The Greek that is translated as “King of the Jews” in most English translations is translated in Noongar as Djelyib moortakang Judea-kang or “King of the people of Judea.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Mark 15:21 - 27 in Mexican Sign Language
Following is the translation of Mark 15:21-27 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)
Los hombres Alejandro y Rufo, su padre era Simon de Cirene. Él estaba caminando en el campo y se acercó a la multitud, y los soldados lo mandaron a ayudarle (a Jesús).
Simón de Cirene fue y subió la cruz en el hombro y la cargó, y la multitud caminó hacia el lugar de Gólgota, que significa ‘lugar de la calavera’.
Los soldados mezclaron mirra en una copa de vino y se la dieron a Jesús, pero él la rehusó.
Después los soldados quitaron la ropa de Jesús y la dieron a un soldado, y hicieron una apuesta, uno tiró los dado y ganó, entonces otro soldado tiró las dados y así tomaron la ropa.
En la mañana a las nueve crucificaron a Jesús y colgaron un letrera arriba de él diciendo: ‘El rey de los judíos’. Porque de esto recien antes lo habían acusado y castigado, por eso lo apodaron ‘rey de los judíos’
Jesús estaba colgado en la cruz y en dos otras cruces, a la derecha y a la izquierda, estaban dos hombres que eran rateros, ladrones.
Mucho antes, un profeta esscribió un rollo que dice: “Las personas lo insultarán, estarán en contra de él, lo apodarán ‘criminal’, y lo que fue escrito lo dice exactamente.
The men Alexander and Rufus, their father was Simon of Cyrene. He was walking in the fields and approached the multitude, and the soldiers sent him to help (Jesus).
Simon of Cyrene went and took the cross on his shoulder and carried it, and the multitude walked towards the place Golgotha, which means ‘place of the skull.’
The soldiers mixed myrrh in a cup of wine and gave the cup to Jesus, but he refused it.
Then the soldiers took Jesus’ clothes off and gave them to a soldier, and they gambled, one threw the dice and won, then another threw the dice and so they took his clothes.
In the morning at nine o’clock they crucified Jesus and they put a sign above him saying: ‘the king of the Jews’, because that’s why just before they had accused him and punished him, therefore they nicknamed him ‘king of the Jews’.
Jesus was hanging on the cross and on two other crosses, one on the left and one on the right, were two men who were villains, thieves.
Long before, a prophet wrote a scroll which says: “The people will insult him, be against him and nickname him a ‘criminal,'” and what was written says it exactly./em>
Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios
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complete verse (Mark 15:26)
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 15:26:
- Uma: “On his cross tree, above his head, there was writing that said what he was accused of, it sounded like this: KING OF THE YAHUDI PEOPLE” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “And the accusation of him was written onto the post like this: ‘This is the King of the Yahudi.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “They wrote the accusation against him which said, ‘The King of the Jews.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “There was something-written which told what he was accused of which said, ‘King of the Jews.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “In the direction of the top of that cross there was attached what had the charge against Jesus written on it, saying, ‘This is the King of the Judio’.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
king
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:
(Click or tap here to see details)
- Piro: “a great one”
- Highland Totonac: “the big boss”
- Huichol: “the one who commanded” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
- Ekari: “the one who holds the country” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
- Una: weik sienyi: “big headman” (source: Kroneman 2004, p. 407)
- Pass Valley Yali: “Big Man” (source: Daud Soesilo)
- Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
- Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
- Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))
Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo was determined:
“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”
(Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )
See also king (Japanese honorifics).
pronoun for "God"
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 Kouya, Godié, Northern Grebo, Eastern Krahn, Western Krahn, and Guiberoua Béte, all languages of the Kru family in Western Africa, a different kind of systems of pronouns is used (click or tap here to read more):
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 <em>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 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, but most translations, especially those published in the 21st century, 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. ).
See also first person pronoun referring to God.
Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Gender of God .
