unleavened bread

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “unleavened bread” in English is translated in various ways:

  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “bread that doesn’t have its medicine that makes it puff up”
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “bread without its sour”
  • Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “bread that has no mother” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Mairasi: “bread without other ingredient” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Chichewa: “non-puffed-up bread”
  • Chitonga: “bread without fermented grain” (source for this and above: de Regt / Wendland 2016)
  • Hiligaynon: “bread that has-none of that-which-causes-to-expand” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Tatar: “unleavened flat cakes” (source: Lénart de Regt in The Bible Translator 2017, p. 131ff. )
  • Nkumbi / Mbangala / Songo: “bread that has gone no yeast” — “this is an application of a common construction in Angolan Bantu languages for speaking about the ingredients in some foods: ‘there is salt in the soup’ is rendered literally, ‘the soup has gone salt.’ (Source: Riikka Halme-Berneking in The Bible Translator 2014, p. 353ff. )

Mark 14:1 - 2 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 14:1-2 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)

Dos días antes los líderes de los sacerdotes y los maestros de la ley estaban dialogando sobre cómo engañar a Jesús, querían arrestar y matarlo pero si lo arrestaran en el mismo día de la fiesta las personas estarían furiosas y habría violencia. ¿Qué hacer? Mejor (hacerlo) otro día.


In a little while it would be the day for the feast of Passover and also for the feast of unleavened bread.

Two days before the leaders of the priests and the teachers of the law were discussing how to deceive Jesus, they wanted to arrest and kill him but if they arrested him on the day of the feast itself the people would be furious and there would be violence. So what to do? Better (do it) another day.

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

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Mark 14:1-11 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 14:1-11 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

There are two Jewish holidays: Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They were two days away. The chief priests and teachers of the law gathered and plotted how they could seize Jesus secretly and kill him. They were afraid that if they seized Jesus right now, during these days, the people would hear about it and there might be a riot.

Here is the village of Bethany. There is a house there belonging to a man named Simon. In the past, this man had leprosy and was covered with sores. In this house, Jesus and other people were sitting around a table and were feasting.

A woman had a jug in her hands, and in it was a very expensive fragrant oil made from the nard plant. The woman opened the jug and began to pour the oil on Jesus’ head. The oil began to flow down his face and drip onto his clothes. Everyone around looked at this with displeasure and became angry. They said to each other:

— Why is this woman pouring out such expensive oil? It costs a lot, it could be sold and make a lot of money to give it to the poor, help them.

Everyone was angry and reproached her. Jesus said:

— Leave this woman alone. Stop judging her and scolding her. Don’t. This woman did a good deed for me. You will always have many beggars, but I will not always be. This woman anointed my head with oil, when I will die, I will be wrapped in burial shrouds and anointed with oil. That’s what she did. I tell you for sure: throughout the whole earth they will proclaim about me, and they will always tell about this woman, what she did for me. The story of this woman will never disappear.

One of the 12 disciples named Judas Iscariot stood up and went to the chief priests and made a deal with them to hand over Jesus to them. The chief priests were delighted and promised to give him money for this. He began to wait for a convenient time to hand over Jesus.

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

Есть два еврейских праздника: Пасха и Праздник пресных хлебов. До них оставалось два дня. Первосвященники и учителя закона собрались и замышляли, как бы им тайно схватить Иисуса и убить. Они боялись, что если они схватят Иисуса прямо сейчас, в эти дни, народ прослышит об этом, и может случиться волнение.

Вот селение Вифания. Там есть дом, принадлежащий человеку по имени Симон. В прошлом этот человек болел проказой и весь был покрыт язвами. В этом доме Иисус и другие люди сидели вокруг стола и пировали.

У одной женщины в руках был кувшин, а в нем находилось очень дорогое благоуханное масло, сделанное из растения «нард». Женщина открыла кувшин, и стала выливать масло на голову Иисуса. Масло стало стекать по лицу и капать на одежду. Все вокруг смотрели на это с неудовольствием и сердились. Они говорили друг другу:

— Зачем эта женщина выливает такое дорогое масло? Оно стоит очень много, его можно было бы продать, получить много денег и раздать их бедным, помочь им.

Все злились и упрекали ее. Иисус сказал:

— Оставьте эту женщину в покое. Хватит вам ее осуждать и ругать ее. Не надо. Эта женщина сделала доброе дело ради меня. У вас всегда будет много нищих, а я буду не всегда. Эта женщина помазала мою голову маслом, потом я умру, меня завернут в погребальные пелены и помажут маслом. Вот она это и сделала. Я говорю вам точно: по всей земле будут возвещать обо мне, и всегда будут также рассказывать и об этой женщине, что она сделала для меня. Никогда история об этой женщине не исчезнет.

Один из 12 учеников по имени Иуда Искариот встал и пошел к первосвященникам и сговорился с ними, что выдаст им Иисуса. Первосвященники обрадовались и обещали дать ему денег за это. Он стал выжидать удобное время, чтобы выдать Иисуса.

