Chichewachipongwe Mulungu. Chipwonge is used to refer to acts or derogatory remarks that dishonor another person. (Mulungu is the Choichewa word for “God.”) (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
The Greek terms krino and katakrino/katadikazo that are translated as “judge” and “condemn” respectively in English are translated with only one term in Kutu (tagusa). (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)
Los soldados llevaron a Jesús y entraron la casa del sumo sacerdote y subieron.
Afuera en la plaza los hombres que vigilaban el templo estaban sentados alrededor del fuego. Pedro fue a sentarse y calientarse las manos al fuego.
Al mismo tiempo Jesús estaba frente al sumo sacerdote y se juntaron otros líderes de los sacerdotes y los ancianos y maestros de la ley alrededor de él y querían castigar a Jesús a morir.
Dijeron: “¿Quién es testigo en contra de Jesús?” Una persona vino a contar y criticar y lo inventó todo, y otra persona vino y contó mentiras, y vinieron uno por uno y dijeron diferentes cosas y fue un desórden.
Los sacerdotes miraraon de uno a otro: ‘No hay personas que dicen lo mismo, es difícil escoger testigos.’
Algunas otras personas se levantaron y caminaron (al frente) y hablaron una mentira:
“Oímos a Jesús diciendo que el templo de Jerusalén, que fue construido por hombres, en el futuro él, Jesús, lo quitará y lo destruyerá y en tres días reconstruyerá nuevo templo. Dice que no necesita ayuda de la gente.”
Ellos dijeron diferentes cosas y el sumo sacerdote se paró y caminó (hacia Jesús) y dijo: “Jesús, ellos (están hablando) en contra de ti y tú dices nada, ¿sabes de qué están hablando?”
Jesús estaba silencioso, callado y el sacerdote otra vez le preguntó: “¿Eres el Cristo, el hijo del Dios santo?”
Jesús (dijo): “Sí, lo soy y les advierto: en el futuro uds todos verán a Dios, el poderoso, sentado con el hijo del hombre a su lado.
Luego en el futuro uds verán con sus propios ojos que el hijo del hombre venga con las nubes, este mismo soy yo.”
El sumo sacerdote lo vio y arrancó su mantó, rompiendolo, y dijo: “Uds ven y oyen que Jesús está hablando algo fuerte e irrespetuoso contra Dios, no necesitamos más testigos.
¿Uds qué piensan?, diganme.” Los sacerdotes y los maestros de la ley y los ancianos (dijeron): “Jesús es malo, es necesario y mejor castigarlo con la muerte.”
Algunos fueron uno por uno y lo escupieron en la cara y le ataron ua venda y lo golpieron en la cara.
Dijeron: “Tú eres una profeta, ¿quién de nosotros te golpeó? Vamos, dinos.” Y lo golpearon más, y otros hombres que vigiliaban el templo fueron y lo bofetearon en la cara.
The soldiers took Jesus and they entered the house of the high priest and went up.
Outside in the square the men that kept watch over the temple were sitting around the fire. Peter went over to sit down and warm his hands by the fire.
At the same time Jesus was standing in front of the high priest and other leaders of the priests and the elders and teachers of the law gathered around him and they wanted to punish Jesus to death.
They said: “Who will be a witness against Jesus?” One person came up to tell things and criticize, making it all up, and another person came and told lies, and they came one by one and told different things, and it was a chaos.
The priests looked from one to the other: ‘There are no persons who say the same thing, it is difficult to choose witnesses.’
Some other people got up and walked (to the front) and told a lie:
˜We heard Jesus say that the temple in Jerusalem, that was built by men, in the future he, Jesus, will destroy it and in three days he will rebuild a new temple. He says he does not need help from the people.”
They said different things and the high priest got up and walked over (to Jesus) and said: “Jesus, they (are talking) against you, and you say nothing, do you know what they are talking about?”
Jesus was silent and kept quiet, and the priest asked him again: “Are you the Christ, the son of the holy God?”
Jesus (said): “Yes, I am and I tell you: in the future you will all see God, the almighty, sitting with the son of man next to him.
“Then in the future you will see with your own eyes that the Son of Man is coming on the clouds, and I am he.”
The high priest saw it and he tore his mantle open and said: “You see and hear that Jesus is saying something strong and disrespectful against God, we do not need more witnesses.
“What do you think? Tell me.” The priests and the teachers of the law and the elders (said): “Jesus is bad, it is necessary and better to punish him with death.”
Some went up one by one and they spit him in the face and they blindfolded him and hit him in the face.
They said: “You are a prophet, who of us beat you? Come on, tell us.” And they beat him some more, and other men who kept watch over the temple, went up and struck him in the face.
The chief priests, the elders, the teachers of the law gathered in the house of the high priest. There they waited for Jesus to be brought. When Jesus had been seized earlier, a disciple named Peter had secretly followed Jesus. When the crowd that had seized Jesus entered the courtyard of the high priest’s house, Peter secretly followed them and began to warm himself by the fire that was there in the courtyard. The servants of the high priest were around. Peter was secretly watching.
