisporeumai (4.19; 5.40; 6.56; 7.15, 18, 19; 11.2) ‘enter’: here is another use of the Marcan historical present.

euthus tois sabbasin ‘immediately on the sabbath’: the phrase indicates the following Sabbath (cf. The Modern Speech New Testament, Lagrange).

tois sabbasin ‘on the sabbath.’ The plural sabbata ‘sabbaths’ is a Greek transliteration of the Aramaic sabathaʾ, taken as a plural form; the singular sabbaton ‘sabbath’ was formed from this (spurious) plural (cf. Abbott-Smith). The Septuagint uses both sabbaton (sg.) and sabbata (pl.). The meaning is not that of several Sabbaths; when feasts are mentioned the plural form is commonly used (cf. 6.21; 14.1; John 10.22). The dative case used to indicate time is, as Lagrange points out, a classical construction.

edidasken (17 times in Mark ‘taught’; although some do not agree, Moule sees in the imperfect tense of this verb what is called the inceptive force, i.e. an emphasis upon the beginning of the action ‘he began to teach.’ The Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale translates se mit à enseigner.

sunagōgē (1.23, 29, 39; 3.1; 6.2; 12.39; 13.9) ‘synagogue.’ The original meaning of the word is that of the act of ‘gathering’ from sunagō ‘gather,’ ‘collect’); the name is then applied to the place, or building in which this gathering takes place.

Translation:

Went into must in some languages be changed to ‘arrived at’ (Zapotec), for though one may ‘enter into’ a house, a town is regarded as a different type of object, and hence one may ‘arrive at’ but not ‘go in.’

At least at this first occurrence of Capernaum it may be wise to introduce a classifier, e.g. ‘they arrived at town Capernaum, its name’ (Tzeltal).

Immediately on the sabbath may be rendered as ‘as soon as it was…’ or ‘scarcely was it the sabbath when….’

Sabbath (see Bible Translating, 239-40) is most generally translated as ‘rest day’ or ‘day for resting’ (Central Tarahumara, South Bolivian Quechua, Kituba, Yucateco, Highland Totonac, Western Highland Purepecha, Chol, Cashibo-Cacataibo, Amganad Ifugao, Tagalog, Joloana); cf. ‘day of standstill (of work)’ in Toraja-Sa’dan. Some persons have used ‘God’s day,’ but this tends to be confused with Sunday. One translation employed a phrase ‘fear day,’ a traditional form of expression which was supposed to mean ‘day for reverence,’ but it was quite an inadequate means of expression. One can, of course, transliterate the word sabbath, but in some regions this may lead to difficulty, too. For example, the Spanish equivalent is sabado ‘Saturday,’ and any transliterated (or borrowed) form will suggest ‘Saturday,’ which is in no sense recognized as a day of rest or one with any special religious significance.

Some translators have transliterated synagogue, but on the whole this is not a very satisfactory procedure, despite the fact that there are difficulties in translation since an expression chosen for synagogue tends to be confused with forms used for ‘temple’ and ‘church.’ In Toraja-Sa’dan a synagogue is ‘meeting house for discussing matters concerning religious customs’; a church is ‘house where one meets on Sunday’ and a temple is ‘house that is looked upon as holy, that is sacred, that is taboo and where one may not set foot’ (lit. ‘house where one gets a swollen stomach’). In Bambara a synagogue is ‘a worship house’ and the temple is ‘house of God’; a church is designated by a borrowed term eglise. In Navajo a synagogue is a ‘house of gathering’ and the temple ‘a house of worship.’ In some languages it has seemed expedient to identify the difference between a church and a synagogue by qualifying a synagogue as being used by Jews, e.g. ‘Jews’ praise-God house’ (Southern Bobo Madaré). An even closer parallel to church is found in ‘church of Jews’ for synagogue (Mitla Zapotec, Highland Oaxaca Chontal). Because of the fact that the ancient synagogues were also used as a place for the instruction of children during the week, some translators have used ‘school house,’ but this is inadequate to convey the religious significance of the structure.

