In American Sign Language it is translated with the sign for “government/governor” plus the sign for “P” with a circular movement. The reference to government indicates Pilate’s position of authority in the Roman Empire. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Pilate” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
The Greek that is translated into English as “crucify” is translated in various ways:
Naro: xgàu or “to stretch” (as is done with a skin after slaughtering in order to dry it. The word is also widely accepted in the churches.) (Source: Gerrit van Steenbergen)
Yatzachi Zapotec: “fasten him to the cross” (source for this and two above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125)
Noongar: “kill on a tree” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Apali: “nail to a tree piece put cross-wise, lift up to stand upright (for the crucified person) to die (and in some contexts: “to die and rise again”)” (source: Martha Wade)
In British Sign Language it is signed with a sign that signifies “nails hammered into hands” and “arms stretched out.” (Source: Anna Smith)
“Crucify” or “crucifixion” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Following is a painting by Wang Suda 王肅達 (1910-1963):
Housed by Société des Auxiliaires des Missions Collection – Whitworth University
(click image to enlarge)
Image taken from Chinese Christian Posters . For more information on the “Ars Sacra Pekinensis” school of art, see this article , for other artworks of that school in TIPs, see here.
Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing how crucifixion was done in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)
Mucho antes un hombre, Barrabás, junto con otras personas, se levantó contra el gobierno romano con violencia y también mató a varias personas.
Los soldados romanos arrestaron a las personas y los metieron en la cárcel y Barrabás igual fue metido en la cárcel.
Después, a continuación, una multitude de personas fue ante Pilato y dijeron: “Tú sabes que es el día de la fiesta de Pascua y siempre, cada año, es el costumbre que liberas a una persona, por favor (hazlo).”
Pilato sabía que los sacerdotes estaban celosos y por eso habían arrestado a Jesús, y preguntó: “‘Él, Jesús, el rey de los Judíos, ¿quieren que lo deje libre?”
Los líderes de los sacerdotes dijeron: “Mejor diganle que libere al hombre Barrabás.” Las personas obedecieron y gritaron: “¡Libera a Barrábas!”
Pilato dijo: “He oido a uds hablando de este Jesús como rey de los judios, y ahora ¿tengo que castigarlo? ¿Cuál es? Diganme.”
Todas las personas gritaron: “¡Crucificalo!” Pilato (preguntó): “¿Porqué, qué tipo de maldad (ha cometido) Jesús?” Todas las personas gritaron más fuerte: “¡Crucificalo, crucificalo!”
Pilate (dijo): “Bien” y mandó que Barrabás fue liberado y mandó a los soldados: “vayan y azoten a Jesús y después crucifiquenlo.”
Long before a man, Barrabas, together with other people revolted against the roman government violently and he also killed several people.
The roman soldiers arrested the people and put them in prison, and Barrabas was put in prison as well.
Then, afterwards, a multitude of people went before Pilate and said: “You know it’s the day of the Passover feast, and it is always, every year, the custom that you set someone free, please (do this).”
Pilate knew inside that the priests were jealous and that’s why they had arrested Jesus, and he asked: “He, Jesus, the king of the Jews, do you want me to let him go free?”
The leaders of the priests said: “Better tell him to set the man Barrabas free.” The people obeyed and shouted: “Set Barrabas free!”
Pilate said: “I have heard you talking about Jesus here as the king of the Jews, and now I should punish him? Which one is it? Tell me.”
All the people shouted: “Crucify him!” Pilate (asked): “Why, what kind of wrong (has) Jesus (done)?” All the people shouted louder: “Crucify him, crucify him!”
Pilate went “OK” and ordered that Barrabas was freed and he ordered the soldiers: “Go and whip Jesus and crucify him afterwards.”
The chief priests, elders, and scribes were judges, and they deliberated. Early in the morning, when it was light, they made a decision. What was it? They had to bring Jesus to Pilate. That was what they decided among themselves. Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea. They took Jesus, tied his hands, and led him to where Pilate was. The chief priests were gathered there. Jesus stood before them. Pilate asked Jesus:
— Are you the king of the Jews?
Jesus answered:
— You yourself say that I am the king of the Jews.
