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 his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.
In Nepali translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and other people with the medium honorific pronoun timīlē (तिमीले) or timīlēharū (तिमीलेहरू). His disciples respond with a high honorific pronoun. (Source: Chitra Chhetri in The Bible Translator 2009, p. 73ff. )
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)
Jesús dijo: “Cuando ven un árbol brotando hojas verdes las personas que lo ven saben que el próximo día será caloroso, esto es parecido a las cinco puntos que les conté ahorita.
Cuando en el futuro las personas vean estas cinco cosas sabrán por cierto que el Hijo de Hombre está por venir.
Les advierto: Estas personas todavía no habrán muerto pero aún estarán vivos cuando lo vean con sus propios ojos. En el futuro el cielo y la tierra desaparecerán, pero mis palabras jamás desaparecen.
Les advierto: Todas las personas no saben cuando será el día o a qué hora venga, en la misma manera los ángeles y el Hijo de Hombre, todos no saben.
El único que sabe es el Padre Dios. Uds presten atención y vigilen para cuando venga, porque no lo saben.
Por ejemplo: Un hombre es dueño de una casa, y llama a todos sus siervos a que vengan y dice: “Yo me voy de viaje, uds trabajen, tú eres encargado de vigilar la puerta” y el hombre se va.
Ellos deben vigilar para cuando venga el dueño, no saben a qué hora si será en la mañana, tarde, noche o madrugada. Si ellos duermen de repente vendrá el dueño y los verá durmiendo ¿cómo sería eso?
Yo les advierto: En la misma manera todas las personas deben prestar atención y vigilar.”
Jesus said: “When you see a tree that sprouts forth green leaves, the people who see it know that the next day will be hot, it is similar with the five things I told you just now.
“When in the future the people will see these five things they will know for sure that the Son of Man is about to come down.
“I warn you: These people will not have died yet, but will still be alive when they see it with their own eyes. In the future the heaven and the earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.
“I warn you: All the people do not know the day or the hour that he comes, in the same way the angels and the Son of Man all do not know.
“The only one who knows is God the Father. You must pay attention and keep watch for when he comes, because you don’t know.
“For example: A man is owner of a house and he calls all the servants to come and says: ‘I am going on a journey, you all need to work, I entrust you (one particular person) with keeping watch over the door,’ and the man goes off.
“They must keep watch for when the owner comes, they do not know at which house, morning, afternoon, evening or before sunrise. If they fall asleep the owner will suddenly come and see them sleeping, how would that be?
“I warn you: In the same way all the people need to pay attention and keep watch.”
— No one knows when this terrible time of suffering will begin, of which I have spoken to you. Neither the angels in heaven know, nor even I, only God knows. But you be careful — watch and pray!
For example, a man, a master, left his house and property, went far away, and ordered his servants to manage the house, guard it and not sleep. In the same way, we are awake. We do not know when the master will return — in the evening? At night? In the morning at dawn? We do not know this. And if the watchman falls asleep, and at that very time the master returns and finds the servant sleeping? What will happen then? Therefore, I am telling you now: one thing is important, that you be awake in your heart.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Иисус сказал ученикам:
— Никто не знает, когда начнется это страшное время страданий, о котором я говорил вам. Ни ангелы на небе не знают, ни даже я — не знаю, один только Бог знает. Вы же будьте внимательны — бодрствуйте и молитесь!
Вот, например, одни человек, хозяин, оставил свой дом и имущество, уехал далеко, а слугам своим поручил управлять домом, сторожить его и не спать. Так же мы — бодрствуем. Мы не знаем, когда вернется хозяин — Вечером? Ночью? Утром на рассвете? Мы не знаем этого. А если сторож заснет, а как раз в это время хозяин вернется и застанет слугу спящим? Что тогда будет? Поэтому я сейчас вам говорю: важно одно, чтобы вы в сердце своем бодрствовали.
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 13:37:
Uma: “What I say to you here, I also say to all people: Be on the watch!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Na, what I say to you, I say to all people: Do not be careless.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “These things I tell you, I say also to all people, that each one should watch.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “This that I have commanded you, I also command to all people so that you will all be prepared.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “This which I am saying to you, I am also saying to everyone, that you really must all be ready.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
Say is used in this verse in two different meanings: (1) addressing particular persons and (2) uttering something which is universally applicable. This may require two different verbs in another language, e.g. ‘what I am saying to you I mean for everyone,’ ‘what I am now talking to you about includes everyone’ or ‘what I am telling you I am also saying for the benefit of everyone.’
For watch see verse 33.
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 .
