The Parable of the Sower

The parable of The Parable of the Sower is illustrated for use in Bible translations in West Africa by Wycliffe Cameroon like this:

Illustration 1999 Mbaji Bawe Ernest, © Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. Used with permission.

The following artwork is part of a series of 56 paintings on biblical themes by Kazakh artist Nelly Bube (born 1949):

Copyright by Norwegian Bible Society , used with permission.

For other images of Nelly Bube in TIPs, see here.

Mark 4:1-9 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 4:1-9 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

Jesus came to the Lake of Galilee again. Many people followed Jesus. Jesus was teaching the people and there were more and more people. There were so many people that Jesus didn’t even have anywhere to stand. He was by a lake. There was a boat on the lake. Jesus got into the boat and the people crowded on the shore to listen to Jesus’ words. Jesus began to speak. He taught the people in parables.

Jesus said:

— Listen! There was a sower who sowed seeds. The seeds went to different places. The first place. There was a road nearby. Some of the seeds fell on the road. Birds saw them, flew in, pecked them all up.

Second place: rocky soil. A little bit of earth on top, mostly rocks. The seeds that fell here sprouted a little, but they couldn’t take root because the rocks were in the way. And then the sun came up, it got hot, and the sprouts dried up. The third place is where a lot of weeds grew. The seeds that fell here sprouted, but the weeds killed them, and they could not grow, but withered. The fourth place: good soil. The seeds that fell here grew and gave a bountiful harvest. Some yielded 30 times as much, some 60 times as much, and some 100 times as much. Those of you who ponder this will understand. [See also Costa Rica Sign Language under Let anyone with ears to hear listen]

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

Иисус снова пришел к Галилейскому озеру. За Иисусом следовало множество народа. Иисус учил народ, а людей становилось все больше. Народу было так много, что Иисус даже некуда было встать. Он был возле озера. На озере была лодка. Иисус встал в лодку, а народ столпился на берегу, чтобы послушать слова Иисуса. Иисус начал говорить. Он учил народ притчами.

Иисус сказал:

— Послушайте! Вот был сеятель, который сеял семена. Семена попали в разные места. Первое место. Там рядом проходила дорога. Некоторые семена упали на дорогу. Птицы увидали, прилетели, склевали семена полностью.

Второе место — каменистая почва. Немного земли сверху, а в основном — камни. Семена, которые упали сюда, немного проросли, но корни пустить не смогли, потому что камни мешали. И вот взошло солнце, стало припекать, и ростки высохли. Третье место — там, где росло множество сорняков. Семена, которые сюда упали, проросли, но сорняки их погубили, и они не смогли вырасти, но тоже завяли. Четвертое место — хорошая почва. Семена, которые сюда упали, выросли и дали обильный урожай. Некоторые дали урожай в 30 раз больше, некоторые в 60, а некоторые в 100 раз больше. Тот из вас, кто обдумает это, поймет.

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

<< Mark 3:31-35 in Russian Sign Language
Mark 4:10-12 in Russian Sign Language >>

Mark 4:1-9 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 4:1-9 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 empezó a explicar y muchas personas venían, cerca del lago, y Jesús caminó a un barco y se sentó.

Dijo: “Por favor, pongan atención” y les explicó una historia, que es como un ejemplo.

En un campo con tierra buena un hombre estaba arando y después sembró semillas.

Allá en el camino, donde la tierra está dura, algunas semillas cayeron por accidente y los pájaros los comieron y acabaron todo.

Por allá había piedras en la tierra y una capa delgada de tierra, muy poco. Las semillas cayeron y las plantas crecían rápidamente, pero no podían profundizar los raíces porque sólo había piedras abajo de la tierra, y con el fuerte calor del sol las plantas marchitaban.

En otra parte había malas hierbas que cubrían la tierra, y las semillas cayeron en la tierra, y las plantas crecían pero no maduraron.

En otra parte la tierra era buena y las semillas cayeron y las plantas crecían y maduraron 30 y en otro lugar 60 plantas maduraron, y en otro lugar 100 plantas maduraron.

Cuando había acabado la historia Jesús dijo: “Esta historia que ahorita me veían (contar), uds necesitan intentar a resolverlo.”


