Mark 12:1 - 12 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 12:1-12 into Mexican Sign Language with back-translations into Spanish and English underneath:


© La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)

Jesús empezó a enseñar diciendo: “Un ejemplo: un hombre, dueño de un terreno lo aró (y pusó) plantas de uvas, después construyó un cerco alrededor y después cavó un ollo cuadrado y puso un piedra plano adentro para poner las uvas y aplastarlas pisandolas para que saliera el jugo para (hacer) vino.

Construyó un torre para que personas vigilaran y después el dueño llamó un grupo de personas (y dijo): ‘yo voy de viaje, uds trabajen cuidando las plantas de uva y después cuando estén listos uds y yo las dividimos mitad y mitad, ¿de acuerdo? OK?’ Y se fue.

Después de un tiempo el dueño sintió que las plantas de uva allá estarían listos y dijo a un siervo: ‘vete a mi terreno, antes acordamos a que dividiríamos las uvas mitad y mitad, traemelas.’

El siervo fue pero las personas lo asaltaron y golpearon y lo expulsaron y regresó (diciendo): ‘No me dieron nada de uvas.’

Mandó segundo siervo a que fuera y él fue pero las personas lo insultaron y golpearon y regresó, y mandó otro, el tercero, a que fuera y él fue y lo mataron.

Otros siervos fueron pero una y otra vez los golpearon y mataron y finalmente el dueño sintió: ‘creo que a mi hijo amado tendrían respeto’ y lo mandó a que fuera.

Fue y las personas dialogaron juntos (diciendo): ‘Este es el hijo del dueño, el heredero, mejor que lo matemos y entonces nosotros heredaremos’, y lo asaltaron y mataron y tiraron su cuerpo afuera.”

Jesús dijo: “¿Qué piensan uds que hará el dueño? Encontrará y matará a todas las personas y entregará (el terreno) a otras personas nuevas, ¿de acuerdo?”

˜Oigan, ¿no han visto y leído el rollo de la palabra de Dios? Dice que las personas que construyen (dirán que) el piedra grande no sirve y lo tirarán, pero Dios sí usará la piedra y la pondrá como piedra abajo de la esquina para constuir un edificio, uds lo verán como maravilloso.”

Los líderes lo oyeron: ‘Caray, Jesús lo dice como en contra de nosotros’, y querían arrestar a Jesús pero tenían miedo, ‘mejor no porque habría una estorba de todas las personas’ y lo dejaron y se fueron.


Jesus began to teach saying: “An example, a man, owner of a field, plowed it and (put) grape plants, then he built a fence around it and dug a square hole in which he put a flat stone to put grapes on and squash them by stepping on them so that the juice would run out to (make) wine.

“He built a tower for people to keep watch and then the owner called a group of people (and said): “I am going on a journey, you work and take care of the grape plants and then when they are ready we divide them in two halves, agreed? OK?’ And he went off.

“After a time the owner felt that the grape plants would be ready and he said to a servant: ‘go to my land, before we agreed to divide the grapes half-half, bring them to me.’

“The servant went but the people attacked him and beat him and threw him out and he came back (saying): ‘They did not give me any grapes.’

“He ordered a second servant to go and he went but the people insulted him and beat him and he came back and he ordered a third and he went and they killed him.

“Other servants went but time and time again they beat them and killed them and finally the owner felt: ‘I believe that they would respect my beloved son’ and he sent him to go.

“He went and the people discussed together (saying): ‘This is the son of the owner, the heir, it’s better that we kill him and then we will inherit’ and they attacked him and killed him and threw his body outside.”

Jesus said: “What do you think the owner will do? He will meet and kill all these people and hand over (the field) to other, new, people, right?”

˜Listen, have you not seen and read the scroll of the Word of God? It says that the people who build (will say that) the big stone is useless and will throw it out, but God will use the stone and will put the stone under the corner for the construction of a building, you will see it as wonderful.”