And what I say to you, I say to everyone: Here Jesus returned to the main theme of the paragraph. The main theme is the need to watch, stay ready, and do the tasks that the master has assigned, until he returns.
you: The pronoun you is plural. It refers to the four disciples mentioned in 13:3: Peter, James, John, and Andrew. In some languages it may be necessary to indicate this. For example:
That which I say to you disciples
I say to everyone: The Greek pronoun that the Berean Standard Bible translates as everyone can also be translated as “all,” as in the Revised Standard Version. This word refers to all present and future disciples of Jesus. You could say:
I say to all my disciples
In the Greek, the word everyone is emphasized. To emphasize it, you could add the word “everywhere.” For example:
I say to all my discipleseverywhere -or- it is not just to you that I say it, I say it to all my disciples
13:37b
Keep watch!: The form of the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Keep watch! indicates that the activity does is not an activity that happens once. The disciples should continually expect the return of Jesus from heaven. They should always be ready for him. You may need to make more of this meaning explicit. For example:
Watch(plur)continually. -or-
Be alert(plur)constantlyfor my returnfrom heaven!
Paragraph 14:1–2
14:1a
Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were two days away: This clause gives the time setting for the next events. It indicates that the events in the following verses happened two days before the Passover and the Feast began. This kind of background information can be introduced in various ways. For example:
It was two days before the Passover and the Feast… (Revised Standard Version) -or-
Two days were still lacking until the Jews celebrated the Passover and the Feast…
Introduce this background information in a way that is natural in your language.
the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread: The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread refer to two important feasts or festivals that the Jews celebrated once every year. The Jews ate a special Passover meal on the same evening that they started celebrating the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For this reason, many people considered these two festivals to be a single combined festival.
In translating these festivals, you may:
• Make explicit that there were two festivals. For example:
the festival called Passover and the festival called Unleavened Bread
• Use a combined term. For example:
the Festival of Passover and Unleavened Bread (Good News Bible)
the Passover:Passover is the name of a Jewish festival. It celebrates the time that God’s angel passed over/by the houses of the Jews without harming them. See the suggested footnote below for more details.
Here are some other ways to translate Passover:
the Passover festival/celebration -or-
festival called Passed-By and left safe -or-
“Death did not harm us” feast
You may want to include a footnote and cross-reference here about this feast. For example:
The Feast of Passover was a festival that reminded the Jews of the time when God freed their ancestors from slavery in Egypt. See Exodus 12:1–27.
the Feast of Unleavened Bread: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the Feast of Unleavened Bread is literally “unleavened bread.” The Berean Standard Bible has supplied the words the Feast of. As mentioned above, you should indicate in a natural way in your language that Unleavened Bread is the name of another Jewish feast.
The term Unleavened Bread refers to a festival that the Jews celebrated each year for seven days. During these days they ate unleavened bread. (Unleavened bread is thin, flat bread made without yeast. Yeast is what causes bread to rise.)
When God delivered the Jews’ ancestors from Egypt, they had to leave very quickly. They did not have time to make their bread with yeast and wait until it rose. The purpose of the Feast of Unleavened Bread was to help the Jews remember this and thank God for what he had done for them. You may want to put some of this background information in a footnote or glossary entry to help your readers understand more about this feast.
Here are some other possible ways to translate this:
Feast of bread made without yeast -or-
Feast of bread made without raising-agent -or-
Feast when people eat bread with no yeast
See how you translated “leaven” in 8:15.
14:1b
the chief priests: A Jewish priest was a man who offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. He also performed other rituals for them. The phrase the chief priests refers to the leaders among these priests.
Here are some other ways to translate the chief priests:
the leading/ruling priests -or-
the elders among the Jewish sacrificers -or-
the most prominent priests
The term chief priests first occurs in Mark in 8:31c.
scribes: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as scribes is sometimes translated as “teachers of the law” (as in the New International Version). The original work of these men was to copy the laws of Moses by hand. In New Testament times, their main task was to study, interpret, and teach the law of Moses and related Jewish laws and traditions.
Here are some other ways to translate this term:
teachers of the Law of Moses (Contemporary English Version) -or-
teachers of religious law (New Living Translation) -or-
the experts on the law -or-
people who teach the law of the Jews
See how you translated this term in 12:38b. Also, see teacher of the law in the Glossary for more information.
14:1c
were looking for a covert way to arrest Jesus: The words were looking for a covert way to arrest Jesus indicate that the Jewish leaders were trying to think of a plan to arrest Jesus secretly. They did not want other people to know about they planned to do.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
discussing how they might arrest Jesus in secret and kill him -or-
were trying to find a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him (NET Bible)
arrest: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as arrest means “seize,” “capture,” or “take away to trial or punishment.”
14:1d
and kill Him: The Jewish leaders did not plan to kill Jesus themselves. They wanted the Romans to execute Jesus in the way that Romans executed criminals.
Here are some other ways to show this in your translation:
and have him put to death (New Jerusalem Bible) -or-
and cause him to be executed
General Comment on 14:1a–d
In some languages it may be helpful to break 14:1 into two sentences. For example:
It was two days before the Feast of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for a secret way to seize Jesus and have him killed.
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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