The high priest and the judges began to question the people. They needed proof that Jesus had committed a crime in order to condemn him to death. Many liars began to slander Jesus. But the judges understood that these accusations were not enough to condemn Jesus to death. Some liars began to testify against Jesus:
“He said that I will destroy the Temple, which was built in the distant past, but then in three days I will build it again, but it will not require the efforts of human hands.
The judges decided that these charges were not enough to condemn Jesus to death. They continued to deliberate and question the people.
Then the high priest stood up and came to Jesus and said:
— These people are accusing you. Why don’t you defend yourself?
Jesus said nothing, but remained silent. The high priest asked:
— Are you the Christ? Are you the Son of God?
Jesus answered:
— I am. You will yet see how the Son of Man will sit next to God the Father, to his right. You will see how I descend on a cloud to the earth.
The high priest became furious. He tore his clothes and shouted:
— What other evidence is needed? He blasphemes God! What will you decide, judges?
The judges decided that Jesus was guilty and should be executed. Then the crowd attacked Jesus, people began to spit at him. Then they put a bag over his head, beat him on the head and said:
— Now tell me, prophet, who hit you?
Then the guards began to beat him.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Первосвященники, старейшины, учителя закона собрались в доме первосвященника. Там они ждали, пока приведут Иисуса. Когда до этого Иисуса схватили, ученик по имени Петр тайно последовал за Иисусом. Когда толпа, схватившая Иисуса, вошла во двор дома первосвященника, Петр тайком пошел за ней и стал греться возле костра, который был там, во дворе. Вокруг были слуги первосвященника. Петр тайно следил.
Первосвященник и судьи стали расспрашивать народ. Им нужны были доказательства, что Иисус совершил преступление, чтобы осудить его на смерть. Многие лжецы стали наговаривать на Иисуса. Но судьи понимали, что этих обвинений недостаточно, чтобы осудить Иисуса на смерть. Какие-то лжецы стали свидетельствовать против Иисуса:
— Он говорил, что вот этот Храм, который был построен в далеком прошлом, я разрушу, но потом через три дня построю его вновь, но не потребуются усилия человеческих рук.
Судьи решили, что и этих обвинений недостаточно для осуждения Иисуса на смерть. Они продолжали совещаться и расспрашивать народ.
Тогда встал первосвященник, подошел к Иисусу и сказал:
— Вот эти люди обвиняют тебя. Почему ты не защищаешься?
Иисус ничего не сказал, но продолжал молчать. Первосвященник спросил:
— Ты Христос? Ты Сын Бога?
Иисус ответил:
— Я есть. Вы еще увидите, как Сын человеческий, воссядет рядом с Богом отцом, справа от него. Вы увидите, как я спускаюсь на облаке на землю.
Первосвященник пришел в ярость. Он разодрал на себе одежду и закричал:
— Какие еще нужны доказательства? Он хулит Бога! Что вы решите, судьи?
Судьи решили, что Иисус виновен и должен быть казнен. Тогда толпа набросилась на Иисуса, люди стали плевать в него. Потом надели на голову мешок, били по голове и говорили:
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 14:64:
Uma: “You yourselves have heard his words belittling God. What [lit., How] is your decision?’ The decision of all of them was the same, they said: ‘He is certainly guilty, he must be punished by death!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “You have heard already what he said, as if he is God. What is your judgment?’ They all said, ‘Our (excl.) judgment is that he should be killed.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “you have heard his words of great transgression against God. What is your judgment?’ And then all of his companions said that Jesus’ sin was large and it was necessary to kill him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Here we have emphatically heard what he said to make-himself -equal to God! What is your thinking about this?’ And they all condemned him to die.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “For you have all heard this which he said which is his making himself the same as God. Well now, what sentence/decision will you give?’ The decision of them all was that what was really fitting for him was to be killed.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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 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 and Orthodox 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 or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations 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. ).
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).
tēs blasphēmias (cf. 3.28) ‘the blasphemy’: impious speech against God.
ti humin phainetai; ‘What does it seem to you?,’ ‘how does it appear to you?’
katekrinan (cf. 10.33) ‘they condemned.’
enochon (cf. 3.29) ‘liable of,’ ‘worthy of,’ ‘deserving of’: here the word denotes the punishment .
Translation:
For blasphemy see 2.7, but note that in this passage it is not necessary to interpret blasphemy in the technical sense of ‘making oneself equal with God.’ It is quite enough to render this passage as ‘the evil words he has spoken’ or ‘you have heard him speak against God.’ In Tzeltal this is rendered as ‘you have heard him, he’s against God.’
What is your decision is often translatable either as ‘what do you think’ or ‘what do you say?’
Condemned him as deserving death involves a number of complex relationships of events, rendered in some instances by paratactic combinations, e.g. ‘condemned him, they said, He should be killed,’ or ‘condemned him and decided that he should be killed.’ Death must be interpreted usually in the sense of ‘be killed,’ not merely as ‘to die.’
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 .
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