The leaders heard it: ‘Oh no, Jesus talks as if it is against us’ and they wanted to arrest Jesus but they were afraid, ‘better not because there will be a disturbance among all the people’ and they left him and went away.

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

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Mark 12:13-17 in Mexican Sign Language >>

Mark 12:1-12 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 12:1-12 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

The chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders stood on one side. Jesus taught the people. A large crowd gathered around Jesus. Jesus began to tell a parable:

There was a man, the owner. He had his own plot of land. He fenced it and planted grapes there.

Then he made a hole in the stone; in it a tube. When the grapes grow, they will harvest, then throw them into this hole and trample them. The juice will flow through this tube, and they will make wine from it.

This man also built a tower so that the guards could protect the area, so that strangers would not enter. He prepared all this. Then he called the workers and said to them:

— I give you this plot, look after it, cultivate the land, this vineyard. And when it ripens, we will divide the harvest. I will take part for myself, part for you.

And the owner went far, far away, on his own business. Time passed, autumn came, the owner called the servant and said: I have a plot of grapes. Go there and take some of the harvest.

The servant obeyed and went to that place, to the plot. The people who worked there decided that they would not give anything to this servant. They beat the servant and threw him out.

He left empty-handed. The owner saw that, called another servant, and also sent him there to take part of the harvest. The second servant came to the place. The workers saw the servant again, talked among themselves and decided that they would not give anything.

They grabbed him, beat him on the head, beat him very hard, beat him very cruelly. And then the master called a third servant and also sent him to that place. And when the third servant came there, those evil people also did not give anything, they grabbed him and killed him.

The owner says: I sent and sent my servants there so many times, and those workers beat them, killed those whom I sent there.

The owner thought: What to do?

He had an only, beloved son. The owner thought: If I send my son, they will not dare to touch him.

And he ordered his son to go there. The workers saw the son and began to talk among themselves:

— But he is the owner’s son. He will inherit and take possession of this plot. Let’s kill him and seize this plot for ourselves!

When the son approached, they grabbed him, killed him and threw him outside the area.

What will the owner do then?

Of course, he will come, seize these workers and punish them all with death. And he will give the area to other people.

Jesus said to the chief priests, scribes, and elders:

— You know what is written in the Scripture:

People gathered to build a house of stones. Suddenly they decided that one stone was not needed and threw it away. They continued to build the house, but without this stone. The Lord commanded that this stone should be the most important in the house. The builders saw that the Lord had performed a miracle.

The elders who were standing around realized that Jesus was telling this parable against them. They were indignant and wanted to seize Jesus, but they could not do so because there were so many people around.

They decided: Let’s do nothing and leave.

And they left.

Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):

Первосвященники, учителя закона и старейшины стояли с одной стороны. Иисус учил народ. Вокруг Иисуса собралась большая толпа. Иисус начал рассказывать притчу:

Был один человек, хозяин. У него был свой участок земли. Он огородил его, посадил там виноград.

Потом сделал яму в камне; в ней трубочка. Когда виноград вырастет, соберут урожай, то бросят в эту яму и будут топтать. Сок потечет по этой трубочке, и из него сделают вино.

Также этот человек построил башню для того, чтобы сторожа охраняли, чтобы чужие не заходили на участок. Он все это подготовил. Потом позвал работников и сказал им:

— Я даю вам этот участок, ухаживайте, обрабатывайте землю, этот виноградник. И когда он созреет, мы поделим урожай. Часть я себе заберу, часть вам.

И хозяин уехал далеко-далеко, по своим делам. Прошло время, наступила осень, хозяин позвал слугу и сказал: У меня есть участок с виноградом. Иди туда и часть урожая забери.

Слуга послушался и пошел на то место, на участок. Люди же, которые там работали, решили, что не будут ничего давать этому слуге. Они избили слугу и выгнали вон.

Он ушел с пустыми руками. Хозяин увидел, позвал другого слугу, также отправил его туда забрать часть урожая. Второй слуга пришел на место. Работники опять увидели слугу, между собой поговорили и решили, что не дадут ничего.

