καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν ἐν τῇ πρύμνῃ ἐπὶ τὸ προσκεφάλαιον καθεύδων. καὶ ἐγείρουσιν αὐτὸν καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ, Διδάσκαλε, οὐ μέλει σοι ὅτι ἀπολλύμεθα;
38But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
The Greek that is translated in English as “asleep” or similar is translated in Burmese as “royally asleep.” In the widely-used translation by Judson an honorific particle is added to every verb that describes an action of Jesus, so here he is “royally asleep.” (source: S.V. Vincent in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 196f. )
See also sound asleep.
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse (“we are perishing” in English translations), Yagua translators selected the inclusive form, including Jesus (the Sierra Totonac and the Tok Pisin translators did as well). The Yagua translators justify this by saying, “Did the disciples think of their Lord as about to perish with them, or were they selfishly only thinking of their own safety, or did they feel He at least would not perish? We translated this one with the inclusive, giving the disciples the benefit of the doubt, since they had waited so long to waken Him, they couldn’t have been too selfish in their thinking.” (Source: Paul Powlison in Notes on Translation with Drills, p. 165ff.)
Different versions of the Bible in Marathi have chosen different solutions for this. The versions by Pandita Ramabai (NT publ. 1912) chose the exclusive form and B. N. Athavle the inclusive form in his translation (publ. 1931). The Bible Society’s version (initially the British, later the Indian BS) in their revision of the 1950s also chose the exclusive form, despite strong protests of the revision committee’s chair H.G. Howard who interpreted Jesus’ strong rebuke of the disciples in succeeding verses due to the fact that the disciples had included him in their worries, which would necessitate the inclusive form. (Source: H.G. Howard in The Bible Translator 1925, p. 25ff. )
The Greek in Mark 4:38 that is translated as “on a cushion” in English had to be more specific in Quetzaltepec Mixe and is translated as “with his head on the cushion.”
“Cushion” is translated in Acoli as laten-wic and in Lango as aten wic, both meaning “head support” or “pillow.” (Source: Mildred Brown in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 31ff. )
The following is a representation of the story of Jesus calming the sea in Shor with traditional throat singing. The singers are Lubov Arbachakova (with no instrument) and Irena Kiskurova:
A translation of the Russian subtitles into English:
0:11 Once Jesus was at the sea with his disciples.
0:24 A multitude of people gathered, and he began to teach them.
0:36 When evening came, He said to His disciples:
0:45 “Let’s move to the other side.”
0:48 The disciples asked the people to leave,
0:56 they were all in the boat together in Jesus and set out on the other side of the sea.
1:22 Suddenly there was a strong storm.
1:30 The waves beat the boat so that it was filled with water.
1:42 And Jesus at this time slept in the stern of the boat, laying his head on the steersman’s seat.
1:58 The disciples woke him up and said:
2:08 “Teacher! Do you really care that we are dying?”
2:11 Jesus stood up, calmed the wind, and said to the sea:
2:20 «Hush, shut up!»
2:23 The wind died down, and there was a complete calm on the sea.
2:35 And Jesus rebuked the disciples:
2:46 “Why are you so timid? Do you have absolutely no faith?”
2:52 They continued sailing, and the disciples spoke to each other with fear:
3:11 “Who is He, that even the wind and the sea listen to Him?”
Video provided by Bronwen Cleaver.
See also examples of Southern Altai throat singing.
Image taken from He Qi Art . For purchasing prints of this and other artworks by He Qi go to heqiart.com .
For other images of He Qi art works in TIPs, see here.
“Fishermen relied upon their folk knowledge in order to survive. It is strange that they did not know what to do in the midst of a storm but Jesus did.”
Drawing by Sawai Chinnawong who employs northern and central Thailand’s popular distinctive artistic style originally used to depict Buddhist moral principles and other religious themes; explanation by Paul DeNeui. From That Man Who Came to Save Us by Sawai Chinnawong and Paul H. DeNeui, William Carey Library, 2010.
For more images by Sawai Chinnawong in TIPs see here.
The Greek that is translated as “teacher” (also: “master”) in English is translated in the 1941 Yiddish by Einspruch as rebe (רֶבּי) or “Rabbi” in an effort to identify Jesus as a teacher of the Jews. (Source: Naomi Seidmann in Elliott / Boer 2012, p. 151ff.)
Likewise, a number of Hebrew translations, including the 2018 and 2020 editions by the The Bible Society in Israel also use “Rabbi” (רַבִּי).
In Toposa it is translated as “one who causes to think.” (source: Schröder 2026, p. 101)
See also rabbi.
Following is the translation of Mark 4:35-41 into Mexican Sign Language with back-translations into Spanish and English underneath:
© La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios
Jesús estaba sentado en el barco y seguía a contar historias a todas las personas, después al anochecer ya acabó y les saludó, y dijo a los discípulos: “vamonos, acompañenme a otro lugar allá.”
Los discípulos subieron en el barco y el barco iba, y otras personas copiaron la idea y también subieron en sus barcos e iban, y otras personas también copiaron la idea y subieron en el barco e iban.
El barco iba y los discípulos estaban sentados, y Jesús estaba acostado en una almohada, profundamente dormido. El barco iba y después venía un viento fuerte y las olas crecían y el barco se movía violentamente en las olas y el agua entraba el barco.
Los discípulos estaban espantados y tenían miedo y dijeron: “Maestro nosotros vamos a hundir, a morir, ¿no te importa?”
Jesús se paró (y dijo): “Calmate, silencio” y el viento desvaneció y las olas grandes se calmaron y el barco movía suavemente.
Jesús preguntó: “¿Porqué tenían miedo, no tienen fe? Los discípulos lo miraban espantados y se veían uno al otro y dijeron: “¿Él, Jesús, qué clase de persona es? Él puede mandar que el viento obedezca y desvanece, y las olas se calman.” Todos lo miraban y estaban espantados y con miedo.
Jesus was sitting in the boat and continued to tell stories to all the people, and when the night came he finished and said goodbye to them and said to his disciples: “Let’s go, accompany me to another place, over there.”
The disciples got in the boat and the boat took off, other people copied the idea and also got in their boats and took off, and other people took the idea and also got in their boats and took off.
The boat sailed and the disciples were sitting and Jesus was lying down on a pillow, fast asleep. The boat sailed and afterwards a strong wind came and the waves got bigger and the boat was thrown about wildly on the waves and water entered the boat.
The disciples were scared and afraid and said: “Teachers, we are going down, we will die, don’t you care?”
Jesus got up (and said): “Calm down, be still” and the wind disappeared and the big waves calmed down and the boat moved gently on the waves.
Jesus asked: “Why were you afraid, don’t you have any faith? The disciples watched him with fright and they looked at each other and said: “This Jesus, what sort of person is he? He can order the wind to obey and it disappears, and the waves calm down.” They all looked at him with fear and terror.
Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios
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