test, trap

The term that is translated as “test” or “trap” in English is rendered in Natügu with the phrase “catch him in a net.” (Source: David Clark)

In Noongar it is translated with a derivative of “fish trap” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is often translate idiomatically as einen Strick drehen or “give him enough rope so he will hang himself.”

See also trap him by what he said / catch him in some statement.

Mark 12:13 - 17 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 12:13-17 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)

Después los líderes elegieron algunos de los fariseos y elegieron otros de las personas que siempre defendían el Rey Herodes y los entregaron (la tarea): “vayanse y engañen a Jesús, quizás Jesús hace un error y lo podemos engañar.”

Fueron y dijeron: “Maestro sabemos que tú hablas la verdad y eres honrado, to ves a todas las personas en igual manera, tú jamás buscas favor, jamás eres tímido, tú verdaderamente enseñas la palabra de Dios.

Una pregunta: ¿Permite Dios que paguemos impuestos al emperador Cesar? ¿Debemos pagar? Dinos.

Jesús por adentro sabía que eran hipócritas y dijo”: “¿Porqué me engañan? Por favor, pido un moneda de plata, lo quiero ver.”

Una persona fue y agarró (una moneda) y se la dio. Jesús tomó la moneda (y dijo): “¿Qué significa el nombre y la cara?” Las personas (dijeron): “Son de César.”

Jesús (dijo): “Son de Cesar, bien, si él se lo pide, deben pagar.

El mismo con Dios, si él les pide algo deben obedecer a Dios.”

Las personas todas lo vieron: ¡huy! admirable, y pensaron ‘¡caray!’


Afterwards the leaders chose some from among the Pharisees and some others from the people who always supported King Herod and they handed (the task) over to them: “go and deceive Jesus, maybe Jesus will make an error and then we can denounce him.”

They went and said: “Teacher, we know that you speak the truth and you are honorable, you consider all people the same, you never seek favor and are never timid, you really teach the Word of God.

“A question: Does God allow us to pay tax to the emperor Caesar? Should we pay? Tell us.”

Jesus knew inside that they were hypocrites and he said: “Why do you deceive me? Please, I ask for a silver coin, I want to see it.”

A person went and took (a coin) and gave it to him. Jesus took the coin (and said): “What do the name and face mean?” The people (said): “They are Caesar’s.”

Jesus (said): “They are Caesar’s, right, if he asks for it you must pay it.

“The same with God, if he asks you something you must obey God.”

The people all saw it: wow, wonderful! and they thought ‘awesome!’

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

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Mark 12:18-27 in Mexican Sign Language >>

Mark 12:13-17 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 12:13-17 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

After some time, the rulers chose some people from the Pharisees and some people from among those who were supporters of King Herod. They all agreed that they would go to Jesus and ask him a tricky question in order to catch Jesus in a mistake. They came to Jesus and began to say to him:

— Teacher, we know that you are honest! You do not pander to people, to your superiors. What God requires of you, you teach. We want to ask you. The Roman Emperor requires us to pay taxes. But we serve God and bring gifts to him, don’t we? Do we still need to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor?!

Jesus realized that they were wicked and said to them:

— Why are you trying to catch me? Give me a coin.

They gave him a coin. The coin had a picture of the Roman emperor and his name written on it.

Jesus asked: Who is depicted on the coin? Whose name is written?

They answer him: The Roman Emperor.

Jesus said: Then give to the Roman emperor what he requires of you. And what God requires of you, give to God.

And they were very surprised by his answer.

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

Спустя какое-то время начальники выбрали несколько человек из фарисеев и несколько человек из тех людей, которые были сторонниками царя Ирода. Все они стали сговариваться, что пойдут к Иисусу и зададут ему каверзный вопрос, чтобы поймать Иисуса на ошибке. Они подошли к Иисусу и стали говорить ему:

— Учитель, мы знаем, что ты честный! У тебя нет подхалимства к людям, к начальству. То, что Бог требует от тебя, именно этому ты учишь. Мы хотим спросить тебя. Вот римский император требует с нас налоги платить. Но мы ведь служим Богу и приносим дары ему? Разве нам ещё нужно платить налоги римскому императору?!

Иисус понял, что они лукавые и сказал им:

— Зачем вы пытаетесь меня уловить? Дайте мне монету.

Ему дали монету. На монете был изображен римский император и написано его имя.

Иисус спросил: Кто изображен на монете? Чье имя написано?

Ему отвечают: Римский император

Иисус сказал: Тогда дайте римскому императору, что он требует от вас. А то, что Бог требует с вас, давайте Богу.

И они очень удивились его ответу.

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

<< Mark 12:1-12 in Russian Sign Language
Mark 12:18-27 in Russian Sign Language >>

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The Greek that is usually translated as “scribe” in English “were more than mere writers of the law. They were the trained interpreters of the law and expounders of tradition.”