Они схватили его, избили по голове, очень сильно били, очень жестоко его избили. И тогда хозяин позвал третьего слугу и также отправил в то место. И третий слуга пришел туда, а те злые люди также ничего не дали, они схватили его и убили.

Хозяин говорит: Я сколько отправлял-посылал туда моих слуг, а те работники избивали их, убивали тех, кого я посылал туда.

Хозяин думал: Что же делать?

У него был единственный, любимый сын. Хозяин подумал: Если я отправлю сына они не посмеют его тронуть.

И он повелел сыну отправляться туда. Работники увидели сына и стали между собой сговариваться:

— Да ведь это же сын хозяина. Это он получит наследство и завладеет этим участком. Давайте мы его убьем и захватим этот участок себе!

Когда сын приблизился, они его схватили, убили и бросили за участок.

Что же тогда будет делать хозяин?

Конечно же, он придет, схватит этих работников и покарает их все смертью. А участок он отдаст другим людям.

Иисус сказал первосвященникам, книжникам, старейшинам:

— Вы ведь знаете, что написано в Писании:

Собрались люди, чтобы построить дом из камней. Вдруг они решили, что один камень не нужен и выбросили его. Они продолжали строить дом, но без этого камня. Господь повелел, чтобы этот камень был самый важный в доме. Увидели строители, что так Господь совершил чудо.

Старейшины, которые стояли вокруг, поняли, что Иисус рассказывает эту притчу против них. Они негодовали и хотели схватить Иисуса, но они не смогли этого сделать, потому что было очень много людей вокруг.

Они решили: Давайте лучше не будем ничего делать и уйдем.

И они ушли.

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

<< Mark 11:27-33 in Russian Sign Language
Mark 12:13-17 in Russian Sign Language >>

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Mark 12:11)

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 psalmist and the people).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (Mark 12:11)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 12:11:

  • Uma: “That happened following the desire of the Lord God, no kidding it’s goodness in our sight.’ ‘” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “God has done this, and it is really exceedingly good!’ ‘” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “This is the work of the Lord, and it really amazes us.’ ‘” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “This is what the Lord God did, and it is very-good and amazing in our viewpoint.’ ‘” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “God really did this and it is really amazing.”” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Lord

Click here to view graphically

The Hebrew adonai in the Old Testament typically refers to God. The shorter adon (and in two cases in the book of Daniel the Aramaic mare [מָרֵא]) is also used to refer to God but more often for concepts like “master,” “owner,” etc. In English Bible translations all of those are translated with “Lord” if they refer to God.

In English Old Testament translations, as in Old Testament translations in many other languages, the use of Lord (or an equivalent term in other languages) is not to be confused with Lord (or the equivalent term with a different typographical display for other languages). While the former translates adonai, adon and mare, the latter is a translation for the tetragrammaton (YHWH) or the Name of God. See tetragrammaton (YHWH) and the article by Andy Warren-Rothlin in Noss / Houser, p. 618ff. for more information.

In the New Testament, the Greek term kurios has at least four different kinds of use:

  • referring to “God,” especially in Old Testament quotations,
  • meaning “master” or “owner,” especially in parables, etc.,
  • as a form of address (see for instance John 4:11: “Sir, you have no bucket”),
  • or, most often, referring to Jesus

In the first and fourth case, it is also translated as “Lord” in English.

Most languages naturally don’t have one word that covers all these meanings. According to Bratcher / Nida, “the alternatives are usually (1) a term which is an honorific title of respect for a high-ranking person and (2) a word meaning ‘boss’, ‘master’, or ‘chief.’ (…) and on the whole it has generally seemed better to employ a word of the second category, in order to emphasize the immediate personal relationship, and then by context to build into the word the prestigeful character, since its very association with Jesus Christ will tend to accomplish this purpose.”