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

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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)

complete verse (Mark 14:1)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 14:1:

  • Uma: “In two more days it would be Paskah Day and the Feast of Bread that has no Yeast. The leading priests and the religion teachers were searching for a scheme to ambush Yesus so they could kill him quietly.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Na, it was two days yet before the celebration/feast they called Feast for Remembering and the feast when they ate bread not mixed with leaven (lit. for-rising). The leaders of the priests and the teachers of the religious law, they kept-thinking-about as to how they could seize and kill Isa so that the people wouldn’t know it.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Two days after that would be the Feast of Passing By and the Feast of Eating Bread Without Yeast. The chief priests and the teachers of the law are trying to find a way so that they might arrest Jesus without the many people knowing so that they might kill him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “It was lacking two days until the arrival of the fiesta of the Jews called Passed-By at which they ate the bread with no yeast. And the leaders of the priests and the teachers of the law, they were searching for how they could arrest Jesus without it becoming-known so that they would have-him -killed.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “In just two days it would be when they have their Fiesta of Passed-by and Fiesta of Bread Without Raising-agent. As for the chiefs of the priests and the explainers of law, they continued discussing how they could deceive Jesus so that they could arrest him and have him killed.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 14:1

Exegesis:

to pascha (14.12, 14, 16) ‘the Passover’: the Greek word is the transliteration of the Aramaic pascha’ (Hebrew pesach), the Hebrew festival of Passover, commemorating the day when the Lord ‘passed over’ (Hebrew Pasach) the homes of the Hebrews in the slaughter of the first-born of Egypt (cf. Ex. 12.13, 23, 27). The pascal lambs were slain on the afternoon of 14th Nisan (March-April) and the meal eaten that evening, between sundown and midnight (by Jewish reckoning 15th Nisan, since the day began at sundown).

ta azuma (14.12) ‘(the feast of) Unleavened Bread’: this feast lasted from the 15th to the 21st Nisan, and during the time unleavened bread was eaten (cf. Ex. 12.8, 15-20). The two religious feasts, running together, were celebrated as one.

meta duo hēmeras ‘after two days’: in accordance with Jewish reckoning this could mean ‘the next day’ (so Bengel). Cf. in 8.31 the phrase meta treis hēmeras ‘after three days.’

en dolō (cf. 7.22) ‘by deceit,’ ‘by cunning,’ ‘by stealth.’

The other words in this verse have already been dealt with: for zēteō … pōs ‘seek … how,’ ‘consider … how’ cf. 3.22; 11.18; hoi archiereis ‘the chief priests’ cf. 8.31; hoi grammateis ‘the scribes’ cf. 1.22; krateō ‘seize,’ ‘arrest’ cf. 1.31; apokteinō ‘kill’ cf. 3.4.

Translation:

Now is translatable as ‘then,’ ‘by that time,’ or ‘the time was.’ In Yaka the introductory expression is translated as ‘it was two days and then the feast for….’

Passover is usually translated as ‘the passing over,’ but this expression has little or no meaning except as it is placed in an adequate context. For example, ‘the passing over’ may be rendered as ‘feast to remember the passing over’ (Yaka), ‘day to commemorate the passing over,’ or ‘feast concerning the passing over’ (Southern Subanen). In some languages there is a term already used to designate Easter. For example, in Tzeltal the word cuxibal, meaning literally ‘instrument of living’ or ‘instrument of life’ is the long-employed word for Easter, having been introduced by early Roman Catholic missionaries. Because of its traditional use and its basic acceptability in meaning, it has been incorporated into the Tzeltal New Testament.

Feast of Unleavened Bread usually involves a distinctly idiomatic treatment of the relationship indicated by the English preposition of, e.g. ‘feast at which the people ate unleavened bread,’ ‘feast at which was eaten unleavened bread,’ or ‘feast where there was unleavened bread.’ One should not, of course, do as some translators have done – namely, make the ‘unleavened bread’ the possessor of the feast.

Unleavened Bread is ‘the bread which has not risen,’ ‘the bread without yeast,’ or ‘unswollen bread’ (Shipibo-Conibo). In some languages yeast is ‘beer foam,’ ‘wine froth’ or ‘sour water’ (Yucateco), but in many instances a term is borrowed from the dominant language of the area.

By stealth is not always easily translated, for the noun stealth must often be rendered by a verb, in which case one must determine precisely who is the object of the deceit or trickery. Some translators have rendered this phrase so as to mean that the chief priests and scribes sought to have Jesus arrested in such a way that the ‘crowds would not know about it’ (cf. Mark 12.12 and 14.2). Others have interpreted the passage to mean that the officials sought to trick Jesus into committing some act which would provide an excuse for his arrest (cf. the numerous questions which had been asked Jesus in order to snare him into giving some treasonable answer), e.g. ‘were trying to find a way to deceive Jesus and thus to arrest him.’

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 .