In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines the signs for “tell-a-story” and “compare.” (Source: Anna Smith)
“Parable” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as analogy because “the Greek word has the sense of tossing down something alongside something else. Hence an analogy.”
When Jesus had finished teaching and the crowd had left, the twelve closest disciples and the other disciples remained with him. The disciples looked at each other in confusion, then turned to Jesus:
— We do not understand. You teach much, but we cannot understand the meaning of your parables.
Jesus said:
— You are my disciples. God will reveal to you the mystery of his kingdom. You will understand. I have strangers flocking to me. I teach them, tell them parables, examples, images, explain to them. But they don’t understand. They look, but as if their eyes were closed. They have ears, they listen, but they miss everything. If they would turn their eyes to God, if they would change their lives, then they would understand. And then God would forgive their sins.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Когда Иисус закончил учить и народ разошелся, с ним остались двенадцать ближайших учеников, а также другие ученики. Ученики переглядывались друг с другом в недоумении, потом обратились к Иисусу:
— Нам непонятно. Ты много учишь, но мы не можем понять смысл Твоих притчей.
Иисус сказал:
— Вы — мои ученики. Бог откроет вам тайну своего Царства. Вы поймете. Ко мне стекаются посторонние люди. Я учу их, рассказываю им притчи, примеры, образы, объясняю им. Но они не понимают. Они смотрят, но так, как будто глаза у них закрыты. У них есть уши, они слушают, но все пропускают мимо ушей. Если бы они обратили свой взгляд на Бога, если бы они изменили свою жизнь, тогда бы они поняли. И тогда бы Бог простил их грехи.
Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)
Los doce discípulos y algunas (otras) personas dijeron: “Jesús, la historia, el ejemplo que nos explicaste antes, ¿qué significa? Nosotros no entendemos.”
Jesús (dijo): “¿Uds no entienden? Ay, si yo les explico historias y ejemplos pero uds no entienden, lo mismo va a continuar en adelante. ¿Cómo puede ser?
Oigan, ahora Dios les da la gracia de que uds pueden entender y descubrir el significado de lo que yo les expliqué hace rato.
El hombre que siembra semillas ¿qué representa? Él es como un hombre que explica y predica la palabra de Dios.
Oigan, miren, el camino con la tierra dura en donde caen las semillas y los pájaros los acaban todas, eso representa cuando él explica y predica la palabra de Dios y algunos personas lo ven pero inmediatamente satanás se lo quita y las personas lo olvidan.
La otra parte con las piedras y poco tierra donde caen las semillas y las plantas crecen rápidamente pero los raíces no pueden profundizar y las plantas marchitan, eso representa cuando él explica y predica la palabra de Dios y algunas personas lo ven y están contentos, pero después al continuar hay problemas y la gente los insulta y están en contra de ellos y ya no continuan a prestar atención a la palabra de Dios, y desvian.
La otra parte donde hay la mala hierba que cubre la tierra y cuando las semillas caen las plantas crecen pero no maduran, eso representa cuando él explica y predica la palabra de Dios y algunas personas lo ven pero en sus mentes están soñando y preocupados con problemas, piensan de dinero y cosas que les gustan y ya no siguen a poner atención a la palabra de Dios, sino desvian. Sus vidas no cambian nada sino quedan lo mismo.
La otra area donde la tierra es buena y cuando las semillas caen las plantas crecen y maduran y hay treinta plantas, y otras plantas maduran y hay sesenta plantas, y otras plantas maduran y hay cien, eso representa cuando él explica y predica la palabra de Dios y algunas personas lo ven y entienden y son transformados, sus vidas cambian para bien.
Y al continuar otras personas lo ven y entienden y son transformados y cambian sus vidas para bien, y otras personas lo ven y entienden y son transformados y cambian sus vidas para bien, y otras personas ven el buen testimonio.”
Jesús dijo: “A las personas afuera yo sólo doy historias breves para que ellos vean y oigan, pero no entiendan nada del significado, porque las personas pueden arrepentirse y Dios les perdonará y borrará (sus pecados) pero ellos no quieren, por eso.”
The twelve disciples and some (other) people said: “Jesus, the story that you just told us, what does it mean? We don’t understand it.”