Here are a number of its (back-) translations:

  • Yaka: “clerk in God’s house”
  • Amganad Ifugao: “man who wrote and taught in the synagogue”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “teaching-writer” (“an attempt to emphasize their dual function”)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “book-wise person”
  • San Blas Kuna: “one who knew the Jews’ ways”
  • Loma: “educated one”
  • San Mateo del Mar Huave: “one knowing holy paper”
  • Central Mazahua: “writer of holy words”
  • Indonesian: “expert in the Torah”
  • Pamona: “man skilled in the ordinances” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Sinhala: “bearer-of-the-law”
  • Marathi: “one-learned-in-the-Scriptures”
  • Shona (1966): “expert of the law”
  • Balinese: “expert of the books of Torah”
  • Ekari: “one knowing paper/book”
  • Tboli: “one who taught the law God before caused Moses to write” (or “one who taught the law of Moses”) (source for this and 5 above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Noongar: Mammarapa-Warrinyang or “law man” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Mairasi: “one who writes and explains Great Above One’s (=God’s) prohibitions” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Chichewa: “teacher of Laws” (source: Ernst Wendland)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “teachers of law”
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “writer”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “person who teaches the law which Moses wrote”
  • Alekano: “man who knows wisdom” (source for this and four above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Saint Lucian Creole French: titcha lwa sé Jwif-la (“teacher of the law of the Jews”) (source: David Frank in Lexical Challenges in the St. Lucian Creole Bible Translation Project, 1998)
  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “one who teaches the holy writings”
  • Atatláhuca Mixtec: “teacher of the words of the law”
  • Coatlán Mixe: “teacher of the religious law”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “one who is a teacher of the law which God gave to Moses back then”
  • Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “one who know well the law” (Source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Huixtán Tzotzil: “one who mistakenly thought he was teaching God’s commandments”(Huixtán Tzotzil frequently uses the verb -cuy to express “to mistakenly think something” from the point of view of the speaker; source: Marion M. Cowan in Notes on Translation 20/1966, pp. 6ff.)
  • Sumau: “law-knowing men” (source: this blog post by Todd Owen)
  • German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “theologian” and the 1998 translation by Walter Jens: “interpreter of scriptures” (Schriftausleger)
  • English translation by Scot McKnight (The Second Testament, publ. 2023): Covenant Code scholar

In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines the signs for “expert” and “law.” (Source: Anna Smith)


“Scribe” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL , used with permission)

start of sections in Mark with the Greek καὶ

One of the distinctions of the gospel of Mark is a breathlessness of telling the story of Jesus. One way that is achieved is by using the Greek kai, normally “and” in English, at the beginning of sections. Different versions and languages have found their own ways of translating it, but the German translation by Walter Jens (publ. 1990, 1998) is unique by consistently using Und ich erzähle or “And I’m telling (you)” for every such occurrence of kai.

complete verse (Mark 12:13)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 12:13:

  • Uma: “From there, the Yahudi leaders ordered several Parisi people and people who were on the side of King Herodes to go to Yesus. Their purpose was to make-him-fall with their questions.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Some Pariseo and adherents of King Herod were sent by them to Isa to trap him in his speech.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And they sent some of the Pharisees and some of the followers of the party of Herod to get Jesus to say something that they might use to accuse him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Then they sent some who belonged to the party/group of Herod and some Pharisees so that if he had an answer, they would use-it-as-a-basis-for-filing-charges-against him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well since it was like that, there were some sent by those leaders of the Judio who were Pariseo and (by) the supporters of Herodes. They were sent to Jesus to snare(fig.) him in what he said.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Pharisee

The Greek that is a transliteration of the Hebrew Pərūšīm and is typically transliterated into English as “Pharisee” is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as Fǎlìsài (法利賽 / 法利赛) (Protestant) or Fǎlìsāi (法利塞) (Catholic). In Chinese, transliterations can typically be done with a great number of different and identical-sounding characters. Often the meaning of the characters are not relevant, unless they are chosen carefully as in these cases. The Protestant Fǎlìsài can mean something like “Competition for the profit of the law” and the Catholic Fǎlìsāi “Stuffed by/with the profit of the law.” (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 51)

In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “prayer shawl”. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Pharisee” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts “pointing out the law.” (Source: Anna Smith)


“Pharisee” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

In French Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts the box of the phylacteries attached to the forehead:


“Pharisees” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as Observant. He explains (p. 302): “Pharisee has become a public, universal pejorative term for a hypocrite. Pharisees were observant of the interpretation of the Covenant Code called the ‘tradition of the elders.’ They conformed their behaviors to the interpretation. Among the various groups of Jews at the time of Jesus, they were perhaps closest to Jesus in their overall concern to make a radical commitment to the will of God (as they understood it).”

See also Nicodemus.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Pharisees .