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 name that is transliterated as “Elijah” in English means “God-LORD,” “strength of the LORD,” “my God is YHWH.” “the LORD God.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
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 )
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 the latter two 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. ).
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®).
dramōn de tis ‘and a certain one running’: again it is impossible to identify the man. He is simply a ‘bystander’ or ‘spectator.’
trechō (cf. 5.6) ‘run.’
gemisas spoggon oxous peritheis kalamō epotizen auton ‘filling a sponge (full) of vinegar (and) placing (it) on a reed gave (it) to him to drink’: the three aorist participles (dramōn, gemisas, peritheis, ‘running,’ ‘filling,’ ‘placing’) precede the action of the main verb epotizen ‘he gave to drink,’ while the present participle legōn ‘saying’ is simultaneous with the action of the main verb.
gemizō (cf. 4.37) ‘fill,’ ‘fill up.’
spoggos (only here in Mark) ‘sponge.’
oxos (only here in Mark) ‘sharp,’ i.e. ‘sour wine,’ vinegar’: generally identified as the posca, a cheap wine of the Roman soldiers.
potizō (cf. 9.41) ‘give to drink’: the imperfect epotizen is probably conative, ‘he tried to give to drink’ (cf. edidoun in v. 23). So Translator’s New Testament ‘offered Him to drink.’
aphete idōmen ‘let us see’: the verb aphiēmi ‘let,’ ‘allow’ (cf. 2.5) is taken here as an auxiliary. Some, however, do not agree with this, rendering aphete ‘allow me!’ ‘let me do it’: so Revised Standard Version ‘wait.’
kathelein (15.46) ‘to take down,’ ‘to bring down (from the cross)’: Field calls this the technical word for the removal of a body from the cross.
Translation:
Sponge is rendered either by (1) a borrowing, which is the most common procedure, especially where such objects have been introduced to some extent – in which case they often are known by a foreign term, e.g. ‘something which takes up liquid’ (Barrow Eskimo), ‘something with holes-holes,’ a phrase used to designate anything of the nature of a sponge (Shipibo-Conibo), ‘something which drank up the vinegar’ (Tzeltal). In some languages the closest equivalent to a sponge is the fibre of a gourd, which is used for almost the same purposes as marine sponges and hence is quite an acceptable substitute.
Vinegar is ‘sour wine’ or ‘sour juice of a fruit.’
Drink cannot be translated literally in some languages, since one would not speak of ‘drinking from a sponge,’ but rather ‘sucking’ (Copainalá Zoque, Mitla Zapotec).
In a number of languages the series of verbs: ran … filling … put … gave … drink … saying, must be broken up into more than one sentence, especially since the subject of drink is different from the subject of the other verbs, e.g ‘… gave it to him to drink. He said, Wait….’
Wait is directed toward the crowd standing about. Let us see is rendered in some languages as a declarative ‘we shall see’ and in others as a question ‘shall we see whether Elijah…?’ Let us see is a type of hortatory first person plural which has no close grammatical parallel in some languages. The nearest equivalents may be (1) an imperative introductory statement, e.g. ‘come and we shall see,’ (2) a simple future statement, ‘we shall see,’ and (3) in rare instances a question, with the same function as the Greek hortatory, e.g. ‘shall we see whether.’
Take him down may require a more specific translation such as ‘take him down from the cross,’ ‘take him off the cross,’ or ‘unnail him from the cross.’
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 .
And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine: This phrase indicates that someone there hurried to get a sponge and use it to soak up some wine vinegar.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
ran and got a sponge, filled it with vinegar (New Century Version) -or-
One of them ran and grabbed a sponge. After he had soaked it in wine, he…. (Contemporary English Version)
And someone: The word someone refers to one of the people in 15:35 who heard Jesus’ words. He was one person who wrongly thought that Jesus was calling Elijah.
sponge: A sponge is something that can soak up water or other liquids. If sponges are unknown in your language, you could:
• Use a descriptive phrase. For example:
something that soaks/drinks water -or-
something that takes/sucks up liquids
• Substitute something that is known in your culture that is used to soak up water. Add the words “something like” so that you do not change the facts of the historical incident. For example:
something like gourd fibers -or-
something like cotton/cloth
sour wine: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as sour wine refers to a cheap kind of wine or vinegar. It was known to be good for quenching thirst.
He put it on a reed: The Greek words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as put…on literally mean “placed around.” The sponge may have been fastened around the reed. Or the man may have stabbed the end of the reed into the sponge.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
He tied it to a stick (New Century Version) -or-
He impaled it on a reed
Use a natural verb in your language to describe this kind of action.
reed: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as reed generally refers to a stick. In this case, the man soaked a sponge with wine. Then he put the sponge on the stick in order to put the sponge as high as Jesus’ mouth.
15:36c
and held it up for Jesus to drink: The clause held it up for Jesus to drink indicates that the man lifted the sponge on the stick to Jesus’ mouth. He did this so that Jesus could suck some of the wine from it. In some languages you will need to use a verb like “suck” rather than “drink” for this action.
The Greek verb here implies that Jesus drank this wine. John 19:28–30 also indicates that Jesus did drink what was offered to him this time. (This is a different situation from Mark 15:23. There, he did not drink the wine mixed with myrrh).
15:36d
saying: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible literally translates as saying introduces direct speech. Some translations place the phrase “he said” at the end of the words that the man spoke in 15:36e. You should put this where it is most natural in your language.
Leave Him alone: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Leave Him alone in this context probably means “leave things as they are.” That is, no one (It is not clear whether this is addressed to the soldiers, the bystanders, or both. France (page 653) suggests that it generally addresses all who were present, that it is “used…not necessarily to avert any specific interference, but generally asking the bystanders and/or the soldiers to leave the field clear for Elijah to intervene if he so chose.”) should do anything to hasten Jesus’ death. No one should do anything that would prevent Elijah from coming and saving him. Versions that translate this as “Wait” mean “Wait and do not do anything.”
Here are some other ways to translate this:
Leave him as he is. -or-
Do not disturb him. -or-
Leave things just as they are. -or-
Wait and do not do anything.
15:36e
Let us see: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Let us see here means “Let us watch or observe.” The Greek verb form (and the English “let us…”) encourages other people to join with the speaker in doing something. (In this context, “let” does not mean “permit” or “allow.”)
Here are some other ways to translate Let us see:
Let us watch/observe -or-
We should watch/look
if Elijah comes to take Him down: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as to take…down means “to cause to descend.” In this context, it means “to remove Jesus,” “to rescue Jesus,” or “to free Jesus” from the cross.
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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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