The Greek and Latin that is translated as “resurrection” in English is translated in Chicahuaxtla Triqui and Pohnpeian as “live-up” (i.e. return to life) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel) and in Iloko as panagungar: a term that stems “from the word ‘agungar,’ an agricultural term used to describe the coming back to life of a plant which was wilting but which has been watered by the farmer, or of a bulb which was apparently dead but grows again.” (Source: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
Likewise, in Matumbiyu’ya carries the meaning of “raise from the dead, resuscitate, come back from near death” and is used for dry plants that come back to life when you water them or sick children who revive after being healed. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In Estado de México Otomi, it is translated as “people will be raised from the dead,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “the dead having to come to life again,” in San Mateo del Mar Huave as “arose from the grave” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), and in Kriol as gidap laibala brom dedbala or “get up alive from the dead” (source: Sam Freney in this article .)
Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)
Los saduceos, que no creen en la resurección, ellos también vinieron diciendo: “Maestro, una pregunta. Hace mucho Moisés escribó la ley que dice que si un hombre casa una mujer y el hombre se muere y no hay hijos le toca a su hermano casar la misma mujer para que nazcan hijos para su hermano.
Oye, una pregunta de ejemplo: había siete hermanos y el mayor se casó con una mujer, después el hombre murió y no había hijos, y le tocó al segundo hermano a casar la misma mujer, pero el hombre se murió y no había hijos.
En la misma manera les tocó al tercero hermano, el cuarto, el quinto, el sexto y el séptimo, todos los hermanos muerieron sin que la mujer tuviera hijos, y también la mujer murió.
En el futuro todas las personas resucitarán, también los siete hermanos y la mujer pero la mujer ha sido casado en la misma manera a los siete hermanos. ¿Quién de ellos será su esposo, cuál?”
Jesús (dijo): “Ay, uds están equivocados porque no entienden la palabra de Dios, uds no saben qué tan poderoso es Dios.
Oigan, en el cielo los ángeles no se casan, y en la misma manera las personas que mueren y resucitarán en el futuro no se casarán. Uds los Saduceos piensan que no hay resurección pero uds están equivocados.
Oigan, miren, el rollo que Moisés escribió ¿uds jamás lo han leído? ¿No saben? Mucho antes cuando Moisés vio el arbusto en llamas Dios le habló y dijo: “Moisés, yo soy Dios; Abraham, Isaac y Jacob creían en mi.”
Los tres adentro todavía viven, uds piensan que murieron y después de mucho tiempo desintegraron pero uds están equivocados.”
The Sadducees, who do not believe in the resurrection, came also saying: “Teacher, we ave a question. Long ago Moses wrote the law which says that when a man marries a woman and the man dies without their being children it falls to his brother to marry the same woman so that children are born for his brother.
“Listen, a question that is an example: there were seven brothers and the oldest married a woman, then the man died and there were no children and it fell to the second brother to marry the same woman, but the man died and there were no children.
“In the same way it fell to the third brother, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth and the seventh, all the brothers died without the woman having children, and the woman also died.
“In the future all the people will be resurrected and also the seven brothers and the woman, but the woman has been married to the seven brothers in the same way. Who of them will be her husband, which one?”
Jesus (said): “Oh, you are mistaken, because you don’t understand the Word of God, you do not know how powerful God is.
“Listen, in heaven the angels do not marry, and in the same way the people who die and will be resurrected in the future wil not get married. You Sadducees think there is no resurrection but you are mistaken.
“Listen, look, the scroll that Moses wrote, have you never read it? Don’t you know? Long ago when Moses saw the burning bush God spoke to him and said: “Moses, I am God, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob believed in me.”
“The three of them are still living inside, you think that they died and after a long time decomposed but you are mistaken.”
Here is a group of Sadducees. They believed that a person lives, dies, but then does not rise again. A person disappears after death — and that’s it. That’s what they thought. And then one day they met Jesus and began to ask him:
— Teacher! In the Law of Moses it is clearly written that if a man married a woman and if this man died and had no children, then this man’s brother must marry the widow. The children born in this marriage will be the continuation of the name of the deceased man, to continue his line. So it is written. Let’s look at this example. One man had seven brothers. This man got married, then died, and he had no children. The second brother also married this woman, and the second brother also died, and had no children. And the third brother also married her and also died, and had no children. And so did the fourth brother, and the fifth, sixth, and finally the seventh. The woman was left a lonely widow, and after some time she also died. Then this woman will be resurrected. Then whose wife of the seven brothers will she be? After all, all seven of them were her husbands. How will that be?