Jesus (said): “You don’t understand? If I tell you stories and examples and you don’t understand the same will happen in the future. How can that be?
“Listen, now God will give you the grace that you can understand and figure out what I have just told you.
“The man who sows seeds, what does he represent? He is like a man who explains and preached the word of God.
“Hey, look, the road with the hard ground on which the seeds fall and the birds eat them all up, that represents when he explains and preaches the word of God and some people see it, but immediately Satan takes it away and the people forget it.
“The other part with the stones and very little soil where the seeds fall and the plants grow rapidly but the roots cannot get deeper and the plants whither, that represents when he explains and teaches the word of God and some people see it and are happy, but afterwards there are problems and the people insult them and are against them and they do not continue to pay attention to the word of God, but turn aside.
“The other part where there are weeds that cover the ground and when the seeds fall the plants grow but do not ripen, that represents when he explains and preaches the word of God and some people see it but in their minds they are dreaming and preoccupied with problems, they set their minds on money and things that they like and they do not continue to pay attention to the word of God. They turn aside and their lives do not change at all but stay the same.
“The other area where the soil is good and when the seeds fall the plants grow and ripen and there are thirty plants and other plants ripen and there are sixty plants and others ripen and there are 100, that represents when he explains and preaches the word of God and some people see it and understand it and are transformed, their lives change for the better.
“And then other people see it and understand and are transformed and change their lives for the better, and other people see it and understand and are transformed and change their lives for the better, and other people see the good testimony.”
Jesus said: “To the people out there I only give brief stories so that they see and hear but do not understand the meaning, because the people can repent and God will forgive them and wipe out (their sins) but they do not want to, that’s why.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 4:10:
Uma: “After that, when Yesus was alone, his twelve disciples and other disciples came to ask him: ‘What is the meaning of that parable earlier?'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “So-then after the crowds had left and only his twelve disciples and the other disciples of his were there with him, they asked him as to what the meaning was of the parable he had taught.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “When they didn’t have so many companions because they were only the twelve disciples of Jesus and a few other people, they asked Jesus what he meant by the parables.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When the many-people went-away, then the twelve disciples of Jesus and others who were going-with them approached Jesus and inquired of him concerning the meaning of the parables.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When the crowd had gone, only a few people were left with the disciples. They came up to Jesus to question him about the illustrations he had given.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system, one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and others for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are Twents as well as the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
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®).
kata monas (only here and Lk. 9.18 in N.T.) ‘alone’: no place is specified in the text; it is simply indicated that Jesus withdrew from the crowd.
ērōtōn (7.26; 8.5) ‘they asked,’ ‘they asked a question’ (in this passage and in 8.5); in late Greek it came to mean ‘request,’ ‘ask for’ (as in 7.26).
hoi peri auton ‘those about him,’ i.e. ‘his followers’ (cf. Lk. 22.49, Acts 13.13). Compare par’ autou, 3.21.
sun tois dōdeka ‘with the Twelve’: a title, not simply a number (cf. 3.16).
Translation:
The clause when he was alone can, in a literal rendering, introduce a very confusing contradiction. People often ask, “How could he be alone, and still be in the presence of those who could ask him questions?” Obviously, the expression was alone must not be taken in the absolute sense, or it cannot be harmonized with the following clause. In some languages the only way to treat this expression satisfactorily is to render it ‘when he was no longer with the crowd’ or ‘when the crowd was no longer there,’ for this is the meaning of the expression in the Greek text.
Those who were about him with the twelve poses a problem in some languages: “Who asked the question? Those who were about him, not including the twelve apostles, or should the twelve be included in the group of interrogators?” The English form of this expression might lead one to think that those who asked the question were the ones around Jesus and the twelve. The Greek text, however, makes it clear that Jesus was questioned by the twelve and those who clustered around, namely, his somewhat larger band of followers. In many languages this relationship must be made more explicit, e.g. ‘when the twelve and those who were also around Jesus…’ (Yaka), ‘those who were around Jesus and also the twelve…’ in which it is quite clear that the preposition ‘around’ goes only with Jesus and not with the twelve (Highland Oaxaca Chontal).
As noted in 3.14, it is often necessary to add some classifier to the expression ‘the twelve.’
For parables see 3.23.
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 .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.