16When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
The Greek that is a transliteration of the Hebrew Pərūšīm and is typically transliterated into English as “Pharisee” is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as Fǎlìsài (法利賽 / 法利赛) (Protestant) or Fǎlìsāi (法利塞) (Catholic). In Chinese, transliterations can typically be done with a great number of different and identical-sounding characters. Often the meaning of the characters are not relevant, unless they are chosen carefully as in these cases. The Protestant Fǎlìsài can mean something like “Competition for the profit of the law” and the Catholic Fǎlìsāi “Stuffed by/with the profit of the law.” (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 51)
In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “prayer shawl”. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as Observant. He explains (p. 302): “Pharisee has become a public, universal pejorative term for a hypocrite. Pharisees were observant of the interpretation of the Covenant Code called the ‘tradition of the elders.’ They conformed their behaviors to the interpretation. Among the various groups of Jews at the time of Jesus, they were perhaps closest to Jesus in their overall concern to make a radical commitment to the will of God (as they understood it).”
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. ).
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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®).
Instead of tōn Pharisaiōn ‘of the Pharisees’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has kai hoi Pharisaioi ‘and the Pharisees.’
After the second esthiei ‘he eats’ Textus Receptus, Tischendorf, Vogels, Merk, Souter, Soden, and Kilpatrick add kai pinei ‘and drinks’; Nestle, Westcott and Hort, Lagrange, and Taylor omit kai pinei.
Exegesis:
hoi grammateis tōn Pharisaiōn ‘the scribes (who belonged to the party) of the Pharisees’ (cf. Acts 23.9).
hoi grammateis ‘the scribes’ (cf. 2.6).
tōn Pharisaiōn ‘of the Pharisees’: on the origin and particular beliefs of this religious group, the largest among the Jews in the time of Jesus, cf. the standard dictionaries and commentaries. They are mentioned by name ten more times in Mark (2.18, 24, 3.6, 7.1, 3, 5, 8.11, 15, 10.2, 12.13).
hoti ‘why?’: although some take hoti here as recitative, introducing a direct statement (Souter, American Standard Version, Manson, The Modern Speech New Testament, Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale), the great majority of commentators and translators take it to be interrogative.
Translation:
The scribes of the Pharisees are ‘the scribes who belong to the sect of the Pharisees’ or ‘the scribes who were Pharisees.’ The scribes might be members of one of several different religious sects, of which the three most important were the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes.
The word Pharisees is derived by most scholars from a verb meaning ‘to separate’ (T. W. Manson, however, suggests it represents the Aramaic ‘Persian’). These persons undertook to separate themselves from the Hellenistic influences which threatened Judaism during the times of the Maccabees. However, by the N.T. period the name had become almost entirely a proper name, and as such should be transliterated, rather than translated. It may, however, be useful in initial contexts to introduce a classifier such as ‘sect’ or ‘religious group,’ in order to identify something of its significance.
To eat with … must in some languages be restated in terms of a different arrangement of constituents, e.g. ‘Jesus and the sinners and the tax collectors were eating in the same place’ (Loma (Liberia)).
The verbs for eating (and drinking) are often troublesome, for they may either require an object, which states what is eaten or drunk, or they may imply in their own form the type of food or drink which is consumed. For example, some languages have several words for ‘eat,’ depending upon whether one eats meat, vegetables, roots, or fruit. Similar contrasts occur with words for ‘drink.’ When the terms are so specific as to make the context entirely too restricted in meaning, it may be better to use a more generic expression, e.g. ‘to sit down at a meal with’ or ‘to gather with … at a meal’ (or ‘feast,’ for this was obviously a special occasion).
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 .
This verse implies that some scribes were at Levi’s house also or that they were near enough to see Jesus eating. They were disturbed that Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners. Introduce the teachers of the law in a natural way in your language. Here is one way to do this in English:
Some scribes were also there. These scribes were part of the Pharisee group. When they saw…
2:16a
the scribes who were Pharisees:
There is a textual issue in 2:16a. (1) Some Greek manuscripts have “the scribes of the Pharisees.” This indicates that some of the Pharisees were also scribes. For example, the Contemporary English Version says: “Some of the teachers of the Law of Moses were Pharisees” (Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Good News Bible, Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, God’s Word, New Living Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version). (2) Some Greek manuscripts have “the scribes and the Pharisees.” For example, the NET Bible says: “experts in the law and the Pharisees” (NET Bible, King James Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English). It is recommended that you follow option (1).) This phrase refers to the scribes who belonged to the religious group called the Pharisees. See the notes scribes and on Pharisees below.
scribes: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as scribes refers to teachers of the law. In New Testament times, their main task was to study and teach the law of Moses. The scribes were also mentioned in the preceding story in 2:6. See the note on 2:6a. They were first mentioned in Mark in 1:22. See also teacher of the law in the Glossary.
Pharisees: The Pharisees were a Jewish religious group or party. It was very important to them to obey all of the Jewish religious laws carefully and in detail.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
• Transliterate the word Pharisees according to the sounds of your language and indicate that it refers to a group of people. For example:
Farisi members -or-
Parise adherents
• Transliterate the word Pharisees and indicate that it refers to a group of people with certain beliefs. For example:
people belonging to the Farise religious sect/group -or-
members of the Jewish group called the Farasi
You may also want to include an explanation of Pharisees in the glossary of your translation.
2:16b
saw Jesus eating with these people: The Pharisees observed what was happening at Levi’s house. They noticed that Jesus was being friendly to sinners and tax collectors by eating with them. In some languages it may be possible to use a phrase that suggests friendliness. For example;
saw him sharing a meal with the sinners and tax collectors
these people: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as these people is literally “sinners and tax collectors.” See the notes on 2:15b for these words. In some languages it may be natural to use the same order here as you did there:
tax collectors and other sinners
2:16c
they: The pronoun they refers to the Pharisees.
His disciples: The phrase His disciples refers to Jesus’ disciples. See the note on “disciple” in 2:15b.
2:16d
“Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?”: This is a rhetorical question. The Pharisees were rebuking Jesus and his disciples. They did not really want to know the reason Jesus ate with the sinners. They wanted everyone to realize that it was wrong for Jesus to eat with despised people and they did not approve of it.
There are two ways to translate this rebuke:
• As a rhetorical question. For example, the New American Standard Bible says:
Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?
• As a statement. For example:
He should not eat with tax collectors and other sinners! -or-
It is wrong for him to eat with tax collectors and other sinners!
Use whichever form is most natural for expressing this rebuke and showing disapproval in your language.
eat with:
There is a textual issue in 2:16d: (1) Some Greek manuscripts have eat. For example, the Good News Bible says: “eat” (Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Good News Bible, Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, NET Bible, English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, God’s Word, New Living Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English). (2) Some Greek manuscripts have eat and drink. For example, the King James Version says: “eateth and drinketh” (King James Version). It is recommended that you follow option (1). However, if the phrase “eat and drink” is a natural way in your language to describe eating a meal with other people, you may follow option (2).) Jesus was eating a meal with the tax collectors and “sinners.” Use a natural expression in your language to describe this situation.
tax collectors and sinners: Here the Pharisees were speaking about people whom they considered worse sinners than others. Use an appropriate expression in your language. See the notes on 2:15b and 2:16b.
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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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