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 .

SIL Translator's Notes on Mark 1:21

Section 1:21–28

Jesus expelled an evil spirit from a man

In this section Mark described the first of four events that happened in the town of Capernaum in the region of Galilee. Paragraph 1:21–26 tells how Jesus expelled an evil spirit from a man in the synagogue at Capernaum. Paragraph 1:27–28 describes the people’s amazed reaction to Jesus’ authority over evil spirits. See the note on “unclean spirit” in 1:23a for ways to translate “evil/unclean spirit.”

It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it.

Here is another idea for this section heading:

The time when Jesus expelled an evil spirit

There is a parallel passage for this section in Luke 4:31–37.

Paragraph 1:21–26

This paragraph begins with a change of location. Jesus and his four disciples walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee to the town of Capernaum.

1:21a

Jesus and His companions went: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Jesus and His companions went is more literally “they went.” The pronoun “they” refers to Jesus and the four disciples who were mentioned in 1:16–20. Since this is the start of a new section, you may want to make explicit who “they” refers to, as the Berean Standard Bible does. For example:

Jesus and his disciples (Good News Bible)
-or-
Jesus and his followers (New Century Version)

Capernaum: Capernaum was a small town that probably had fewer than two thousand people. It was located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. In some languages it may be helpful to indicate that Capernaum refers to a town. For example, the New Living Translation says:

the town of Capernaum (New Living Translation)

1:21b

and right away Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath: This part of the verse tells when the event in this section happened. It also tells the specific place in Capernaum where it happened. Consider how your language would naturally connect this part of the verse to what precedes it. In some languages it may be more natural to begin this part of the verse with a new sentence. For example:

When the next Sabbath day arrived, Jesus went into the synagogue
-or-
Jesus and his disciples went to the town of Capernaum. Then on the next Sabbath (Contemporary English Version)

and right away: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and right away is literally “and immediately.” Here it refers to the next Sabbath day, as the Contemporary English Version example in the preceding note indicates.

synagogue: A synagogue was a building where Jews gathered to pray, read scripture, teach their beliefs, and worship. The Jews also gathered there for cultural activities. There was only one temple (in Jerusalem), but each Jewish community had a synagogue.

Here are some other ways to translate synagogue:

prayer-house of the Jews
-or-
meeting-place of the Jews
-or-
worship building
-or-
house for gathering together

If you make explicit a phrase such as “of the Jews,” be sure that it does not imply that Jesus was not a Jew.

If the word synagogue is already known in your area, you may write it according to the sounds of your language. You may want to include a word or phrase to explain the meaning. For example:

sinagog house/building

Consider using a footnote that contains some of the information above. See synagogue in the Glossary.

Sabbath: The word Sabbath is the name of the seventh and last day of the week for the Jews. The Sabbath was the special day in the week when the Jews rested and worshiped God. The Law of Moses said that the Jews must not do any work on that day (Deuteronomy 5:12–15).

Here are some other ways to translate Sabbath:

the Jewish rest day
-or-
the day for resting
-or-
the day to rest and worship God

If the word Sabbath is already known in your area, you may write it according to the sounds of your language. You may also want to include a phrase to explain the meaning. For example:

the Sabat, the Jews’ day for resting

Be careful that the term you choose is not confused with Sunday, the day when Christians worship. The Sabbath for the Jews began at sundown on Friday and went until sundown on Saturday. You may want to include a footnote to give more information. For example:

The Sabbath is a name for the seventh day of the week. It is the day when the Jews rested from work and worshiped God.

1:21c

and began to teach: The Greek verb that most English versions translate as began to teach may also be translated as “taught,” as in the Revised Standard Version. Use a verb form that is natural in your language for this context.

In some languages a verb like teach may require you to tell what Jesus taught and whom he taught. In this context he taught God’s message to the people who gathered in the synagogue to worship.

Here is one way to make this information explicit:

began to teach God’s message to the people there

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