Translation commentary on Mark 3:29 – 3:30

Text:

Instead of hamartēmatos ‘sin’ Textus Receptus has kriseōs ‘judgment,’ ‘condemnation’: this clearly inferior reading is rejected by all modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

eis to pneuma to hagion ‘into the Holy Spirit’: eis here has a hostile meaning ‘against.’

aphesin (cf. 1.4) ‘forgiveness’ (for the verb aphiēmi ‘forgive’ see 2.5).

eis ton aiōna ‘into the age,’ i.e. the ‘future age.’

eis ‘into’ indicates duration of time.

aiōn (4.19; 10.30; 11.14) ‘age’: the word reflects the Hebrew concept of time as divided into ages, generally the present age (cf. 4.19) and the future age, the age to come (cf. 10.30). In this passage the phrase means ‘eternally,’ ‘forever’ as the parallel in Mt. 12.32 makes explicit: ‘either in this age or in the coming age.’ Cf. Vulgate in aeternum; Lagrange à jamais.

enochos (14.64) ‘guilty of,’ ‘charged with,’ here indicates the crime of which the man is guilty, not the punishment to which he is liable.

aiōniou ‘of the age,’ ‘age-long’: that is ‘eternal,’ ‘endless.’

hoti elegon ‘because they were saying’: these are words of explanation which the evangelist adds. hoti is causative ‘because,’ giving the reason why Jesus said what he did concerning the unforgivable sin.

elegon ‘they were saying’ is better than ‘they had said’ of Revised Standard Version. ‘They’ are the scribes referred to in v. 22.

pneuma akatharton ‘unclean spirit,’ the same as saying ‘he has Beelzebul’ (v. 22) or ‘he has a demon’ (cf. 1.34).

Translation:

Blasphemes against the Holy Spirit may be rendered as ‘to speak against the Holy Spirit’ or ‘to say evil words about the Holy Spirit’ (for “Holy Spirit” see 1.7).

Has forgiveness is a difficult expression to translate literally, for in general one must speak of ‘to be forgiven’ or ‘to receive forgiveness’ (but for numerous idioms for forgiveness see 1.4). In languages in which an active form of the verb is required the subject ‘God’ must be introduced, ‘God will never forgive a man who speaks evil of the Holy Spirit.’

To be guilty of an eternal sin can only rarely be translated literally. Rather, this phrase must be rendered by various types of idiomatic expressions, e.g. ‘his sin stays on his head for the time that never ends’ (Farefare), ‘he carries the weight of his sin that lasts forever’ (Yaka), ‘his sins will be continually taken into account’ (Pamona), ‘he will always have his sin’ (Highland Oaxaca Chontal), and ‘he has a sin that will never be taken away’ (Huichol).

In some way, the abrupt transition before the clause for they had said … must be marked, either by some kind of a dash, or by a complete new sentence, or by some transitional expression, e.g. ‘Jesus said this because they had said…’ (South Bolivian Quechua). The reason for making this break evident is that one must not translate as ‘he is guilty of an eternal sin because of what they had said’ (though indirectly this is true). Nevertheless, the last sentence must be construed with all that precedes, not merely with the last clause.

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 3:29

3:29a

The teachers of the law had proof that Jesus was doing miracles by the power of God. However, they did not want to believe that he was from God. That is the reason they said that the Holy Spirit’s work was Satan’s work. Jesus referred to this as blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.

But: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible here translates as But indicates a contrast between 3:28b and 3:29: God can forgive all blasphemies (3:28b). But (in contrast to this), there is an exception (3:29). There is a type of blasphemy that makes a person guilty forever.

whoever: The pronoun whoever refers to any person. It does not just refer to the teachers of the law. Another way to say this is “anyone.”

blasphemes: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as blasphemes is the verb form of the noun “blasphemies” in 3:28b. This word refers to dishonoring or insulting God.

Here are some other ways to translate the word blasphemes:

slanders (Revised English Bible)
-or-
speaks against (New Century Version)

Holy Spirit: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Holy Spirit refers to the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is God, together with God the Father and God the Son. The Holy Spirit is Spirit in the sense that he is a living being who does not have a physical body. He is Holy in the sense that he is God and unique from every other being. He is perfect in every way and is completely pure and sinless.

Here are some other ways to translate Holy Spirit:

Spirit/Breath of/from God
-or-
Holy/Sacred Spirit

Do not imply that the Holy Spirit is like the ghost of a dead person or that God has died.

See the note in 1:8b.

3:29b–c

3:29b and 3:29c have the same meaning. For suggestions about ways to express 3:29b–c as one statement, see the General Comment on 3:29b–c at the end on the note on 3:29c.

3:29b

will never be forgiven: The words will never be forgiven are similar to the phrase “will be forgiven” in 3:28b. If you need to indicate who will never forgive the blasphemy in 3:29, you should say “God.” For example:

God will never forgive him

See the note on 3:28b for suggestions about how to translate will…be forgiven.

3:29c

he is guilty of eternal sin: The clause he is guilty of eternal sin indicates that the person has committed a sin that God will never forgive. God will forever blame that person for that sin.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

That sin will be held against you forever. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
This is a sin with eternal consequences. (New Living Translation)

General Comment on 3:29b–c

Verse 3:29c uses different words to express the same meaning as 3:29b. In some languages, it will be more natural to translate these two parts of the verse as one statement. For example:

God will blame him forever for that sin.
-or-
God will never forgive him for that sin.

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