Translation commentary on Mark 14:63

Exegesis:

diarēxas tous chitōnas autou ‘tearing his (own) garments.’

diarēssō (only here in Mark) ‘rend,’ ‘burst,’ ‘tear.’

hoi chitōnes (cf. 6.9) ‘the tunics’: as Arndt & Gingrich remark the word is here probably used in a general way for ‘clothes,’ ‘garments,’ rather than strictly with reference to the under-garments (the parallel Mt. 26.65 has ta himatia ‘the garments’). Revised Standard Version ‘mantle’ is inaccurate: cf. ‘clothes’ (Moffatt, Williams, Translator’s New Testament, American Standard Version), ‘vestments’ (Montgomery), ‘garments’ (The Modern Speech New Testament, Manson), ‘clothing’ (Goodspeed). The gesture of tearing one’s garments was indicative of sorrow or horror and in the case of judicial proceedings, such as this one, in tearing his garments the high priest indulged in a formal ceremonial act, minutely prescribed by tradition.

chreian echomen (cf. 2.17) ‘we have need of.’

marturōn (only here in Mark) ‘witnesses.’

Translation:

For high priest see 14.47.

Tore must not imply some accidental tearing, but a deliberate, planned tearing as a gesture of consummate indignation. Such an action may not be readily understandable to people in other cultures but the context is such as to prevent any very wrong interpretation of the action.

Mantle should be translated by the most generic term for ‘clothes.’

Still need witnesses is equivalent in some languages to ‘need more people to speak against him’ or ‘require more men to say what they know about 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 .

SIL Translator's Notes on Mark 14:63

14:63a

At this, the high priest tore his clothes: The high priest tore his clothes deliberately in order to express anger and horror at what Jesus had said in 14:62. He probably made only one tear in the robe or tunic that he was wearing. He did not rip his clothing in pieces.

It was a Jewish custom for a person to tear his clothes when someone had spoken blasphemy. When the high priest tore his clothes, his action had symbolic meaning. It indicated that the high priest believed that Jesus had spoken blasphemy. In some languages it may be necessary to make some of this information explicit. For example:

When the high priest heard what Jesus said he tore his own clothes because he was angry/horrified.

See the note on “blasphemy” in 14:64a.

his clothes: The word his refers to the high priest’s own clothes, not to Jesus’ clothes.

and declared: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as declared is literally “he says.” Translate this word in a way that is natural in this context to fit with the way you translated the rhetorical question.

14:63b

Why do we need any more witnesses?: The clause Why do we need any more witnesses? is a rhetorical question. It is an emphatic way to express a statement. There are at least three ways to translate this statement:

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

Why do we still need witnesses? (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
Do we need further witnesses? (Revised English Bible)

• As a statement. For example, the Good News Bible says:

We don’t need any more witnesses!

• As a tag question. For example:

Surely, we do not need any other witnesses, do we?

Use whichever option is most natural in your language in this context.

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