36And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.”
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated in English as “sour wine” or “vinegar” is translated in North Alaskan Inupiatun as “wine,” in Navajo as “sour grape juice,” in Aguaruna “bitter drink,” and in Yatzachi Zapotec as “cheap wine.” (Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
In Noongar it is translated as as kepa djadam or “sour / bitter water.” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)
In Chichewa it is vinyo wosasa, more along the lines of “spoiled wine.” The word “wosasa” is used to refer to any food or drink that has become bad and produces bad smell because it has either overstayed or exposed to bacteria and other infections. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
The Greek that is translated (or transliterated) in English as “sponge” is translated in Chol as “water absorber.” (Source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965, p. 2ff.)
Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)
A las doce de la tarde el cielo se transformó en oscuro y negro hasta las tres de la tarde. Jesús gritó en voz fuerte “¡Eloi Eloi lama sabactani!” que significa: ‘Dios mio, Dios mio, ¿porqué me has dejado?’
Las personas lo oyeron mal y dijeron: “Jesús está hablando y llamando a que venga Elías.”
Un hombre corrió y agarró una esponja y la mojó en vino corriente y la puso en un tubo y subió el tubo, y Jesús colgado en la cruz chupó.
Dijeron: “Dejalo, a ver si venga Elías a ayudar a Jesús y a bajarlo”, y todos estaban viendo. Jesús, colgado en la cruz, gritó en voz fuerte y bajó la cabeza y murió.
Allá en Jerusalén adentro del templo la cortina gruesa se rompió en dos partes al mismo tiempo.
Frente a la cruz un capitán de los soldados romanos vio todo con sus propios ojos, cuando el soldado vio que Jesús ya estaba muerto, (dijo): “Este hombre verdaderamente era el hijo de Dios.”
Allá había algunas mujeres que vieron Jesús en la cruz desde lejos, ellos recien antes habían acompañado a Jesús cuando fue a Jerusalén.
Las mismas mujeres que había allá eran: 1. María Magdalena, 2. Maria, 3. Salome. Los tres eran sus compañeras y juntas habían tratado a Jesús en Galilea.
At twelve o’clock in the afternoon the sky was transformed, it became dark and black until three o’clock in the afternoon. Jesus shouted loudly: “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means ‘My God, my God why have you left me?’
The people heard it wrong and said: “Jesus is talking and calling Elijah to come.”
A man ran and grabbed a sponge and dipped it in common wine and put it on a stick and held up the stick, and Jesus, hanging on the cross, sucked it up.
They said: “Leave him, let’s see if Elijah comes to help Jesus and carry him down”, and they were all watching. Jesus, hanging on the cross, shouted loudly and lowered his head and died.
Over there in Jerusalem, inside the temple, the thick curtain was torn in two at the same time.
Opposite the cross a captain of the Roman soldiers saw it all with his own eyes, when the soldier saw that Jesus was already dead (he said): “This man was really the son of God.”
Over there were some women who were watching Jesus on the cross from afar, they had recently accompanied Jesus when he went to Jerusalem.
The women who were there were: 1. Mary Magdalene, 2. Mary, 3. Salome. The three were his companions and together they had cared for Jesus in Galilee.
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the addressee).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 15:36:
Uma: “One ran to get a clump of flowers/plants that is like moss, he soaked it in anggur water that was sour, he put it on the tip of a pole and extended it to Yesus’s lips to drink. He said: ‘Wait, we’ll see if Elia indeed comes to take him down from the cross!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Immediately someone ran carrying like cotton and soaked it in a drink. Then he stuck it onto a stick and gave it to Isa to suck on. That person said, ‘Wait a minute. (da’a dahu’) Let us (incl.) see if Nabi Eliyas will come to take him down from that post!'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And one of the people there hurried and got a sponge and dipped it in vinegar and stuck a stick into it and put it up to the mouth of Jesus so that he might suck on it, and he said, ‘Leave him alone. Well see if Elijah will come to take him down.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “One of them instantly-ran to go get something like cotton. He soaked it in vinegar, and then he impaled it on a reed in order to hold-it-up-to-his-mouth so that he could suck-on-it. ‘Kindly wait so we will see if Elias comes to take-him -down from the cross,’ he said.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Someone ran and fetched an absorbent thing. He saturated it with sour drink, pierced it with a stick and then held it up to the mouth of Jesus so that he could drink. He said, ‘Just leave him alone. Let’s see whether Elias will come here and remove him from that cross.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
There are two general types of reed in Israel, the Common Reed Phragmites australis and the Giant Reed Arundo donax, and it is impossible to say which one is intended in a given biblical context.
The English word “cane” comes from the Hebrew word qaneh. Qaneh is the most general Hebrew word of the many referring to reeds and rushes. Like the English word “reed,” it may refer to a specific type of reed or be a general name for several kinds of water plant. This word is also used to refer to the stalk of grain in Pharaoh’s dream (Genesis 41:5, Genesis 41:22), to the shaft and branches of the golden lampstand in the Tabernacle (Exodus 25:31 et al.), to the beam of a scale (Isaiah 46:6), to the upper arm of a person (Job 31:22), to a measuring stick (Ezekiel 40:3 et al.), and to aromatic cane (Song of Songs 4:14 et al.).
The common reed is a tall grass with stiff, sharply-pointed leaves and a plume-like flower head that reaches to more than 2 meters (7 feet). It grows in lakes and streams, the roots creeping across the bottom of the lake to produce new leaves and stalks.
The giant reed is similar to the common reed but tends to grow not in the water but on the river banks. Its majestic plumes can reach up to 5 meters (17 feet) in height on hollow stalks that look like bamboo.
Reeds of both kinds were used for baskets, mats, flutes, pens, arrows, and roof-coverings. Isaiah 42:3 says that the Messiah will be gentle with weak people (“a bruised reed he will not break”), in contrast to the typical iron-fisted tyrants of the day. The Pharaoh is likened to an undependable reed staff in 2 Kings 18:21 et al. In 1 Kings 14:15 Israel is compared to a reed shaking in the water.
The common reed of the Mediterranean area has relatives in Europe, India, Japan, and North America. It is thought to be the only species of the genus Phragmites (although some botanists divide it into three species). It is very important for conservationists, because it provides habitat for many kinds of animals and birds. In North America the weaker native type is being overtaken by more robust types from Europe, which are now threatening other kinds of marsh plants. In Japan people eat the young shoots of reeds. Native Americans used to eat the seeds.
Translators living near lakes and rivers will be able to find an equivalent, if not a relative, of the reed. Others can be generic and use “grass” or a phrase such as “tall grass growing in the water.”
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. ).
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