When looking at the following list of back-translations of the terms that translators in the different languages have used for both kurios and adonai to refer to God and Jesus respectively, it might be helpful for English readers to recall the etymology of the English “Lord.” While this term might have gained an exalted meaning in the understanding of many, it actually comes from hlaford or “loaf-ward,” referring to the lord of the castle who was the keeper of the bread (source: Rosin 1956, p. 121).

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight

Following are some of the solutions that don’t rely on a different typographical display (see above):

  • Navajo: “the one who has charge”
  • Mossi: “the one who has the head” (the leader)
  • Uduk: “chief”
  • Guerrero Amuzgo: “the one who commands”
  • Kpelle: “person-owner” (a term which may be applied to a chief)
  • Central Pame: “the one who owns us” (or “commands us”)
  • Piro: “the big one” (used commonly of one in authority)
  • San Blas Kuna: “the great one over all” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Guhu-Samane: Soopara (“our Supervisor”) (source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.)
  • Balinese: “Venerated-one” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Yanesha’: “the one who carries us” (source: Nida 1952, p. 159)
  • Northern Emberá: Dadjirã Boro (“our Head”)
  • Rarotongan: Atu (“master or owner of a property”)
  • Gilbertese: Uea (“a person of high status invested with authority to rule the people”)
  • Rotuman: Gagaja (“village chief”)
  • Samoan: Ali’i (“an important word in the native culture, it derives from the Samoan understanding of lordship based on the local traditions”)
  • Tahitian: Fatu (“owner,” “master”)
  • Tuvalu: Te Aliki (“chief”)
  • Fijian: Liuliu (“leader”) (source for this and six above: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1994, p. 329ff. )
  • Bacama: Həmə miye: “owner of people” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
  • Hopi: “Controller” (source: Walls 2000, p. 139)
  • Iyansi: Mwol. Mwol is traditionally used for the “chief of a group of communities and villages” with legal, temporal, and spiritual authority (versus the “mfum [the term used in other Bantu languages] which is used for the chief of one community of people in one village”). Mwol is also used for twins who are “treated as special children, highly honored, and taken care of like kings and queens.” (Source: Kividi Kikama in Greed / Kruger, p. 396ff.)
  • Ghomala’: Cyəpɔ (“he who is above everyone,” consisting of the verb cyə — to surpass or go beyond — and pɔ — referring to people. No human can claim this attribute, no matter what his or her social status or prestige.” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn )
  • Binumarien: Karaambaia: “fight-leader” (Source: Oates 1995, p. 255)
  • Warlpiri: Warlaljamarri (owner or possessor of something — for more information tap or click here)

    We have come to rely on another term which emphasizes God’s essential nature as YHWH, namely jukurrarnu (see tetragrammaton (YHWH)). This word is built on the same root jukurr– as is jukurrpa, ‘dreaming.’ Its basic meaning is ‘timelessness’ and it is used to describe physical features of the land which are viewed as always being there. Some speakers view jukurrarnu in terms of ‘history.’ In all Genesis references to YHWH we have used Kaatu Jukurrarnu. In all Mark passages where kurios refers to God and not specifically to Christ we have also used Kaatu Jukurrarnu.

    New Testament references to Christ as kurios are handled differently. At one stage we experimented with the term Watirirririrri which refers to a ceremonial boss of highest rank who has the authority to instigate ceremonies. While adequately conveying the sense of Christ’s authority, there remained potential negative connotations relating to Warlpiri ceremonial life of which we might be unaware.