Jesus began to explain and many people came to him, near the lake, and Jesus walked over and sat down in a boat.

He said: “Pay attention please” and he explained them a story, which is like an example.

“In a field with good soil a man was plowing and then sowed seeds.

“There on the road, where the ground is hard, some seeds fell by accident and the birds came and ate them all.

“In another place there were stones in the ground and only a thin layer of soil, very little. The seeds fell and the plants quickly grew, but they could not put down their roots because there were only rocks in the ground, and when the sun got very hot the plants withered.

“In another part there were weeds that covered the ground and the seeds fell on the ground and the plants grew but did not ripen.

“In another place the soil was good and the seeds fell and the plants grew and 30 ripened, and in another place 60 ripened and in another place 100 ripened.”

When the story was finished Jesus said: “This story that you’ve just seen me (tell), you need to try and work it out.” [See also Costa Rica Sign Language under Let anyone with ears to hear listen]

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

<< Mark 3:20-35 in Mexican Sign Language
Mark 4:10-20 in Mexican Sign Language >>

complete verse (Mark 4:8)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 4:8:

  • Uma: “There were also seeds that fell in rich ground. Those seeds grew well, bigger and bigger, with the result that they fruited. There was some that was thirty times as much as what was planted, there was some that was sixty, there was also some that was one hundred times as much as what was planted.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Na, some seeds fell on good soil. So-then these seeds sprouted and grew and bore fruit. It’s yield, some had enough, some much, and some also very much.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There were also that planted which fell on good ground, and these sprouted, grew large, and bore fruit. There were some plants that bore fruit thirty-fold; there were also those that bore fruit sixty-fold, and there was also that which bore fruit one hundred-fold.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But as for the others, they fell on the good soil, then they grew and they bore-fruit. There were some which bore-fruit a hundred-each, some sixty-each, and some also thirty-each.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But what was scattered on good soil/ground, on sprouting it grew well. Its fruit also did well and was full-headed too. There were thirty grains in one head. Others had sixty and still others, a hundred.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 4:8

Text:

The reading eis … en … en ‘in … in … in’ of the Nestle text is also adopted by Westcott and Hort, Merk, and Vogels: Textus Receptus, Lagrange, Kilpatrick, and Taylor have hen … hen … hen ‘one … one … one’ (cf. Vulgate unum … unum … unum); Soden has heis … heis … heis ‘one … one … one’; Swete, Souter and Tischendorf have eis … eis … eis ‘in … in … in.’ Although there is considerable division of opinion over the exact form of the expression, there is no doubt as to the meaning (cf. Exegesis, below). Lagrange and Taylor consider the Nestle reading intolerable and bizarre; in light of probable Semitic correspondence, it is probable that their reading hen … hen … hen is to be preferred.

Exegesis:

alla ‘other seeds’ (in contrast with ho … allo … allo (vv. 4, 5, 7) ‘some … other … other,’ which speak of portions in general): the plural is here used since different individual returns are to be listed.

tēn gēn tēn kalēn ‘the good soil.’

kalos “primarily of outward form, fair, beautiful” (Abbott-Smith): from this primary meaning there developed the sense of ‘good,’ ‘useful.’ In Mark the word is used in three different ways: (1) ‘good,’ ‘useful,’ ‘fine’ 4.8, 20; 9.50; 14.6; (2) ‘advantageous,’ ‘fitting,’ ‘right’ 7.27; 9.5; and (3) the comparative sense ‘better’ 9.42, 43, 45, 47; 14.21.

kai edidou karpon … kai epheren ‘and it yielded grain … and bore’: the two imperfects are coordinate, the second explaining the first.

pherō (cf. 1.32) ‘bear (fruit).’

anabainonta kai auxanomena ‘springing up and growing’: the two participles modify alla ‘other seeds’; as to time, they are properly simultaneous with edidou karpon ‘yielded grain, as they sprang up and grew, (and bore).’ Translator’s New Testament “and coming up and growing produced a crop and bore…” admirably ties together the two verbs and the two participles.

anabainō (cf. v. 7) ‘come up,’ ‘spring up,’ ‘sprout.’

auxanō (only here in Mark) ‘grow,’ ‘increase,’ ‘develop.’

eis … en … en (Nestle) ‘in … in … in’ (or, better, hen … hen … hen ‘one … one … one’ – see Text). The use of heis ‘one’ as a distributive is patterned after the Semitic fashion: hen triakonta kai hen exēkonta kai hen hekaton means ‘one, thirty, and one, sixty, and one, a hundred,’ i.e. ‘thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold.’

