The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “anger” or similar in English in this verse is translated with a variety of solutions (Bratcher / Nida says: “Since anger has so many manifestations and seems to affect so many aspects of personality, it is not strange that expressions used to describe this emotional response are so varied”).
Chichewa: “have a burning heart” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) (see also anger burned in him)
Citak: two different terms, one meaning “angry” and one meaning “offended,” both are actually descriptions of facial expressions. The former can be represented by an angry stretching of the eyes or by an angry frown. The latter is similarly expressed by an offended type of frown with one’s head lowered. (Source: Graham Ogden)
In Akan, a number of metaphors are used, most importantly abufuo, lit. “weedy chest” (the chest is seen as a container that contains the heart but can also metaphorically be filled with other fluids etc.), but also abufuhyeε lit. “hot/burning weedy chest” and anibereε, lit. “reddened eyes.” (Source: Gladys Nyarko Ansah in Kövecses / Benczes / Szelid 2024, p. 21ff.)
The different Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “(olive) oil” and “(animal) fat” in English are translated in Kwere with only one term: mavuta. (Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)
En Betania, en la casa de un hombre que se llamaba Simón, que había estado enfermo de lepra pero ahora estaba sano, en este mismo casa Jesús y los discípulos y otras personas estaban sentados alrededor de la mesa.
Vino una mujer cargando un frasco de piedra, de marmol, con un perfume muy caro y fino, rompió el cuello del frasco y vertió el frasco y derramó el perfume sobre la cabeza de Jesús
Algunas personas estaban furiosas y dijeron: “Tú derramaste el perfume, qué perdida, ¿para qué? Mejor lo habrías vendido, te habrían pagado 300 monedas de plata que tú habrías (podido) repartir a los pobres.” La regañaban.
Jesús los detuvo: “¿Porqué la regañan? dejala, esta mujer me ha tratado bien, siempre habrá personas pobres de ahora en adelante y uds pueden ayudarlos libremente.
Pero yo no vivo aquí para siempre, dentro de poco yo moriré y mi cuerpo estará acostado, esta mujer ya antes lo ha preparado y ha derramado el perfume para alistar mi cuerpo.
Esta mujer ha hecho bien, yo les digo la verdad en el futuro las personas se dispersarán a evangelizar y advertir las buenas noticias a todas las personas del mundo, y recordarán que esta mujer me ha tratado y ha derramado perfume sobre mi cabeza.”
Después, uno de las personas, Judas, se fue a platicar con los líderes de los sacerdotes. Judas dijo: “Yo he decidido a traicionar a Jesús, para que uds lo puedan arrestar.”
Los sacerdotes (dijeron): “¡Qué bien!, nosotros te pagaremos, lo prometimos.” Judas (dijo): “¿De acuerdo?, perfecto”, y se fue.
Judas esperaba el día oportuno para avisarles que podían arrestar a Jesús.
In Bethany, in the house owned by a man named Simon, who had been ill with leprosy but was now healed, in that same house Jesus and the disciples and other people were present seated around the table.
A woman came up carrying a jar of stone, of marble, with a very expensive and fine perfume, she broke the neck off the jar and poured out the perfume on Jesus’ head.
Some people were furious and said: “You poured out the perfume, what a loss, what for? It would have been better to sell the perfume, they would have paid you 300 silver coins and you (could) have handed them out to the poor.” They told her off.
Jesus told them to stop: “Why are you telling her off? Leave her, this woman has treated me well, there will always continue to be poor people and you are free to help them.
“But I do not live here forever, in a little while I will die and my body will be laid out, this woman has already prepared it and has poured out the perfume to make my body ready.
“This woman has done something good, I tell you the truth, in the future people will disperse to tell the gospel and make the good news known to all the people of the world, and they will remember that this woman has cared for me and poured perfume over my head.”
Afterwards, one of the people, Judas, went to talk to the leaders of the priests. Judas said: “I have decided to betray Jesus so you can arrest him.”
The priests (went): “How wonderful, we will pay you, we promise.” Judas (went): “It’s agreed then? Good!” and he left.
Judas waited for the right day to tell them that they could arrest Jesus.
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.
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 14:4:
Uma: “Several people who were there, they were angry seeing what the woman did. They spoke to each other, they said: ‘What is the use of fragrant oil being wasted like that!” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But some people who were there were angry and they spoke, ‘Why was that fragrant oil wasted/spoiled like that?’ they said.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Some of the people who saw this did not like it. They spoke to each other saying, ‘Why was the perfume wasted for no reason?” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Whereupon some who were there became-angry and spoke-to-one-another, ‘What-a-waste!” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Some of those there became angry. They were saying, ‘Why is that perfume being wasted?” (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®).
aganaktountes (cf. 10.14) ‘indignant,’ ‘angry.’ The Greek verbal phrase ēsan … aganaktountes ‘were … angry’ must be given some sense such as Revised Standard Version gives it, ‘were saying indignantly.’
pros heautous (cf. 9.10; 10.26; 11.31; 12.7; 16.3) literally ‘to themselves,’ meaning ‘to one another,’ ‘among themselves,’ as in the other passages where the phrase occurs. Black suggests this represents the Aramaic ethical dative, meaning ‘some were indeed vexed.’
eis ti (15.34) ‘for what reason?,’ ‘for what purpose?,’ ‘why?.’
hē apōleia (only here in Mark) ‘destruction,’ ‘waste.’
gegonen ‘has happened,’ ‘took place.’ Literally the question reads: ‘For what purpose did this waste of the ointment occur?’
Translation:
To themselves must be understood as reciprocal, not reflexive, e.g. ‘they were saying to each other.’
Indignantly must often be treated as a separate verb expression, e.g. ‘some of the people there were angry and they said to each other.’
Wasted may be translatable in terms of (1) discard, i.e. ‘thrown away’ or ‘used for no good purpose,’ or (2) failure to use properly, e.g. ‘not used for a good purpose.’
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 .
This part of the verse introduces how the other guests responded to what the woman did. Introduce it in a natural way in your language.
Some of those present: The phrase Some of those present refers to other people who were also at Simon’s house with Jesus. They were guests in Simon’s house. Introduce them in a natural way in your language.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
Some of the people there (Good News Bible) -or-
Some of the other people there
expressed their indignation to one another: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as expressed their indignation to one another is literally “were indignant to themselves.” In this context the phrase indicates that the people there criticized what the woman had done. They were angry about it and they told one another that they did not approve of what she had done. The phrase does not indicate that each guest was saying these things to himself in his own mind.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
Some were annoyed/angry with the woman and said to one another -or-
Some who were there became upset and said to each other
In some languages it may be necessary to indicate that it was what the woman did that caused the people to become indignant or angry. For example:
Some were upset by what the woman did and said to one another -or- The pouring out of perfume made some of the guests angry
14:4b
Why this waste of perfume?: This is a rhetorical question. It expresses surprise and anger. The guests thought that the woman had wasted the perfume by pouring it on Jesus. There are at least three ways to translate this:
• As a rhetorical question. For example:
Why did she waste suchexpensive perfume like this? -or-
How could she pour all this costly perfume on Jesus and waste it like that?
• As a critical statement or exclamation. For example:
What a waste! -or-
She should never have wasted this costly perfume!
Use whichever form is most natural in your language to express surprise and anger in this context.
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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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