The chief priests began to get angry. They began to accuse Jesus of crimes. Pilate, after listening, asked Jesus again:
— Why are you silent, why don’t you say anything? Look how many accusations there are against you.
But Jesus said nothing, he simply remained silent. Pilate was very surprised.
This was the beginning of the Passover holiday. According to tradition, every year at this time the people could ask Pilate to release one prisoner. At this time, there was a man named Bar-Abba in prison, as well as accomplices in his crimes. Earlier, Bar-Abba had rebelled against the Romans and committed murder. Therefore, he was put in prison. The people, according to tradition, came and began to ask Pilate to release Bar-Abba. Pilate realized that this was what the high priests had ordered. They had handed Jesus over to trial out of envy. Pilate realized this and said to the people:
— Here is Jesus, who is the king of the Jews, perhaps you want me to release him?
But the high priests began to incite the people to ask specifically for the release of Bar-Abba. Pilate said:
— And Jesus, whom you call the king of the Jews, what do you want me to do with him? And the people began to shout that Jesus should be crucified.
Pilate said:
— What did Jesus do wrong?
But the people began to shout even louder that Jesus must be crucified. And then Pilate ordered that Bar-Abba be released, and that Jesus be beaten with whips and crucified on the cross.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Первосвященники, старейшины, а также книжники были судьями, они совещались. Ранним утром, когда рассвело, они приняли решение. Какое это было решение? Нужно привести Иисуса к Пилату. Так они между собой решили. Пилат был римский правитель Иудеи. Они взяли Иисуса, связали ему руки и повел его туда, где был Пилат. Там же собрались первосвященники. Перед ними стоял Иисус. Пилат спросил Иисуса:
— Ты царь иудеев?
Иисус ответил:
— Это ты сам так говоришь, что я царь иудеев.
Первосвященники начали злиться. Начали обвинять Иисуса в преступлениях. Пилат, выслушав, повторно спросил Иисуса:
— Почему ты молчишь, ничего не говоришь? Посмотри, сколько обвинений против тебя.
Но Иисус ничего не говорил, просто молчал. Пилат был очень сильно удивлён.
Это время было началом праздника Пасхи. По традиции, каждый год в это время народ мог попросить у Пилата, чтобы он отпустил одного заключенного. В это время в тюрьме был человек по имени Бар-Абба, а также соучастники в его преступлениях. Ранее Бар-Абба поднял бунт против римлян и совершил убийство. Поэтому его посадили в тюрьму. Народ по традиции пришел и стал просить Пилата, чтобы он отпустил Бар-Аббу. Пилат понял, что так велели первосвященники. Они из зависти отдали Иисуса на суд. Это понял Пилат и сказал народу:
— Вот Иисус, который царь иудейский, может быть, вы хотите, чтобы я его отпустил?
Но первосвященники начали подговаривать народ, чтобы они просили именно отпустить Бар-Аббу. Пилат сказал:
— А Иисус, которого вы называете царем иудеев, что вы хотите, чтобы я с ним сделал? И люди начали кричать, что Иисуса нужно распять. Пилат сказал:
— Что Иисус сделал плохого?
Но народ ещё сильнее начал кричать, что Иисус должен быть распят. И тогда Пилат приказал, чтобы Бар-Аббу отпустили, а Иисуса избили бичами и распяли на кресте.
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 15:14:
Uma: “Pilatus asked: ‘Yet what is his crime [lit., guilt]?’ They called-out even louder: ‘Crucify him!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Pilatus said to them, ‘Why? What evil has he done?’ But they shouted more, they said, ‘Nail him to the post.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Pilate said, ‘Why? Has he done something bad?’ But the tumult of the people increased, and they were shouting, ‘Nail him to the cross!'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “‘How come? What perhaps is his crime?’ said Pilato. But they shouted more-and-more, ‘Nail (him) to the cross!'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “‘Why?’ said Pilato. ‘What has he done which is evil?’But they shouted all the more loudly, ‘Nail him to a cross!'” (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 tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others 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: “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 Twents as well as 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 third person singular and plural pronoun (“he,” “she,” “it” and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used. In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.”
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®).
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