Peter

Following is a Armenian Orthodox icon of Peter (found in the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shusha, Azerbaijan).

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 )

Following is a hand colored stencil print on momigami of Peter by Sadao Watanabe (1970):

Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe. For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.

In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “key” (referring to Matthew 16:19). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Peter” or “Cephas” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with the sign for “rock,” referring to the meaning of the Greek word for “Peter.”


“Peter” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

See also Peter – rock.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Peter .

Mark 3:13-19 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 3:13-19 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

Jesus called his disciples to him to climb a mountain. The disciples followed him. They came to a place. Jesus began to choose for himself the closest disciples — he chose one, another, a third, choosing a total of 12 men.

The first one was Simon. Jesus gave him the middle name Peter. The second was James. The third was John. James and John are brothers. Their father’s name was Zebedee. Jesus called them “Sons of Thunder.” Why did He give them that name? That was their character, like thunder and lightning. The fourth was Andrew, the fifth was Philip, the sixth was Bartholomew, the seventh was Matthew, the eighth was Thomas, the ninth was James (his father’s name was Alphaeus), the tenth was Thaddeus, the eleventh was Simon the Cananite, and the twelfth was Judas Iscariot. He then betrayed Jesus. There were twelve men in all. They were called apostles by Jesus.

What were they to do?

One. They should always follow Jesus.

Second. Jesus send them out to tell all the people about Jesus.

Third. Jesus gave them authority. If there was a demon in a person, the apostles had authority to cast the demon out of the person.

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

Иисус призвал к себе учеников, чтобы забраться на гору. Ученики последовали за ним. Они пришли на место. Иисус стал выбирать для себя самых близких учеников — одного выбрал, другого, третьего, всего выбрал 12 человек.

Первый — Симон. Иисус дал ему второе имя Петр. Второй — Иаков. Третий — Иоанн. Иаков и Иоанн — братья. Отца их звали Зеведей. Иисус назвал из «Сыновья Грома». Почему Он дал им такое имя? Такой у них был характер, как гром и молния. Четвертый — Андрей, пятый — Филипп, шестой — Варфоломей, седьмой — Матфей, восьмой — Фома, девятый — Иаков (отца его звали Алфей), десятый — Фаддей, одиннадцатый — Симон Кананит, двенадцатый — Иуда Искариот. Он потом предал Иисуса. Всего их было 12 человек. Их Иисус назвал апостолами.

Что они должны были делать?

Первое. Они всегда должны следовать за Иисусом.

Второе. Иисус отправляем их, чтобы они рассказывали всем людям об Иисусе.

Третье. Иисус дал им власть. Если в каком-нибудь человеке был бес, апостолы имели власть изгнать беса из человека.

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

<< Mark 3:7-12 in Russian Sign Language
Mark 3:20-30 in Russian Sign Language >>

Mark 3:13-19 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 3:13-19 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)

Jesús caminó a una montaña y miró (y dijo): “Ven” y un grupo de personas se acercó a él. Jesús eligió doce apóstoles para acompañarlo juntos.

Después en el futuro los iba a entregar la autoridad para ir y predicar y para que pudieran expulsar demonios.

El primero era Simón, y cambió su apodo a Petro. El segundo era Jacobo y el tercero era Juan. Ellos eran hermanos, y su carácter era irascible entonces los apodó: ruido de relámpago fuerte (Boanerges).

El cuarto era Andrés, el quinto Felipe, el sexto Bartolomé, el séptimo Mateo, el octavo Tomás, el noveno Jacobo, y el decimo Tadeo.

El número once era Simón, que era caracterizado por su deseo de expulsar los romanos, y el número doce era Judás que en el futuro traicionaría a Jesús.


Jesus walked to a mountain and looked around (and said): “Come” and a group of people came to him. Jesus chose twelve apostles to accompany him together.

Afterwards, in the future, he would hand over to them the authority to go and preach and to be able to throw out demons.

The first was Simon and he changed his nickname to Peter, the second was James and the third was John. They were brothers with hot-tempered characters, so he gave them the nickname: strong sound of lightning (Boanerges).

The fourth was Andrew, the fifth Philip, the sixth Bartholomew, the seventh Matthew, the eighth Thomas, the ninth James and the tenth Thaddaeus.

The eleventh was Simon; they characterized Simon as someone who wanted very much to throw out the Romans, and the twelfth was Judas who would later betray Jesus.

