Kölsch translation (Boch 2017): nix zo Käue han or “have nothing to chew on” and singe Mage hät geknottert wie ne Hungk or “his stomach growled like a dog” (source: Jost Zetzsche)
German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Hunger überfiel ihn or “Hunger overtook (lit.: “attacked”) him” (in Matthew 4:2)
Kupsabiny: “hunger ate him” (source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Mairasi: “feeling tuber pains” (tubers are the main staple) (source Enggavoter 2004)
It was the Sabbath. Here was a field where wheat was growing. There was a path through the field where people were walking. Jesus and the disciples were walking along the path. The disciples plucked the ears, took the grain out of them, peeled them and ate them. A group of Pharisees saw this, and they were greatly angered.
They said to Jesus:
— Look at this! Today is the Sabbath! And your disciples are picking ears. It is forbidden to do that on the Sabbath. The law forbids it. Look at what your disciples are doing!
Jesus answered them:
— Do you know the story of David? There was a priest named Abiathar. He brought bread to the Temple of God and offered it as a gift to God. Then Abiathar and the other priests were allowed to eat that bread. Ordinary people were not allowed to eat this bread because it was only for the priests. And this is what happened to David. He was traveling with his soldiers and they were very hungry. David entered the Temple where the bread that was meant for God was lying, and he ate that bread. He also gave pieces of this bread to his soldiers because they were all very hungry. Were they allowed to do this?
Today is the Sabbath. God set this day for the people to rest. But you have turned the Sabbath into a set of harsh rules. I am the master and ruler of the Sabbath.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Была суббота. Вот поле, на котором росла пшеница. Через это поле шла тропинка, по которой ходили люди. Иисус и ученики шли по этой тропинке. Ученики срывали колосья, доставали из них зерна, очищали их и ели. Группа фарисеев увидела это, и они были сильно возмущены.
Они сказали Иисусу:
— Посмотри на это! Сегодня суббота! А твои ученики собирают колосья. Это запрещено делать в субботу. Закон запрещает. Ты посмотри, что делают твои ученики!
Иисус им ответил:
— Вы знаете историю о Давиде? Был священник по имени Авиафар. Он приносил в Храм Бога хлеб и приносил его в дар Богу. Потом этот хлеб разрешено было есть Авиафару и другим священникам. Обычным людям запрещено было есть такой хлеб, потому что он предназначался только для священников. И вот что случилось с Давидом. Он шел со своими воинами, они были очень голодны. Давид вошел в Храм, где лежал хлеб, предназначенный для Бога, и ел этот хлеб. Также он дал куски этого хлеба своим воинам, потому что все они были очень голодны. Им можно было это делать?
Сегодня суббота. Бог установил этот день, чтобы люди отдохнули. Но вы превратили субботу в набор суровых правил. Я есть хозяин и властелин субботы.
Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)
Un sábado, el día de descanso, Jesús y sus discípulos estaban caminando en el campo y los discípulos estaban recogiendo trigo.
Los fariseos lo vieron y dijeron a Jesús: “Ellos están trabajando, tu sabes que es prohibido, según la ley de Dios el sábado es el día de descanso. ¿Cómo es que lo hacen?”
Jesús los paró (diciendo): “Mira, les explico. Hay una ley que dice que los sacerdotes pueden tomar del pan santo y comerlo, pero gente de afuera, gente extraño no puede comer el pan santo, está prohibido.
¿Uds todavía no han leído la historia de David y del sumo sacerdote de antes, Abiatar, uds no la conocen?
David y los soldados tenían hambre y David fue sólo al tabernáculo y tomó el pan santo y lo distribuyó y los soldados lo comieron.
Les pregunto: ¿Dios hizo las personas para la ley, para que el sábado a fuerzas descansaran y la obedecieran? No, al contrario, Dios dio el sábado en su gracia para ayudar a la gente.
Por eso Dios ha entregado al hijo del hombre la autoridad, él puede no hacer caso al sábado como día de descanso si personas necesitan ayuda.”
On a Saturday, the day of rest, Jesus and his disciples were walking in the fields and the disciples were gathering wheat.
The Pharisees saw it and said to Jesus: “They are working and you know that it is prohibited, according to the law of God the Saturday is the day of rest. How is is they do this?”
But Jesus stopped them (and said): “Look, I’ll explain. There is a law that the priests can take the holy bread and eat it, but people from outside, strangers, cannot eat the holy bread, it is prohibited.
“Have you not yet read the story of David and the former high priest Abiatar, do you not know it?
“David and his army were hungry and David went alone to the tabernacle and took the holy bread and handed it out and the soldiers ate it.
“Let me ask you a question: Did God make the people for the law, so that on Saturday they would obligatorily rest and obey it? No, on the contrary, God graciously gave the Saturday, to help the people.
“Therefore God has given authority to the Son of man, he can ignore that the Saturday is a day of rest if people need help.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 2:25:
Uma: “Yesus said: ‘Have you not read what King Daud did long ago when Abyatar was/became High Priest? When Daud and his friends were hungry and there was nothing for them to eat, he entered into the worship house and ate the bread that was offered/sacrificed to God, and he also distributed it to his companions. According to the customs of our religion, it is only priests who are allowed to eat that bread. But even so, this behavior of Daud was not considered-wrong. ‘” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Isa answered, he said, ‘Have you not read as to what King Da’ud did at the time when Imam Abiyatar was the leading priest? Da’ud and his companions were hungry hep and they had no food.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus answered, ‘It is not possible that you have not read in the long ago writings what David did. He and his soldiers were having a difficult time because they were hungry.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Jesus answered saying, ‘You have certainly read what King David and his companions did when they became-hungry.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Jesus answered them, saying, ‘Haven’t you yet read what was done by king David in the past, when he and his companions were hungered?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
English translation by Michael Pakaluk (2019): “So he says to them, ‘Did you never read what David did, from necessity, when he and the men in his group were hungry?”
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, Jesus is addressing religious leaders with the formal pronoun, showing respect. Compare that with the typical address with the informal pronoun of the religious leaders.
The only two exceptions to this are Luke 7:40/43 and 10:26 where Jesus uses the informal pronoun as a response to the sycophantic use of the formal pronoun by the religious leaders (see formal pronoun: religious leaders addressing Jesus).
In most Dutch translations, the same distinctions are made, with the exception of Luke 10:26 where Jesus is using the formal pronoun. In Afrikaans and Western Frisian the informal pronoun is used throughout.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.
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®).
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