    Here it is that the Holy Spirit led us to make a chance discovery. Transcribing the personal testimony of the local Warlpiri pastor, I noticed that he described how ‘my Warlaljamarri called and embraced me (to the faith)’. Warlaljamarri is based on the root warlalja which means variously ‘family, possessions, belongingness’. A warlaljamarri is the ‘owner’ or ‘possessor’ of something. While previously being aware of the ‘ownership’ aspect of warlaljamarri, this was the first time I had heard it applied spontaneously and naturally in a fashion which did justice to the entire concept of ‘Lordship’. Thus references to Christ as kurios are now being handled by Warlaljamarri.” (Source: Stephen Swartz, The Bible Translator 1985, p. 415ff. )

  • Mairasi: Onggoao Nem (“Throated One” — “Leader,” “Elder”) or Enggavot Nan (“Above-One”) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Obolo: Okaan̄-ene (“Owner of person(s)”) (source: Enene Enene)
  • Angami Naga: Niepu (“master,” “owner”)
  • Lotha Naga: Opvui (“owner of house / field / cattle”) — since both “Lord” and YHWH are translated as Opvui there is an understanding that “Opvui Jesus is the same as the Opvui of the Old Testament”
  • Ao Naga: Kibuba (“human master,” “teacher,” “owner of property,” etc.) (source for this and two above: Nitoy Achumi in The Bible Translator 1992 p. 438ff. )
  • Seediq: Tholang, loan word from Min Nan Chinese (the majority language in Taiwan) thâu-lâng (頭儂): “Master” (source: Covell 1998, p. 248)
  • Thai: phra’ phu pen cao (พระผู้เป็นเจ้า) (divine person who is lord) or ong(kh) cao nay (องค์เจ้านาย) (<divine classifier>-lord-boss) (source: Stephen Pattemore)
  • Arabic often uses different terms for adonai or kurios referring to God (al-rabb الرب) and kurios referring to Jesus (al-sayyid الـسـيـد). Al-rabb is also the term traditionally used in Arabic Christian-idiom translations for YHWH, and al-sayyid is an honorary term, similar to English “lord” or “sir” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).
  • Tamil also uses different terms for adonai/kurios when referring to God and kurios when referring to Jesus. The former is Karttar கர்த்தர், a Sanskrit-derived term with the original meaning of “creator,” and the latter in Āṇṭavar ஆண்டவர், a Tamil term originally meaning “govern” or “reign” (source: Natarajan Subramani).
  • Burunge: Looimoo: “owner who owns everything” (in the Burunge Bible translation, this term is only used as a reference to Jesus and was originally used to refer to the traditional highest deity — source: Michael Endl in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 48)
  • Aguacateco: Ajcaw ske’j: “the one to whom we belong and who is above us” (source: Rita Peterson in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 49)
  • Konkomba: Tidindaan: “He who is the owner of the land and reigns over the people” (source: Lidorio 2007, p. 66)
  • Chichewa: Ambuye Ambuye comes from the singular form Mbuye which is used to refer to: (1) someone who is a guardian or protector of someone or group of people — a grandparent who has founded a community or village; (2) someone who is a boss or master over a group of people or servants and has absolute control over them; (3) owner of something, be it a property, animals and people who are bound under his/her rule — for people this was mostly commonly used in the context of slaves and their owner. In short, Mbuye is someone who has some authorities over those who call him/her their “Mbuye.” Now, when the form Ambuye is used it will either be for honorific when used for singular or plural when referring to more than one person. When this term is used in reference to God, it is for respect to God as he is acknowledged as a guardian, protector, and ruler of everything. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation).
  • Hdi uses rveri (“lion”) as a title of respect and as such it regularly translates adon in the Old Testament. As an address, it’s most often with a possessive pronoun as in rvera ɗa (“my lion” = “my lord” or “sir”). So, for example, Genesis 15:2 (“O Lord God”) is Rvera ɗa Yawe (“My lion Yahweh”) or Ruth to Boaz in Ruth 2:13: “May I find your grace [lit. good-stomach] my lion.” This ties in nicely with the imagery of the Lord roaring like a lion (Hosea 11:10; Amos 3:8; Joel 3:16). Better still, this makes passages like Revelation 5:5 even richer when we read about rveri ma taba məndəra la Yuda, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”. In Revelation 19:16, Jesus is rveri ta ghəŋa rveriha “the lion above lions” (“lord of lords”). (Source: Drew Maust)

Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient Greek Septuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew adonai was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments: “Another case is the use of kurios referring to Jesus. For Yahweh (in English Bibles: ‘the Lord‘), the Septuagint uses kurios. Although the term kurios usually has to do with one’s authority over others, when the New Testament authors use this word from the Septuagint to refer to Jesus, they are making an extraordinary claim: Jesus of Nazareth is to be identified with Yahweh.”