Translation:

Because of the complications of temporal order involved in the sequence as translated in the Revised Standard Version, it is preferable to shift to an approximation of the Translator’s New Testament order, which however must be rendered in some languages as four coordinate expressions, ‘sprang up, grew, bore mature seeds, and gave thirtyfold … ’ (Central Tarahumara).

The statements of ratio (thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold) almost always cause certain complications in translating, unless one is fortunate enough to discover some ready-made formula for this type of expression. However, the ideas expressed in this verse can always be stated, even if they seem somewhat paraphrastic: ‘some plants produced thirty grains, other plants produced sixty grains, and still other plants produced one hundred grains’ (Tzotzil, Tetelcingo Nahuatl, Farefare, Amganad Ifugao, and Barrow Eskimo). In Loma (Liberia), however, one must refer to the head of wheat, e.g. ‘one head of seed had thirty seeds, another had sixty seeds….’ A different perspective is used in Highland Totonac, ‘people got thirty grains from some plants, sixty from other plants….’ Statements which describe the increase in terms of the number of seeds produced by various plants are quite justified, since each plant results from a single seed and hence a plant producing thirty, sixty, or a hundred seeds would represent this extent of increase.

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 4:8

4:8a

Still: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as Still is the common conjunction that is usually translated as “and” (as in the Revised Standard Version). There is a difference between what happened to the other seeds and what happened to the seeds in this verse. Therefore, the Good News Bible translates the connection here as “but.” Introduce what happened to these seeds in the way that is natural in your language.

other seed: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as other refers to the fourth and final group of seeds. Because of this, the Berean Standard Bible added the word seed because it is natural here in English.

If you have been using a plural form like “seeds” in this parable, you should continue to do so here.

fell: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as fell is the same verb as in 4:4b, 4:5a, and 4:7a. See the notes there.

good soil: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as good in this context refers to the kind of soil in which plants grow well.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

rich soil
-or-
healthy soil
-or-
fertile soil

4:8b–c

where it sprouted, grew up, and produced a crop—one bearing thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold.”: The four verbs that the Berean Standard Bible translates as sprouted, grew up, produced, and bearing describe various stages in the life of the plants. In some languages, it may be more natural to describe only two or three stages. For example, the Contemporary English Version says:

the plants grew and produced thirty or sixty or even a hundred times as much as was scattered

4:8b

it sprouted: The clause it sprouted refers to the seeds beginning to grow in the good soil. The New International Version has:

the plants came up

grew up: The words grew up refer to plants maturing and becoming taller.

and produced a crop: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as produced a crop here means “bore grain” (as in the Good News Bible). The grain was ready for harvest, so the Berean Standard Bible uses the word crop. The NET Bible has:

produced grain

4:8c

bearing: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as bearing refers to what plants do when they produce fruit or grain.

Here are some other ways to translate it:

giving
-or-
yielding

thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold: The words thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold refer to the amount of new grain that the mature plants produced. Some plants produced heads of grain that had thirty seeds. Other plants produced heads that had sixty seeds. Some plants produced heads with a hundred seeds.

Each of these numbers represented remarkably good harvests of various sizes. If this is not clear to your readers, you may want to indicate that these numbers are relative. The actual numbers are not important. For example:

such as thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times
-or-
for example thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times

You may also want to add a footnote. For example:

All of these were extremely good harvests. The average amount that people harvested in the provinces of Galilee and Judea at that time was ten seeds for every seed that was sown.

If your language does not use numbers in this way, here are some other translation options:

• Use numerals or number words from the major language in the area. For example:

such as 30, 60, or even 100 times

• Use descriptive words instead of numbers. For example:

a great harvest, an amazing harvest, and an unbelievable harvest

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