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 12:13-17:
Some theologians and politicians got together
and sent a committee to trick Jesus
into making a false statement.
“Teacher,” they said, “you’re absolutely honest,
you don’t show favoritism,
and you’re straight forward about God’s demands.
One small matter: Should we pay taxes to the government?”
Jesus knew what they were up to, so he replied
“Don’t try to play power politics with me!
Show me a coin of the state.”
They handed him a coin, and he asked,
“Whose face is on this coin?
What are these buildings?”
“It’s the face of our ruler,” they answered,
“and our national headquarters.”
“Then pay the government what you owe,” said Jesus,
“and give God what belongs to God.”
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®).
apostellousin is probably impersonal ‘they send,’ i.e. ‘(some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians) were sent.’ It is not likely that the subject of the verb is the ‘they’ of the previous verse (which, in the Marcan context, goes back to ‘them’ in 12.1 and eventually to ‘the chief priests and the scribes and the elders’ in 11.27).
agreusōsin (only here in the N.T.) ‘they may catch,’ ‘they may take’: used in the papyri (cf. Moulton & Milligan) literally of hunting and fishing.
logō ‘in a word,’ ‘by means of a statement.’
Translation:
Herodians are ‘the henchmen of Herod’ or ‘the followers of Herod.’
To entrap him in his talk has been idiomatically rendered in Shipibo-Conibo as ‘having headed him off to catch him’ (a metaphorical expression derived from the practice of tracking down animals). In Copainalá Zoque this same expression is rendered ‘to cause him to fall because of his words’ and in Tzotzil one may say ‘to catch him because of what he said.’
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 .
Jewish leaders tried to trick Jesus with a question about paying taxes
The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders mentioned in 11:27 sent men to trick Jesus. They tried to trap him into saying something that they could use to cause trouble for him. The leaders sent men from two different groups, the Pharisees and the Herodians. These groups had plotted together against Jesus before in 3:6.
The men asked Jesus, “Should the Jews pay taxes to the Roman Emperor Caesar or not?” The word “Caesar” was the title that the Roman people gave to their highest ruler, the emperor. (The Romans worshipped their emperor as a god.) The Romans ruled the Jews and forced them to pay taxes. Although the Herodians and the Pharisees agreed to oppose Jesus, they disagreed about whether a person should pay taxes to the Roman emperor. The Herodians wanted the Romans to continue to rule the Jews, so they supported paying taxes. The Pharisees did not want the Romans to rule, and they were against paying taxes to them.
The men’s question was difficult because either a “yes” or a “no” answer would cause problems for Jesus. If Jesus answered, “Yes, the Jews should pay taxes to the Romans,” he would displease the Jews. If he answered, “No, they should not pay,” he would displease the Roman government. But Jesus answered wisely and avoided the trap that the Jewish leaders had set for him.
It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
Paying Taxes to Caesar (English Standard Version) -or-
The Question about Paying Taxes (Good News Bible) -or-
Jewish leaders ask Jesus about paying taxes
There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 22:15–22 and Luke 20:20–26.
Paragraph 12:13–17
12:13a
Later: This verse is the beginning of a new story. The events in this story happened sometime after the events in the preceding section. The Berean Standard Bible introduces this story with the word Later. The Greek text does not indicate how much time passed between these two stories.
If it is natural in your language to begin a story with a time word or phrase, use an expression that is not too specific. For example:
Then -or-
After that -or-
Next (New Jerusalem Bible)
In some languages, a time word or phrase is not necessary. Introduce this story in a natural way in your language.
they sent some: The word they refers to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders, who were mentioned in 11:27. In this context the phrase they sent some indicates that they told people to go to Jesus for a particular purpose.
Pharisees: The Pharisees were a Jewish religious group or party. It was very important to them to obey all of the Jewish religious laws very carefully and in detail. Here are some ways to translate this word:
• Transliterate the word Pharisees according to the sounds of your language and indicate that it refers to people. For example:
Farisi members -or-
Parise adherents
• Transliterate the word Pharisees and indicate that it refers to a group of people with certain beliefs. For example:
people belonging to the Farise religious sect/group -or-
members of the religious group called the Farasi
You may also want to include an explanation of Pharisees in the glossary of your translation.
Herodians: The Herodians were a political group that supported a ruler whose name was Herod. The New Testament often refers to Herod as a king, but he functioned more as a governor than as a king. The Roman government appointed him.
The Herodians were against Jesus because they were afraid that Jesus might defeat Herod and become the ruler himself. See the note on Herodians in 3:6b.
12:13b
to catch Jesus in His words: This phrase expresses the purpose for which the Jewish leaders sent the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus. They wanted to trick Jesus into saying something that would make either the Roman authorities or the Jewish people angry. Then the Jewish leaders would have an excuse to arrest him.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
to trick Jesus into saying something wrong (Contemporary English Version) -or-
to try to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested (New Living Translation, 1996 edition) -or-
to trap him with questions (Good News Bible)
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.
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