See also Father / Lord.

respectful form of "do" (nasaru)

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 of lexical honorific forms, i.e., completely different words, as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.

In these verses, nasaru (なさる), the respectful form of suru (する) or “do” is used. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Mark 12:10 – 12:11

Exegesis:

oude tēn graphēn tautēn anegnōte; ‘have you not read even this scripture?’: in such a context oude means ‘not even’ (cf. Lagrange ‘at least this scripture?’) rather than ‘not’ (cf. Moffatt). The scripture quoted is Ps. 118.22-23, quoted exactly as the Septuagint translates it.

graphē (only here in singular; in 12.24; 14.49 in plural) ‘writing,’ ‘(passage of) scripture’: the singular refers to a particular passage in the O.T., in accordance with normal use of the word in the N.T.

anaginōskō (cf. 2.25) ‘read.’

lithon (cf. 5.5) ‘stone’: Revised Standard Version ‘the very stone’ carries somewhat more emphasis than the Greek allows; ‘the stone,’ or, at the most, ‘that stone,’ is an accurate translation. The word lithon is in the accusative case, by attraction to the case of the relative pronoun hon ‘which,’ the object of the verb apedokimasan ‘they rejected,’ a construction common in Greek.

apedokimasan (cf. 8.31) ‘they rejected,’ ‘they considered worthless.’

hoi oikodomountes (cf. 12.1) ‘the builders.’

egenēthē eis kephalēn gōnias ‘was the cornerstone,’ ‘became the head of the corner’: egenēthē eis is the literal Septuagint translation of the Hebrew phrase hayah le and means simply ‘was,’ ‘became’ (cf. 10.8).

kephalē gōnias (only here in Mark) is either ‘the cornerstone’ which holds together the walls, or ‘the keystone,’ ‘the capstone’ which is placed above the door. Most translations have ‘cornerstone.’ Revised Standard Version (following American Standard Version) ‘the head of the corner,’ here and elsewhere in the N.T. where the passage is quoted (parallels Mt. 21.42, Lk. 20.17; Acts 4.11, 1 Pet. 2.7), is inconsistent with its translation of the O.T. passage (Ps. 118.22), which appears as ‘chief cornerstone.’ The cognate akrogōniaios, the Septuagint translation in Isa. 28.16, is found in Eph. 2.20 and 1 Pet. 2.6, the Revised Standard Version translation in all three passages being ‘cornerstone.’ If a distinction is to be maintained between kephalē gōnias and akrogōniaios in the N.T., ‘chief cornerstone’ should be used for the former and ‘cornerstone’ for the latter. ‘The head of the corner’ may be virtually meaningless.

para kuriou egeneto hautē ‘this came from the Lord,’ ‘this was the Lord’s doing.’

kuriou ‘of the Lord,’ i.e. ‘of Yahweh,’ ‘of God’ (cf. 1.3).

hautē ‘this’: the feminine gender is due to the Septuagint literal translation of the Hebrew feminine demonstrative zoʾth which is used for the neuter, and means, in this passage, ‘this thing,’ ‘this matter’ (Field gives other Septuagint passages where the same thing occurs). Gould, with little probability, refers hautē to kephalē gōnias ‘cornerstone’ (cf. Lagrange, Swete, Taylor).

thaumastē (only here in Mark) ‘marvelous,’ ‘wonderful.’

en ophthalmois hēmōn ‘in our sight,’ i.e. ‘in our judgment.’

