Translation commentary on Mark 4:37

Exegesis:

lailaps megalē anemou ‘a great storm of wind,’ ‘a fierce gust of wind.’

lailaps (only here in Mark) ‘whirlwind,’ ‘hurricane,’ ‘squall.’

anemos (4.39, 41; 6.48, 51; 13.27) ‘wind.’

ta kumata epeballen ‘the waves were spilling on (into the boat).’

kuma (only here in Mark) ‘wave.’

epiballō (11.7; 14.46, 72) ‘throw upon’: without an object, in the active voice, as here, the verb means ‘to throw oneself’ or ‘to beat upon.’

hōste ēdē gemizesthai (see 1.27 for this construction) ‘so that it was already getting full (of water).’

gemizomai (15.36) ‘be filled,’ ‘become full.’

Translation:

In some languages one cannot say ‘a great storm of wind arose.’ The only equivalent maybe ‘suddenly the wind blew very fiercely’ or ‘the wind ran with strength.’

The waves may be spoken of as ‘falling into the boat,’ rather than beating into the boat.

Rather than the boat … was filling one may need to say in some languages ‘water was filling the boat’ or ‘the boat was already getting full of water.’

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 4:37

4:37–38a

Jesus began sleeping before the windstorm came. See the General Comment on 4:37–38a at the end of 4:38a for a possible way to reorder the verse parts.

4:37a

Soon a violent windstorm came up: The words violent windstorm refer to a sudden and strong wind or storm. The phrase came up refers to the wind blowing.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

Suddenly a windstorm struck the lake. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
A strong/swift wind suddenly arrived

4:37b

and the waves were breaking over the boat: The strong wind caused waves to form on the sea, that is, the Sea of Galilee. In some languages it may be necessary to make it explicit that the wind caused the waves. For example:

which caused big waves and the waves broke over the boat

waves: The word waves refers to water moving on the surface of a lake or sea. Wind often causes waves on lakes.

were breaking over: The words were breaking over are an English idiom. These words indicate that the waves were higher than the sides of the boat, so water came into the boat. This does not mean that the waves were “breaking” the boat.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

The waves came over the sides and into the boat (New Century Version)
-or-
Water started splashing into the boat
-or-
the waves began to spill over into the boat (Good News Bible)

4:37c

so that: The phrase so that indicates that 4:37c is a result of 4:37b. Here are some other ways to express this result:

with the result that
-or-
and so

Express this result in a way that is natural in your language.

it was being swamped: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as being swamped indicates that water was already filling the boat. This meant that the boat was about to sink. For example:

it was about to sink (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
it was nearly full of water (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)

General Comment on 4:37b–c

Here are some other ways to connect 4:37b–c:

High waves began to break into the boat until it was nearly full of water. (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)
-or-
Waves started splashing into the boat, and it was about to sink. (Contemporary English Version)

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