fast (verb)

The Aramaic, Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “fast” in English is translated in Isthmus Mixe as “going without food to worship God,” in Lacandon as “leaving eating in order to talk to God” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.), in Vidunda as “resting to eat” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext), and in Kankanaey as “endure hunger” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation).

See also fast (Luke 5:33).

Mark 2:18-22 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 2:18-22 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

Some people turned to Jesus and asked:

— These are the disciples of John the messenger. And these are the disciples of the Pharisees. They are fasting, refusing to eat, are hungry and sorrowful.

Jesus said:

— Now I am going to explain this to you. I’m going to give you three examples.

The first example. If there is a feast, a feast, a wedding, and the bridegroom has come, will the assembled guests refuse to eat? Will they fast? Will they grieve? Of course not! All together they will rejoice. But when the bridegroom leaves, when the guests see the bridegroom gone, then they will refuse to eat, they will fast and be sad.

Second example. Here are clothes that are worn out, all old, shabby, worn out, with holes, are we really going to sew a patch of new cloth to these old clothes? No one would do that. And if we sew a patch of new fabric, the old clothes will tear even more.

Third example. Here is a wine bag made from skins. This is an old bag. New wine is not poured into such a bag. And if you pour new wine into such an old bag of skins, the bag will burst and all the wine will spill out. Therefore, new wine is poured into new wine bags.

Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):

Некоторые люди обратились к Иисусу и спросили:

— Есть ученики вестника Иоанна. Вот ученики фарисеев. Они постятся, отказываются от еды, испытывают голод и находятся в печали. Твои ученики почему не постятся?

Иисус сказал:

— Сейчас я вам объясню. Я расскажу вам три примера.

Первый пример. Если сегодня торжество, праздник, свадьба, и пришел жених, разве гости, которые собрались, будут отказываться от еды? поститься? печалиться? Конечно же, нет! Все вместе они будут радоваться. Но когда жениха не станет, когда гости увидят, что жениха нет, тогда они откажутся от еды, будут поститься и печалиться.

Второй пример. Вот одежда износилась, вся старая, ветхая, потертая, с дырками, разве мы будем к этой старой одежде пришивать заплатку из новой ткани? Так никто не делает. А если пришить заплату из новой ткани, то тогда старая одежда порвется еще хуже.

Третий пример. Вот мешок для вина из шкур. Это старый мешок. В такой мешок не наливают молодого вина. А если налить молодое вино в такой старый мешок из шкур, то мешок лопнет и все вино выльется. Поэтому молодое вино наливают в новые мешки для вина.

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

<< Mark 2:13-17 in Russian Sign Language
Mark 2:23-28 in Russian Sign Language >>

Mark 2:18-22 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 2:18-22 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)

Algunas personas fueron y dijeron a Jesús: “Hoy vimos que los discípulos de Juan el Bautista ayunan, y también los fariseos ayunan, pero tus discípulos no ayunan, ¿porqué?”

Jesús dijo: “Mira, les doy ejemplos, como idea. Primero: Yo soy el novio, y tengo la fiesta de la body, los invitados comen y beben, ¿pueden decir ‘no gracias, estoy ayunando?’ No es posible, es normal que comen juntos. Cuando en el futuro la gente me arresten y ellos no entienden lo que pasa y están decepcionados van a decir ‘no gracias, estoy ayunando’. ¿Correcto?

Segundo: Si tienes ropa vieja y rota con un ollo, y se corta un pedazo de otra ropa nueva y se lo cose sobre el ollo… uds saben que eso es absurdo. Se lava la ropa y después la ropa rompe y el parche se cae y resulta peor, ¿correcto?

Tercero: Uds conocen los cueros de piel para beber. Yo les pregunto, un cuero viejo que se dejó por mucho tiempo ¿puedes verter vino nuevo, de hoy, adentro? No se puede, uds saben que el cuero se reventará. A fuerzas es necesario tener cueros nuevos para ponerlos vino, y queda bien. Si los dos son iguales, ambos nuevos, está bien. ¿Correcto?”


Some people went and said to Jesus: “We saw today that the disciples of John the Baptist fast, and also the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast, why is that?”