Jesus answered:
— You think that a person dies and then there is no resurrection. You are mistaken! You distort what the Scripture says! You do not understand the power of God! When a person is resurrected after death, there will no longer be marriage. There, everyone will be like angels. The Scripture says that in ancient times Moses saw a burning bush, and from there God said to him: Here is Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. I am the God of each of them!
Do you really think they all died? Of course not. They all have life.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Вот группа саддукеи. Они считали, что человек живет, умирает, но потом не воскресает. Человек после смерти исчезает — и все. Так они думали. И вот однажды они повстречали Иисуса и стали спрашивать его:
— Учитель! В Законе Моисея точно написано, что если человек вступил в брак с женщиной и если этот человек умер, а детей у него не было, то брат этого человека должен взять в жены вдову. Дети, которые родятся в этом браке будут продолжением имени умершего человека, продолжат его род. Так написано. Рассмотрим такой пример. У одного человека было семь братьев. Этот человек женился, затем умер, а детей у него не было. Второй брат тоже женился на этой женщине, и второй брат тоже умер, а детей не было. И третий брат тоже женился на ней и тоже умер, а детей не было. И так же четвертый брат, и пятый, шестой, и наконец последний седьмой. Женщина осталось одинокой вдовой, а через какое-то время и она умерла. Потом эта женщина воскреснет. Тогда чьей женой из семерых братьев она будет? Они ведь все семь были ее мужьями. Как же тогда?
Иисус ответил:
— Вот вы считаете, что человек умирает, а потом воскресенья нет. Вы заблуждаетесь! Вы искажаете то, что говорит Писание! Вы не понимаете силу Бога! Когда человек воскресает после смерти, то там уже не будет брака. Там все будут, как ангелы. В Писании говорится, что в древности Моисей увидел горящий куст, и оттуда Бог сказал ему: Вот Авраам, Исаак, Иаков. Я — Бог каждого из них!
Неужели вы думаете, что все они умерли? Конечно, нет. У всех у них есть жизнь.
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.
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 12:18:
Uma: “After that, several Saduki people came to Yesus. Those Saduki people were Yahudi religion leaders who rejected [the concept of] dead people living again on a future day. When those Saduki people arrived, they said to Yesus:” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “After that some Sadduseo went to Isa, (they are) Yahudi who do not believe that the dead will live again in the last day/in later days. They asked him, they said,” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There were also some Sadducee people who went to Jesus. The Sadducees are the Jews who believe that nobody will be raised from the dead in the future.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “There were also some Sadducees who went to Jesus. They are a party/group of Jews who say that the dead don’t live again. They said to him,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “The next who went to Jesus were the Saduceo, for they questioned Jesus. As for these Saduceo, they uphold that those who have died aren’t made alive again.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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®).
Saddoukaioi (only here in Mark) ‘Sadducees’: as in the similar case in 10.12, the meaning here is ‘some Sadducees.’ They were not so much a religious party (as the Pharisees), but more of a social class, or elite, composed mostly of the priests (cf. Acts 5.17). The traditionalists of their day, they rejected all “innovations”, including the idea of the resurrection, angels, etc. (cf. Acts 23.8).
hoitines legousin ‘who say,’ ‘who affirm’: this is said of the Sadducees as a party, not just of the individuals who came to Jesus.
anastasin mē einai ‘resurrection not to be’: the indirect form, with the verb in the infinitive and the subject in the accusative case (cf. 8.27). The equivalent, in the direct form, is ‘there is no resurrection.’
anastasis (12.23; cf. anistēmi 8.31) ‘resurrection’: this, of course, is eschatological, referring to the resurrection on the last day.
epērōtōn (cf. 5.9) ‘they asked (a question).’
Translation:
Who say there is no resurrection must usually be brought closer to the subject expression, either as a relative clause, e.g. ‘the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him’ or as a paratactically combined statement, e.g. ‘the Sadducees say there is no resurrection; they came to him.’
In view of the fact that resurrection is a process, it is very commonly translated as a verb expression: ‘to rise from the dead is not’ (Sediz), ‘the dead will never rise’ (Southern Subanen), ‘people do not rise from the dead’ (Amganad Ifugao).
Saying, as an extra verb of speaking, may not be required in some languages; in fact, it may be entirely misleading after a statement of ‘asking’ or ‘questioning.’ It should be noted, however, that the immediately following sentences are not questions. The question does not come until verse 23, and hence the introductory verb should agree with receptor-language usage.
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 .
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