Sabbath

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “Sabbath” in English is rendered as “day we rest” in Tzotzil, in Mairasi as “Jew’s Rest Day,” in Quiotepec Chinantec as “day when people of Israel rested,” in Shilluk as “day of God,” in Obolo as Usen Mbuban or “Holy Day,” and in Mandarin Chinese as ānxírì (安息日) or “rest day” (literally: “peace – rest – day”). (Sources: Tzotzil: Marion Cowan in Notes on Translation with Drill, p. 169ff; Mairasi: Enggavoter 2004; Quiotepec Chinantec: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.; Shilluk: Nida 1964, p. 237; Obolo: Enene Enene; Chinese: Jost Zetzsche)

In Matumbi it is translated as Sabato ya Ayahudi or “Sabbath of the Jews,” to distinguish it from the Islamic Sabbath (which is Friday) or the Christian Sabbath (which is Sunday). (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

In the old Khmer version as well as in the first new translation this term was rendered as “day of rest” (Thngai Chhup Somrak / ​ថ្ងៃ​ឈប់​សំរាក). Considered inadequate to convey its religious meaning (not only about cessation of work, but also in honor of Yahweh as the Creator), the committee for the Today’s Khmer Version (publ. 2005) decided to keep the Hebrew word and use its transliterated form Thgnai Sabath (​ថ្ងៃ​សប្ប័ទ). “The Buddhist word Thngai Seil ‘day of merits’ used by some Catholics was once under consideration but was rejected because it did not receive unanimous support.” (Source: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1996, p. 233ff. )

In Spanish, the translation is either día de reposo (“day of rest”) or sábado (usually: “Saturday,” derived from the Greek and Hebrew original). Nida (1947, p. 239f.) explains that problem for Spanish and other languages in its sphere of influence: “In translation ‘Sabbath’ into various aboriginal languages of Latin America, a considerable number of translators have used the Spanish sábado, ‘Saturday,’ because it is derived from the Hebrew sabbath and seems to correspond to English usage as well. The difficulty is that sábado means only ‘Saturday’ for most people. There is no religious significance about this word as the is with ‘Sabbath’ in English. Accordingly the [readers] cannot understand the significance of the persecution of Jesus because he worked on ‘Saturday.’ It has been found quite advantageous to use the translation ‘day of rest,’ for this accurately translated the Hebrew meaning of the term and resolves the problem in connection with the prohibitions placed upon some types of activities.”

In French Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts closing of the blinds of a store:


“Sabbath” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Sabbath .

Mark 3:1-6 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 3:1-6 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

The house of prayer of the Jews. There was a man there with a dried up hand. The Pharisees were also sitting there. On the Sabbath day Jesus went into the house of prayer. The Pharisees began to say to one another:

— If Jesus heals this man with a dried up hand, then we will rebuke Jesus for breaking the law. Today is the Sabbath, so it is not lawful to heal today.

Jesus looked around, saw a man with a dried up hand, and in full view of everyone called him to the center of the hall. The man approached Jesus. Jesus looked at the Pharisees and said to them:

— Today is the Sabbath. Tell me, what does the law allow you to do on this day? To heal and give health to the man? Or to be indifferent and ignore how he perishes? Tell me.

The Pharisees could say nothing in response. Jesus became angry with the Pharisees and said:

— It is a pity that your hearts are callous.

Jesus’ said to the man with the dry hand:

— Stretch out your hand!

The man stretched out his hand — and it became healthy!

When the Pharisees saw all this, they went out of there with indignation. The Pharisees went to the place where the men, King Herod’s supporters, were. The Pharisees went up to them and began to say to one another:

— How shall we kill this Jesus?

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

Дом молитвы евреев. Там был один человек с высохшей рукой. Также там сидели фарисеи. В день субботний Иисус зашел в дом молитвы. Фарисеи стали говорить друг другу:

— Если Иисус исцелит этого человека с сухой рукой, тогда мы уличим Иисуса в нарушении закона. Сегодня суббота, поэтому исцелять сегодня нельзя по закону.
Иисус посмотрел вокруг, увидел человека с высохшей рукой, и на виду у всех позвал его в центр зала. Этот человек подошел к Иисусу. Иисус посмотрел на фарисеев и сказал им:

— Сегодня суббота. Скажите, что разрешает закон делать в этот день? Исцелить и дать здоровье человеку? Или же быть равнодушным и не обращать внимания, как он погибает? Скажите мне.

Фарисеи ничего не могли сказать в ответ. Иисус разгневался на фарисеев и сказал:

— Жаль, что у вас сердца черствые.

Портом Иисус сказал человеку с сухой рукой:

— Вытяни свою руку!

Человек протянул свою руку — и она стала здоровой!

