Translation commentary on Mark 5:34

Exegesis:

thugatēr (5.35; 6.22; 7.26, 29) ‘daughter’ – a term of endearment (cf. teknon ‘child’ 2.5) the nominative form used for the vocative case (cf. 5.8 for similar instance).

hē pistis sou sesōken se ‘your faith has made you well’: for this use of the verb sōzō ‘save’ see v. 28 (cf. also 3.4).

hupage eis eirēnēn ‘go in peace’: a Jewish mode of saying farewell (cf. 1 Sam. 1.17). It should not, however, be translated simply ‘good-bye,’ as a mere dismissal.

eirēnē (only here in Mark) ‘peace’: the Hebrew word it represents has more the idea of soundness, wholeness, well-being, than that of lack of conflict or strife.

isthi hugiēs apo tēs mastigos sou ‘and you be (or continue) sound (freed) from your affliction’: this is an additional statement, not simply to be equated with the previous one.

hugiēs (only here in Mark) ‘sound,’ ‘healthy,’ ‘whole.’

mastix (cf. 3.10) ‘affliction,’ ‘suffering.’

Translation:

There are relatively few languages in which one can translate literally ‘daughter,’ without resultant misunderstanding, for people would assume that in some quite inconceivable way Jesus was addressing his own daughter. Accordingly, one must adopt an expression which conveys something of the tenderness of the Greek form of address, while at the same time being culturally explicable, e.g. ‘woman’ (Yaka), ‘my little woman,’ in which this phrase reflects some degree of sympathy and endearment (Huautla Mazatec), and ‘old lady,’ a phrase which, though denoting a person of quite different relative age, is, nevertheless, the exact cultural equivalent in this context (Shipibo-Conibo).

Your faith has made you well involves a problem for many translators since faith must be rendered in many instances by a verb, and this may make it impossible to say literally that ‘believing has made.’ However, in order to show the causal relationship between the faith and the healing, one may translate as ‘because you believe in your heart, you have been made well’ (Tzeltal), and ‘you are well because you have believed’ (San Mateo del Mar Huave).

Go in peace is an idiomatic expression of farewell which is translatable in different ways in other languages: ‘go with sweet insides’ (Shilluk), ‘rejoice as you go’ (Central Mazahua), ‘go in quietness of heart’ (Chol), ‘go happy’ (Highland Puebla Nahuatl), ‘being happy, go’ (Central Tarahumara), and ‘go and sit down in your heart’ (Tzeltal).

Be healed of your disease is a passive command, a relatively rare type of construction which has no close counterpart in many languages. The closest equivalent may be a strong type of future ‘you will remain healed’ (Kekchi), an intensive expression of assurance ‘once for all your sickness has gotten well’ (Tzeltal), or an active assertion ‘your disease will never come back to you.’

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 5:34

5:34a

This verse in Greek begins with a conjunction that shows contrast. Jesus’ kind words in this verse contrast with the fear that the woman felt. The Berean Standard Bible and most English versions have not translated the Greek conjunction, though some translate it as “And” (Revised Standard Version) or “But” (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English). Connect these verses in a way that naturally shows contrast in your language.

Daughter: Jesus called the woman Daughter to show his kind concern for her and so to reassure her. Daughter was an appropriate term for a teacher like Jesus to use to speak kindly to a woman.

The word Daughter does not imply here that the woman was literally Jesus’ daughter. It also does not imply that she was much younger than Jesus. The text does not indicate whether she was younger or older. In some languages it may not be natural to use a word like Daughter here, or it may imply a wrong meaning. Use an appropriate term in your language for this context. If no term is appropriate, you may leave it implied. For example:

Jesus said to the woman, “You are now well…”

Refer also to the way you translated “son” in 2:5c.

your faith has healed you: The noun faith refers here to the action of believing and trusting Jesus. Your faith has healed you implies that the woman believed that Jesus would heal her. In some languages it may be more natural to translate faith as a verb. If that is true in your language, you may also need to make explicit who or what was believed.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

You trusted in me and that has healed you.
-or-
You are well because you believed that I could heal you.

See believe, meaning 3, in the Glossary.

has healed you: See the note on healed at 5:23d. The tense of the Greek verb here implies that the woman was healed in the past, when she touched Jesus’ clothes. She was now well. Use the appropriate verb form in your language for this.

5:34b

Go in peace: The phrase Go in peace was a common blessing that a Jewish person gave to someone who was leaving. It means “may you go with the peace that God gives.” Jesus used this blessing here to reassure the woman.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

Go and may God give you his peace.
-or-
You may go home now with the blessing of God’s peace.

peace: In Jewish cultures the word peace (The word “peace” here is a translation of the Hebrew word shalom (the word that Jesus probably spoke here).) refers to serenity and the absence of conflict. It often indicates a relationship with God and all the benefits that come from that relationship, such as security, health, and prosperity. Here Jesus’ blessing of peace focuses on health and the relationship with God that the woman had because she was no longer ritually impure.

5:34c

be free: The Greek words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as be free are literally “be well.” See the note on “she was healed” at 5:29b. You will probably want to use the same word or expression here. The woman was already healed when she touched Jesus’ clothes in 5:27. However, Jesus spoke these words of healing to confirm what was already done and to assure her that she would remain healed.

Jesus spoke these words as a command. In some languages it may be difficult or unnatural to command someone to “be well.”

Here are some other ways to translate this:

You are now well…
-or-
I pronounce you healed…

of your affliction: See the note on “of her affliction” at 5:29b.

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