The Greek that is translated as “teacher” (also: “master”) in English is translated in the 1941 Yiddish by Einspruch as rebe (רֶבּי) or “Rabbi” in an effort to identify Jesus as a teacher of the Jews. (Source: Naomi Seidmann in Elliott / Boer 2012, p. 151ff.)
Likewise, a number of Hebrew translations, including the 2018 and 2020 editions by the The Bible Society in Israel also use “Rabbi” (רַבִּי).
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.”
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)
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.)
Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)
Jesús y los Saduceos estaban platicando y un maestro de la ley lo vio (y pensó): ‘huy Jesús explica bien’ y lo acercó y dijo: “Si escoges un mandamiento, ¿cuál es lo más importante?”
Jesús (respondió): “El primero, el más importante mandamiento, mira, dice en el rollo: Oigan personas de Israel, necesitan prestar atención, el Señor Dios es único.”
“Uds personas amen al Señor Dios con su corazón, su alma, su mente y su fuerza completa, y el segundo mandamiento en importancia es: Como las personas aman a si mismas así deben amar a otras personas. Los dos mandamientos son los más importantes, otros mandamientos son menos (importantes).”
El maestro de la ley lo vio bien (y dijo): “Tú dices la verdad, Dios es único no hay otro. Que personas aman a Dios con su corazón, entendimiento y fuerza completa y deben amar a otras personas en igual manera como aman a si mismos eso es más importante que el sacrificio de animales.”
Jesús lo vio y adentro pensó: ‘Él respnde bien, él ya entiende’ y después dijo: “Tú ya te has acercado al reino de Dios.”
Otras personas le preguntaban más, pero se quedó callado.
Jesus and the Sadducees were talking and a master of the Law saw it (and thought): ‘wow Jesus explains well’ and he came up to him and said: “If you choose one commandment, which one is the most important?”
Jesus (answered): “The first, the most important commandment, look, it says in the scroll: You people of Israel, you need to pay attention, the Lord God is the only one.”
˜You people love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the second most important commandment is: As people love themselves in the same way they must love other people. The two commandments are the most important, other commandments are less (important).”
The teacher of the Law saw this as good (and said): “You tell the truth, God is the only one, there is no other. That people love God with all their heart, understanding and strength and have to love other people in the same way as they love themselves is more important than animal sacrifices.”
Jesus looked at him and thought: ‘He answers well, he already understands’ and then he said: “You have already come close to the Kingdom of God.”
Other people asked him more questions, but he kept quiet.
A certain man, a scribe, heard how well Jesus taught the people. He also wanted to approach Jesus and ask him a question. He asked Jesus:
— We have many different commandments. And which commandment is the most important?
Jesus answered:
— We have many different commandments, and the most important of them is this: People of Israel, listen to God! Our God is only one! You must love God completely with all your thoughts, feelings and strength. This is the most important first commandment. And there is also a second, equally important: love your neighbor as yourself. These commandments are the most important.
The scribe replied:
— Teacher, you speak correctly! There are no other gods except our God. We must love God with all our heart, all our thoughts, all our strength. And yes, we must love our neighbor as ourselves. These two commandments are above all others and even sacrifices.
Jesus said to him:
— You reason correctly! You are close to the Kingdom of God.
After this event, none of the scribes dared to ask him tricky questions anymore.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Один человек, книжник, слышал, как хорошо Иисус учил народ. Он тоже захотел подойти к Иисусу и задать ему вопрос. Он спросил Иисуса:
— У нас есть много разных заповедей. А какая заповедь самая главная?
Иисус ответил:
— У нас есть много разных заповедей, а самая главная из них такая: Народ Израиля, слушай Бога! Наш Бог только один! Вы должны всеми вашими мыслями, чувствами и силами полностью любить Бога. Это самая главная первая заповедь. А есть еще вторая, такая же важная: своего ближнего так же, как самого себя, люби его. Эти заповеди самые важные.
Книжник ответил:
— Учитель, ты говоришь правильно! Нет иных богов, кроме нашего Бога. Нужно всем сердцем, всеми мыслями, силами полностью любить Бога. И да, нужно любить ближнего своего так же, как самого себя. Эти две заповеди выше всех остальных и даже жертвоприношений.
Иисус сказал ему:
— Ты рассуждаешь правильно! Ты близок к Царству Бога.
После этого события никто из книжников больше не решался задавать ему каверзные вопросы.
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 12:32:
Uma: “The religion teacher said to Yesus: ‘True indeed, Teacher! What you (sing.) say is very true. The Lord God is just one, there is no other.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “The teacher of the law said to Isa, ‘That is correct, Sir. What you said is true that God is one and there is no other than he.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then that teacher said to Jesus, he said, ‘True, I agree with what you say that God is only one and there is no other God,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “‘Correct, sir teacher,’ said the teacher of the law. ‘What you (sing.) said is true that there is only-one God, there is no other.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “‘That’s true, Teacher,’ replied that explainer of law. ‘What you said really is true that there is only one God, there really being no other apart from him.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, Jesus is addressing religious leaders with the formal pronoun, showing respect. Compare that with the typical address with the informal pronoun of the religious leaders.
The only two exceptions to this are Luke 7:40/43 and 10:26 where Jesus uses the informal pronoun as a response to the sycophantic use of the formal pronoun by the religious leaders (see formal pronoun: religious leaders addressing Jesus).
In most Dutch translations, the same distinctions are made, with the exception of Luke 10:26 where Jesus is using the formal pronoun. In Afrikaans and Western Frisian the informal pronoun is used throughout.
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 ta (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential ta (祂) is used.”
In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one 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 in the following way: “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 <em>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 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, but most translations, especially those published in the 21st century, do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both 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. ).
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 show different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morphemes rare (られ) or are (され) are 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, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
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