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

<< Mark 3:7-12 in Mexican Sign Language
Mark 3:20-35 in Mexican Sign Language >>

complete verse (Mark 3:16)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 3:16:

  • Uma: “These are the names of those twelve: Simon (Yesus named him Petrus); Yakobus child of Zebedeus; and Yohanes the relative of Yakobus (Yesus named them Boanerges–its meaning: people who are like thunder); after that, Andreas; Filipus; Bartolomeus; Matius; Tomas; Yakobus child of Alfeus; Tadeus; Simon the Zelot-person; and Yudas Iskariot (he’s the one who will sell Yesus to hisenemies.)” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “These are the twelve he chose: Simon, called also Petros,” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “These are the names of the twelve people whom Jesus chose: Simon whom he titled Peter, and James the son of Zebedee, and John the younger brother of James. These two he entitled Boanerges, which is to say, impulsive people. He also chose Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeaus. And he also chose Simon, one member of the former organization called Canaanista. Jesus also chose Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. After Jesus had chosen them he went home.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “These are the names of those he chose: Simon (whom Jesus nicknamed Pedro),” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “These are the twelve whom he chose. Simon whom he named Pedro,” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Honorary are / rare constructs denoting God (“appoint”)

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 show different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morphemes rare (られ) or are (され) are 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, ninmeis-are-ru (任命される) or “appoint” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Mark 3:16

Text:

At the beginning of the verse Tischendorf, Nestle, Westcott and Hort, Soden, Vogels, Kilpatrick, Lagrange, and Merk add kai epoiēsen tous dōdeka “and he appointed the twelve”: this clause is omitted by Textus Receptus, Souter, American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, Taylor (cf. Taylor for arguments for omitting it). Although not decisive, the evidence for retaining the clause with Nestle and others, seems to outweigh the evidence for omitting it.

Exegesis:

kai ‘and’: here with the meaning ‘so’ (Translator’s New Testament, Manson).

tous dōdeka (4.10; 6.7; 9.35; 10.32; 11.11; 14.10, 17, 20, 43) ‘the Twelve’: not simply a number, as in v. 14, but a title: ‘the Twelve’ (Translator’s New Testament); Lagrange les Douze.

kai epethēken onoma tō Simōni Petron ‘and he added to Simon the name Peter.’

epitithēmi (3.17; 5.33; 6.5; 7.32; 8.23, 25; 16.18) ‘lay,’ ‘set,’ ‘place upon’: the phrase epitithenai onoma means ‘give a surname.’

Translation:

Verses 16 through 19 consist of a list of the names of the apostles, but this list is grammatically in apposition with the twelve, spoken of in verse 14. In most languages this type of apposition is so distant that without some clarification or more explicit reference, misunderstanding is likely to arise. For example, in one translation the list of names (all strange ones) was taken to be a list of the demons that were to be cast out, for the list immediately followed reference to the demons. Accordingly, verse 16 must often begin as ‘these men were…’ (Highland Oaxaca Chontal) or ‘the ones he appointed were…’ (Chicahuaxtla Triqui).

Surnamed is ‘to give an additional name to’ or ‘to give a second name to.’ This practice is a good deal more common in many cultures than in our own, and hence is not likely to be misunderstood.

For problems of transliteration of proper names and the adjustments which must be made in the case of certain familiar names see Bible Translating, 243-46. Note, however, that in many instances there are strong pressures for the adoption of arbitrary orthographic conventions in the case of well-known proper names (e.g. taking over spelling of French, Spanish, or Portuguese, despite the fact that the people do not pronounce the names according to such consonant-vowel representations). In most instances one must accede to these pressures and use the orthographically approved form of the prestige language of the area. This principle often applies to such names as Peter, James, John, Philip, and Thomas, but would not be likely to apply to Bartholomew, Alphaeus, or Thaddaeus.

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 3:16

3:16a

These are the twelve He appointed: There is a textual issue in this verse. Some Greek manuscripts include a clause that means “These are the twelve he appointed.”

(1) Nearly every major English version follows the manuscripts that include this clause. For example, the Revised English Bible says:

The Twelve he appointed were:

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Good News Bible, God’s Word, New American Standard Bible, NET Bible, New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible)

(2) The versions that follow the manuscripts that do not include this clause have one long sentence from 3:14–19. So the verb “appointed” in 3:14a goes with 3:16. For example, the Revised Standard Version says:

14aAnd he appointed twelve…: 16Simon whom he surnamed Peter…

(Revised Standard Version, King James Version)

It is recommended that you follow option (1) since it has the best manuscript support. Also, the majority of English versions follow this option.

the twelve: The phrase the twelve refers to the twelve disciples that Jesus appointed as apostles. Mark often refers to the twelve disciples/apostles as simply “the twelve.”

He appointed: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as appointed is literally “made.” Here it indicates that Jesus “chose” or “selected” the twelve. For example, the New Century Version says:

These are the twelve men he chose (New Century Version)

This same verb occurs in 3:14a.

3:16b

Simon (whom He named Peter): Jesus added the name Peter to Simon’s name. After this, people sometimes called him Simon, sometimes Peter, and sometimes Simon Peter. Simon was first mentioned in 1:16.

Peter: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible transliterates as Peter means “stone” or “rock.” You may want to put this in a footnote. For example:

The name Peter means “rock” in Greek.

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