Фарисеи, увидев все это, с возмущением вышли оттуда. Фарисеи пошли в то место, где были люди, сторонники царя Ирода. Фарисеи подошли к ним и стали говорить друг другу:

— Как же нам убить этого Иисуса?

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

<< Mark 2:23-28 in Russian Sign Language
Mark 3:7-12 in Russian Sign Language >>

Mark 3:1-6 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 3:1-6 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)

Después Jesús otra vez fue al templo, y allá había un hombre enfermo, con un mano deforme.

Jesús lo miró y los Fariseos lo vieron y pensaron: Es el día de descanso, si Jesús lo sana lo podemos acusar.

Mientras estaban viendo, Jesús (dijo al hombre): “Ven, hombre, parate para que ellos lo vean.” El hombre con el mano deforme se paró y se acercó a él.

Jesus dijo: “Hoy es el sábado, debemos descansar. ¿Podemos matar o salvar una vida, cuál? ¿Qué piensan? Diganme.

¿Piensan uds que Dios da permiso que hagamos bien o que hagamos mal? ¿Cuál? Diganme.”

Todas las personas no dieron ninguna respuesta, estaban callados, no dijeron nada.

Jesús los miraba y adentro se enojó porque los corazones de la gente estaban negros, se sintió muy triste.

Dijo: “Tu puedes extender tu mano deforme, adelante.” El hombre extendió su mano deforme y podía mover sus dedos, fue sanado.

Los fariseos se paraban uno por uno y salían caminando y se alejaron en un grupo, y miraron alrededor unos judíos que siempre daban soporte al Rey Herodes Antipas (los herodianos): ¡bien! Y junto dialogaban cómo podían matar a Jesús.


Afterwards Jesus again went to the religious building and there was a man who was ill, with a deformed hand.

Jesus looked at him and the Pharisees saw it and thought: It’s the day of rest, if Jesus heals him we can accuse him.

As they were watching, Jesus looked (and said to the man): “Come here, man, get up so that they see it.” The man with the deformed hand got up and went up to him.

Jesus said: “Today is Saturday and we have to rest. Can we kill or save a life, which? What do you think? Tell me.

“Do you think that God gives us permission to do good or to do bad, which? Tell me.”

All the people did not answer anything, they were silent and did not say anything.

Jesus looked at them and he got angry inside because the hearts of the people were black, he felt very sad.

He said: “You can stretch out your deformed hand, go ahead.” The man stretched out his deformed hand and could move his fingers, he was healed.

The Pharisees got up one by one and walked out, and they left as a group, and they looked and saw around them some Jews who always were in support of King Herod Antipas (the Herodians): good! And they discussed together how they could kill Jesus.

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

<< Mark 2:23-28 in Mexican Sign Language
Mark 3:7-12 in Mexican Sign Language >>

synagogue, temple (inner), temple (outer)

In many English translations the Greek terms “hieron” (the whole “temple” in Jerusalem or specifically the outer courts open to worshippers) and “naos” (the inner “shrine” or “sanctuary”) are translated with only one word: “temple” (see also for instance “Tempel” in German [for exception see below] and “tempel” in Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans).

Other languages make a distinction: (Click or tap here to see more)

  • Navajo (Dinė): “house in which worship is carried out” (for naos)
  • Balinese: “inner part of the Great Temple” (“the term ‘inner part’ denoting the hindmost and holiest of the two or three courts that temples on Bali usually possess”) vs. “Great Temple”
  • Telugu: “womb (i.e. interior)-of-the-abode” vs. “abode”
  • Thai: a term denoting the main audience hall of a Buddhist temple compound vs. “environs-of-the-main-audience-hall”
  • Kituba: “place of holiness of house-God Lord” vs. “house-God Lord”
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “deep in God’s house” vs. “God’s house” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “inner court of the temple” (Tempelinnenhof) vs. “temple”

Languages that, like English, German, Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans, don’t make that distinction include:

  • Mandarin Chinese: “聖殿 Shèng diàn” (“holy palace”)
  • Loma: “the holy place”
  • Pular: “the sacred house” (source for this and the one above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Zarma: “God’s compound”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “big church of the Jews”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “big house on top (i.e. most important)”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “house that is looked upon as holy, that is sacred, that is taboo and where one may not set foot” (lit. “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” — because taboo is violated — using a term that is also applied to a Muslim mosque) (source for this and the three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Mairasi: Janav Enggwarjer Weso: “Great Above One’s (God’s) House” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Noongar: Maya-maya-Kooranyi: “Sacred House” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “the big church of the Israelites”
  • Aguaruna: “the house for talking to God” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Guhu-Samane: “festival longhouse of God” (“The biiri, ‘festival longhouse’, being the religious and social center of the community, is a possible term for ‘temple’. It is not the ‘poro house’ as such. That would be too closely identified with the cult of poro. The physical features of the building, huge and sub-divided, lend it further favor for this consideration. By qualifying it as ‘God’s biiri’ the term has become meaningful and appropriate in the context of the Scriptures.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
  • Enga: “God’s restricted access house” (source: Adam Boyd on his blog )

Another distinction that tends to be overlooked in translations is that between hieron (“temple” in English) and sunagógé (“synagogue” in English). Euan Fry (in The Bible Translator 1987, p. 213ff. ) reports on this:

“Many older translations have simply used transliterations of ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ rather than trying to find equivalent terms or meaningful expressions in their own languages. This approach does keep the two terms separate; but it makes the readers depend on explanations given by pastors or teachers for their understanding of the text.