Translation:

For the treatment of a question implying a positive answer, as for example, have you not read this scripture, see 11.17, but in this particular context the problem is somewhat more difficult because of the long direct discourse which follows and which cannot be combined in some languages with the question. Accordingly, one may need to employ certain close equivalents, e.g. ‘Have you read this scripture; I am sure you have’ (which implies the same as the negative form in English which anticipates a positive answer and as such is really a strong affirmative of the statement), or ‘You have read this scripture surely?,’ or ‘Have you not read this scripture – yes?’ (or ‘no,’ depending upon patterns of agreement). Whether the punctuation of the question should be placed at the end of the direct discourse will depend entirely upon the syntactic patterns of the receptor language and the traditional practices.

Scripture may be translated as ‘the writing’ (Yucateco), ‘the sacred writing,’ in which ‘sacred,’ as a kind of classifier, is required in order to indicate the religious nature of the writing (Ngäbere), and ‘this writing of God,’ without implying that God literally wrote out the document (Tzotzil, San Blas Kuna, Eastern Highland Otomi).

Builders may be translated in some languages as ‘house-makers’ (Barrow Eskimo).

Rejected may be objective in the sense of ‘cast aside,’ but the more accurate rendering is a subjective one ‘regarded as worthless’ or ‘thought was not of value’ (or ‘was useless’).

Head of the corner should not be translated literally, unless by some strange coincidence it is a meaningful expression. As noted above, the meaning is either corner stone or cap stone. As the first meaning one may have ‘ear of the house’ (Conob) or ‘the strongest stone in the corner’ (Tzotzil). In other instances, translators have chosen the meaning of cap stone or keystone, and translated this as ‘the top stone’ or ‘the high stone.’ However, an ambiguous expression, which at the same time conveys the significance of the passage, may emphasize the relative importance of the stone, e.g. ‘the most important stone’ (Huastec), ‘surpasses in importance to hold up the house’ (Yaka), ‘most valued stone,’ with the meaning of ‘most useful’ (Eastern Highland Otomi).

Many languages distinguish two words for ‘corner,’ an inside and an outside corner, e.g. Spanish. Here the outside corner is the one involved.

This was the Lord’s doing is a relatively difficult expression to translate literally into other languages, but it may be transformed into a direct construction, ‘the Lord has done this.’

For the use of Lord see 1.3. Despite the fact that this is a reference to Lord as God, it is important to preserve the ambiguity of the N.T. in using a word which is also the common designation of Jesus as Lord.

Marvelous in our eyes must usually be changed to a direct construction, e.g. ‘as we see it we are amazed’ (Navajo) or ‘we see it as a big thing’ (Eastern Highland Otomi). Eyes is only an indirect way of speaking about ‘seeing.’

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 12:11

12:11

This is from the Lord: This statement means that God is the one who took the rejected stone and made it the most important one in the building.

Lord: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Lord means “master” or “the one who has authority over others.” Here in 12:11 it refers to God. It is a translation of God’s personal name in Hebrew.

Here are some other ways to translate Lord:

Master/Chief
-or-
Ruler

In some languages people may not naturally use a word that means “master” to refer to God. If speakers of your language do not understand that your word for “Lord” refers to God in this context, here are other ways to translate it:

• Use your word for God.

• Use your word for God and indicates that he is the Lord. For example:

God the Lord
-or-
Master God

If you include the word for God in your translation of Lord, you may want to include a footnote to give the literal Greek meaning. For example:

Here the Greek text is literally “Lord.”

See Lord, Context 2, in the Glossary.

and it is marvelous in our eyes: The word marvelous means “amazing and wonderful.” Both Jesus and the person who wrote Psalm 118 referred here to what God had done to the stone that represented the Messiah. People were amazed that God did something great with something that men considered worthless. The one whom the Jews rejected as Messiah was the one whom God appointed as Messiah.

in our eyes: This means “as we understand it” or “in our judgment.” It does not refer to literally seeing it with the eyes. The New Century Version has another way to say this:

it is wonderful to us

Paragraph 12:12

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