Jesus said: “Look, I will give examples, as an idea. Firstly: I am the bridegroom and I have a wedding party. The people invited eat and drink. Can they say: ‘no thanks, I am fasting?’ Impossible, it is normal that they eat together. In the future when I get arrested and they don’t understand what’s happening and they are disappointed, then they will say ‘no thank you, I am fasting.’ Right?

“Secondly: If you have some old, broken piece of clothing with a hole in it, and you cut out a piece of material from a new item of clothing and sew it onto the hole….you know that that’s absurd. When you wash the clothes it will break and the patch will fall off and it will turn out worse, right?

“Thirdly: You know the sacks that you drink from, made out of leather. I ask you, an old sack that has been left for a long time, can you pour today’s new wine into it? No you cannot, you know that the sack will burst open. You must have new sacks to pour wine into, and then it will be allright. If both are the same, both are new, it will work, right?”

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

<< Mark 2:13-17 in Mexican Sign Language
Mark 2:23-28 in Mexican Sign Language >>

complete verse (Mark 2:20)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 2:20:

  • Uma: “But the time will come, when the bridegroom will be taken from their midst. At that time they will fast.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But in the future, when the bridegroom has been caused-to-leave/been driven-away, then they will fast.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus said to them, ‘For example,’ he said, ‘if there is a wedding, the companions of the bridegroom, they wouldn’t think about fasting while the bridegroom is still with them. But later, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast. It is just the same way with my disciples, for if I am still with them, they will not fast.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But a time will come when the man-getting-married is taken away from them, and that is when they will fast.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well, that’s how it is with these disciples of mine. But the day will come when I will be separated from them. And then is when they will fast.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 2:20

Exegesis:

hotan aparthē ‘when he is taken away’: the subjunctive mode of the verb is required by the sentence construction; its meaning, however, is not ‘when he may be taken away,’ as though doubt were expressed, but, simply, ‘when he is taken away,’ a statement of future fact.

apairō (the word occurs only here and parallel passages Mt. 9.15, Lk. 5.35, in the N.T.) ‘take away,’ ‘remove’: the verb, as such, does not state whether the removal is natural, or sudden and violent. The context of the whole saying, however, implies a violent removal which will provoke sorrow (cf. the use of the verb in the Septuagint Isa. 53.8).

nēsteusousin ‘they will fast’: a declaration of what will happen in the future, not a command.

Translation:

In place of the days some languages employ ‘the day’ as an expression of indefinite temporal reference (Amganad Ifugao). One may, of course, also translate ‘the time will come.’

Is taken away may in some languages be paralleled by ‘is caused to go away’ or ‘is led away,’ since objects may ‘be taken’ but people are either ‘caused to go’ or ‘are led.’

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 2:20

2:20a

But: The Greek connector that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But indicates that 2:19 contrasts with 2:20. In 2:19 the bridegroom’s friends are rejoicing with the bridegroom, but in 2:20 he is taken away from them and they fast. Express the contrast in a natural way in your language.

the time will come when: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the time will come when is literally “days will come when.” It is an emphatic way to refer to an indefinite time in the future.

In some languages it may not be natural to speak of time coming. There may be another idiom or phrase to express this. Use an appropriate expression in your language. For example:

Someday

the bridegroom will be taken from them: The words the bridegroom will be taken from them refer to an event that was not a usual part of a wedding celebration. Usually the guests would leave the celebration first.

Jesus used this figure of speech to imply that he himself would be taken from his disciples. In some languages it may be necessary to make this explicit in some way. For example:

But the time will come when , the bridegroom, will be taken from them

will be taken: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as will be taken is a passive. It implies that someone would use force to make the bridegroom leave. In some languages it may be necessary to make this verb active and provide a subject. If that is true in your language, it is best to use a general subject. For example:

people will take the bridegroom from them

2:20b

then they will fast: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as then they will fast is literally, “then they will fast on that day.” It emphasizes the time period when Jesus’ disciples (the bridegroom’s friends) would fast. Jesus did not imply that they would fast only on the day that he left. He probably implied that as soon as he left his disciples, they would begin to fast regularly or often.

Here are some other ways to translate this.

at that time they will fast (NET Bible)
-or-
that will be the time for them to fast. (Revised English Bible)

they: The pronoun they refers to the bridegroom’s friends and guests. In the metaphor they represent Jesus’ disciples.

© 2008 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.