The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated “boat” or “ship” in English is translated in Chichimeca-Jonaz as “that with which we can walk on water” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.), in Chitonga as a term in combination with bwato or “dugout canoe” (source: Wendland 1987, p. 72), and in Tangale as inj am or “canoe-of water” (inj — “canoe” — on its own typically refers to a traditional type of carved-out log for sleeping) (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).
In Kouya it is translated as ‘glʋ ‘kadʋ — “big canoe.”
Philip Saunders (p. 231) explains how the Kouya team arrived at that conclusion:
“Acts chapter 27 was a challenge! It describes Paul’s sea voyage to Italy, and finally Rome. There is a storm at sea and a shipwreck on Malta, and the chapter includes much detailed nautical vocabulary. How do you translate this for a landlocked people group, most of whom have never seen the ocean? All they know are small rivers and dugout canoes.
“We knew that we could later insert some illustrations during the final paging process which would help the Kouya readers to picture what was happening, but meanwhile we struggled to find or invent meaningful terms. The ‘ship’ was a ‘big canoe’ and the ‘passengers’ were ‘the people in the big canoe’; the ‘crew’ were the ‘workers in the big canoe’; the ‘pilot’ was the ‘driver of the big canoe’; the ‘big canoe stopping place’ was the ‘harbour’, and the ‘big canoe stopping metal’ was the ‘anchor’!”
In Lokạạ it is translated as ukalangkwaa, lit. “English canoe.” “The term was not coined for the Bible translation, but rather originated in colonial times when the English arrived in Nigeria on ships. The indigenous term for a canoe was modified to represent the large, ocean-going ship of the English.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
1936 painting by Wang Suda 王肅達 (1910-1963),
Housed in the Société des Auxiliaires des Missions Collection – Whitworth University
(click image to enlarge)
Image taken from Chinese Christian Posters . For more information on the “Ars Sacra Pekinensis” school of art, see this article , for other artworks of that school in TIPs, see here.
Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)
Jesús y los discípulos fueron y entraron al barco y el barco zarpó a un lugar en el campo donde no había gente.
Todas las personas que veían a Jesús (decían): “Vamonos”, y caminaban al lugar rural y lo esperaban.
El barco estaba zarpando y Jesús veía (a la gente) alrededor y dijo en si mismo: ‘No hay otra persona para ayudarlos, estas personas que me están esperando son como ovejas sin pastor. ¿Quién ayuda y cuida a los ovejas?’
Jesús sentía compasión y cuando habían salido del barco Jesús empezó a enseñar por un tiempo largo.
Después los discípulos vinieron y dijeron: “Jesús, aquí ya es tarde y no hay nada de comer, mejor que tú les digas adios, y se vayan a donde haya pueblos y compren para la comida.”
Jesús (respondió): “Uds les repartan comida.”
Los discípulos dijeron: “Si nosotros vamos y compramos un montón de pan pagamos doscientas (monedas) de plata.” Jesús (dijo): “Mira allá, ¿cuánto pan hay?” Los discípulos miraban alrededor y dijeron: “Hay cinco panes y dos peces.”
Jesús (dijo): “Por favor, diles a las personas que se senten en el suelo, en las plantas verdes, en grupos”
Los discípulos llamaban a la gente que vinieran y se sentaban en grupos de 50 y grupos de 100, 50 aquí, 100 allí.
Cuando todo estaba en órden Jesús tomó los cinco panes y los dos peces y miró hacia arriba y dijo una bendición.
Tomó el pan, lo rompía en pedazos y los echaba en una canasta y cuando estaba llena una canasta la dio a los discípulos, y ellos la recibieron y repartían el pan a la gente.
Jesús tomó los peces, los cortaba en pedazos y los echaba en una canasta, y cuando estaba llena la dio a los discípulos y ellos la tomaron y repartían los peces a la gente.
¿Cuántos había? Cinco mil hombres y además mujeres y niños, todos juntos.
Los panes y los peces que sobraban, los discípulos los ponían en canastas hasta llenarlas y contaban doce canastas de sobras.
Jesus and the disciples went and got in a boat and the boat set sail to a rural place where there were no people.
All the people who saw Jesus (said): “Let’s go”, and they walked over to the rural place and waited for him to come.
The boat was sailing and Jesus looked around (at the people) and said to himself: ‘There is no-one else to help them, these people that are awaiting me are like sheep without a shepherd. Who will help and take care of the sheep?’
Jesus felt compassion and after they had got off the boat Jesus began to teach for a long time.
Afterwards the disciples came to him and said: “Jesus, it’s late here, and there is nothing to eat, it’s better you tell them goodbye and they go to where there are villages and buy something to eat.”
Jesus (responded): “You hand out food to them.”
The disciples said: “If we go and buy a heap of bread we will pay 200 silver (coins).” Jesus (said): “Look over there, how much bread is there?” The disciples looked around and said: “There are five loaves of bread and two fish.”