“Translators who have tried to find meaningful equivalents, for the two terms ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ have usually made a distinction between them in one of two ways (which focus on the contrasting components of meaning). One way takes the size and importance of the Temple to make a contrast, so that expressions such as ‘sacred meeting/ worship house of the Jews’ and ‘big sacred meeting/worship house of the Jews’ are used. The other way focuses on the different nature of the religious activity at each of the places, so that expressions such as ‘meeting/worship house of the Jews’ and ‘sacrifice/ceremony place of the Jews’ are used.

“It is not my purpose in this article to discuss how to arrive at the most precise equivalent to cover all the components of meaning of ‘temple’. That is something that each translator really has to work through for himself in the light of the present usage and possibilities in his own language. My chief concern here is that the basic term or terms chosen for ‘temple’ should give the reader of a translation a clear and correct picture of the location referred to in each passage. And I am afraid that in many cases where an equivalent like ‘house of God’ or ‘worship house’ has been chosen, the readers have quite the wrong picture of what going to the Temple or being in the Temple means. (This may be the case for the word ‘temple’ in English too, for many readers.)”

Here are some examples:

  • Bambara: “house of God” (or: “big house of worship”) vs. “worship house” (or: “small houses of worship”)
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” (see above) vs. “meeting house for discussing matters concerning religious customs” (and “church” is “house where one meets on Sunday”)
  • Navajo (Dinė): “house in which worship is carried out” vs. “house of gathering” (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida)

    • Bangandu: “the great house of God” vs. “house of prayer” (Source: Ervais Fotso Noumsi in Le Sycomore, 16/1, 2022 )

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Herod’s temple (source: Bible Lands 2012)

Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing synagogues in New Testament times (source: Bible Lands 2012)

See also this devotion on YouVersion .

complete verse (Mark 3:1)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 3:1:

  • Uma: “One time, Yesus again entered the prayer-house. There, there was a person whose hand on one side was dead.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then, Isa went back again into the prayer-house. There was a man there his hand was withered.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Jesus again went into the church of the Jews, and there a person whose ligaments were dead in one of his hands.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Jesus went again to the synagogue and entered. There was there a man whose arm/hand was atrophied.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Jesus again entered the worship-place. On his arrival there was a man there whose hand/arm was useless/limp.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God (“enter”)

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 rare (られ) 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, hai-rare-ru (入られる) or “enter” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Mark 3:1

Exegesis:

palin ‘again’: refers back to 1.21.

eis sunagōgēn ‘into a synagogue’: the exact shade of meaning would be akin to the idiom in English “he went to church” (cf. Taylor); Lagrange translates en synagogue.

anthrōpos … echōn ‘a man … having’ i.e. ‘a man who had.’

exērammenēn … tēn cheira ‘withered … the hand’: the definite article tēn ‘the’ is customary with parts of the body, and means ‘his hand’ (cf. 1.41).

xēraino (4.6; 5.29; 9.18; 11.20, 21) ‘dry up,’ ‘wither’: what is indicated is a stiffness, an inability to use the hand . It is an overrefinement to see in the use of the perfect passive participle an indication that the paralysis of the hand was due to an accident, rather than being congenital (as do Swete, Vincent).

Translation:

For synagogue see 1.21.

Withered, which is in itself a figurative expression, corresponds to different types of figurative and descriptive terms, e.g. ‘dead hand’ (Amganad Ifugao, Southern Subanen, Farefare), ‘a weak hanging-down hand’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), ‘a crooked-grown hand’ (Javanese), ‘dried up hand’ (Southern Bobo Madaré), ‘stiff hand,’ ‘a hand which could not be moved,’ and ‘a hand without flesh’ (Shipibo-Conibo).

Languages differ considerably in the divisions of the human anatomy. For example, one term may include only the hand, and not the wrist, but in another language a word for the hand may include the entire forearm, or even the arm as a whole. In other instances the palm of the hand is distinguished from the fingers. The Greek term may itself even include the entire arm, but probably in this context the best correspondence is what we would understand by hand, wrist, and probably forearm, since the ‘withering’ often includes the entire portion.

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 .