Translation: Chinese
在现代汉语中，第三人称单数代词的读音都是一样的（tā），但是写法并不一样，取决于性别以及是否有生命，即男性为“他”，女性为“她”，动物、植物和无生命事物为“它”（在香港和台湾的汉语使用，动物则为“牠”）。这些字的部首偏旁表明了性别（男人、女人、动物、无生命事物），而另一偏旁通常旁提示发音。
到1930年为止，基督教新教《圣经》经过整整一百年的翻译已经拥有了十几个译本，当时的一位圣经翻译者王元德新造了一个“神圣的”代词“祂”，偏旁“礻”表示神明。一般汉语读者会立即知道这字的发音是tā，而这个偏旁表示属灵的事物，因此他们明白这个字指出，三位一体的所有位格都没有性别之分，而单单是上帝。
然而，最重要的新教圣经译本（1919年的《和合本》）和天主教圣经译本（1968年的《思高圣经》）都没有采用“祂”；虽然如此，许多其他的圣经译本采用了这个字，另外还广泛出现在赞美诗和其他基督信仰的书刊中。（资料来源：Zetzsche）
《吕振中译本》的几个早期版本也使用“祂”来指称“上帝”；这个译本的《新约》于1946年译成，整部《圣经》于1970年完成。克拉默斯（Kramers）指出：“‘他’的这种新写法（即‘祂’）产生了一个小问题，就是在指称耶稣的时候，是否一律使用这个敬语代词？《吕振中译本》遵循的原则是，在称呼耶稣这个人的时候，用一般的‘他’，而在称呼耶稣神性的时候，特别是升天之后的耶稣，则用尊称‘祂’。”
Translator: Simon Wong
Translation commentary on Mark 15:26
Exegesis:
epigraphē (cf. 12.16) ‘inscription,’ ‘superscription’ (Latin titulus).
aitias (only here in Mark) ‘charge’: a legal technical term, indicating the charge for which the death sentence was passed (cf. Latin causa capitalis ‘reason for the capital punishment’).
ēn … epigegrammenē ‘was … inscribed,’ ‘was … written on’: it is not necessary to suppose that the verb here indicates ‘written over Jesus,’ i.e. affixed to the cross above his head. Rather the verb epigraphō means simply ‘written on the tablet,’ and is thus rendered by Revised Standard Version (cf. Gould).
HO BASILEUS TŌN IOUDAIŌN (cf. v. 2) ‘THE KING OF THE JEWS.’
Translation:
The inscription of the charge is often a difficult expression to translate, since though an actual object is referred to, the phrase includes two distinct processes: (1) the writing of the accusation and (2) the charge which was made against Jesus. In Tzeltal this phrase is translated as ‘thus written what said he had done.’ In Tabasco Chontal the charge can only be described in terms of the reasons for the crucifixion, e.g. ‘writing as to why they crucified him.’ In Copainalá Zoque the phrase is ‘paper which accused him,’ a more or less technical reference to any written type of charge.
It is quite easy for us to understand read in this specialized sense of the content of the writing, but in other languages one must say ‘said’ or ‘these were the words.’
For King of the Jews see 15.2.
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 15:26
15:26a
And the charge inscribed against Him read: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as charge literally means “writing.” Here this word refers to the “writing” that was inscribed on a sign. The Romans had the custom of attaching a sign to the cross. On the sign someone wrote the crime for which the person was being punished.
In some languages, it may be helpful to first say something about the sign and where it was attached. (For example, Matthew 27:37 says that the sign was put over Jesus’ head.) You may want to do this before you give the words that were written on it. For example:
There was a sign with this charge against Jesus written on it: (New Century Version)
-or-
A signboard was fastened to the cross above Jesus’ head, announcing the charge against him. (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)
-or-
The soldiers attached a sign to the cross. It stated the charge against Jesus:
the charge…against Him: The phrase the charge…against Him here means “what he/Jesus was accused of doing wrong.” It refers to the type of crime for which he was being punished. Jesus claimed to be the Messiah and king. This was considered an act of rebellion against Rome.
Here are some other ways you could translate the charge…against Him:
the crime that he had done
-or-
what he was accused of doing wrong
-or-
what bad/wrong thing that they believed that he had done
-or-
why he was nailed there (Contemporary English Version)
You may want to include a footnote to explain why Jesus’ claim to be king was a crime against Rome. For example:
The Romans had one supreme ruler who was called Caesar. Caesar appointed or allowed kings to rule over certain provinces under his authority. A claim to be king without Caesar’s permission would be interpreted as rebellion against Rome.
read: The word read here introduces what was written on the sign.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
the sign said:
-or-
the charge/crime was:
-or-
on the sign these words were written:
15:26b
THE KING OF THE JEWS: See how you translated this phrase at 15:2a. If it is better in your language to express this as a complete sentence, you could say:
This person/man is the king of the Jews.
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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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