Jesus (said): “Please, tell the people that they sit down on the ground, in the green plants, in groups.”
The disciples called the people to come and they sat down in groups of 50 and groups of 100, 50 here, 100 there.
When everything was done, Jesus took the five loaves of bread and the two fish, looked up and said a blessing.
He took the bread, broke it in pieces and threw the pieces in a basket and when the basket was full he gave it to the disciples and they took it and handed out the bread to the people.
Jesus took the fish and cut them in pieces and threw them in a basket and when the basket was full he gave it to the disciples and they took it and handed out the fish to the people.
How many were there? Five thousand men plus women and children, all together.
The bread and the fish that was left over the disciples put in baskets that they filled up, and they counted twelve baskets of leftovers.
Jesus sent the disciples out two by two to preach in different places. When the disciples came back, they told stories. Some said:
— We taught a lot!
Others said:
— We cast out demons!
Others said:
— We healed the sick!
The disciples told all these things. Jesus listened to them and said:
— You haven’t even had time to eat. Let’s go to a deserted place and you can rest there for a while.
The disciples went and got on a boat and sailed away secretly so that no one would know. But as they sailed away, the people around them saw Jesus sailing there. The people began to call out to each other, and a great multitude gathered. And they waited for Jesus on the shore. The boat came to a place, and Jesus left the boat and saw a great multitude of people gathered around.
Jesus felt sorry for them. He said:
— You are like sheep without a shepherd! There is no one to take care of you. Without a shepherd the sheep wander, and so do you.
Jesus began to teach them. As Jesus taught and taught them, it was nearing evening. The disciples came to Jesus and said:
— It’s getting evening. Let’s let the people go home. There are some who live in the surrounding villages. Let them buy food for themselves there.
Jesus said:
— No, you must feed them all.
Disciples:
— How? Where are we going to get so much bread? There are many people here, it would take about 200 denarii. That’s a lot of bread it will take.
Jesus:
— See if anyone has some food.
The disciples began to look and found some bread and fish. They came up to Jesus and said:
— Here are five loaves and two fish.
Jesus told the people to all spread out in rows — 50 rows, with 100 people in each row. The disciples went and helped the people to sit in 50 rows. Jesus took the bread and two fish. He lifted his eyes to heaven and said:
— I thank God for this food. He broke the bread and began to pass it on to the disciples so that the disciples could pass it on to the people. He did the same with the fish — Jesus passed the fish to the disciples, and the disciples passed it to the people. All the people ate and were filled, there were even pieces of bread left over. There were about 5,000 people in all. They were all full. The disciples gathered the leftover bread. They collected one full basket, then another, then another, then another, then another, and in all they collected 12 full baskets.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Иисус отправлял учеников по двое проповедовать по разным местам. Когда ученики возвращались, они рассказывали. Одни говорили:
— Мы много учили!
Другие говорили:
— Мы бесов изгоняли!
Третьи говорили:
— Мы больных исцеляли!
Ученики рассказывали все это. Иисус слушал их и сказал:
— У вас даже не было времени поесть. Давайте перейдем в безлюдное место, и вы можете там немного передохнуть.
Ученики пошли, сели на лодку и отплыли тайно, чтобы никто не знал. Но когда они отплыли, люди вокруг увидели, что там плывет Иисус. Люди стали звать друг друга, и собралось великое множество народа. И они ждали Иисуса на берегу. Лодка приплыла на место, Иисус покинул лодку и увидел множество людей, которые собрались вокруг.
Иисусу стало жаль их. Он сказал:
— Вы — словно овцы без пастуха! Нет никого, кто может позаботиться о них. Без пастуха овцы блуждают, так же и вы.
Иисус стал их учить. Иисус учил-учил их, время уже близилось к вечеру. Ученики подошли к Иисусу и сказали:
— Уже вечереет. Давай отпустим народ домой. Тут есть такие, которые живут в окрестных селениях. Пусть они там себе купят еды.
Иисус сказал:
— Нет, вы должны накормить их всех.
Ученики:
— Как? Где мы возьмем столько хлеба? Тут множество народа, нужно примерно 200 динариев. Очень много хлеба потребуется.
Иисус:
— Поищите, может быть, у кого-нибудь найдется немного еды.
Ученики начали искать и нашли немного хлеба и рыбы. Они подошли к Иисусу и сказали:
— Вот есть пять хлебов и две рыбины.
Иисус сказал людям, чтобы все расселись по рядам — 50 рядов, в каждом — по 100 человек. Ученики пошли и помогли людям рассесться по 50 рядов. Иисус взял хлеб и две рыбы. Поднял глаза к небу сказал:
— Благодарю Бога за эту еду. Преломил хлеб и начал передавать ученикам, чтобы ученики передавали дальше людям. Так же и с рыбой он делал — Иисус передавал рыбу ученикам, ученики передавали народу. Весь народ поел, насытился, и даже остались еще куски хлеба. Всего было около 5000 человек. Они все наелись. Ученики собрали остатки хлеба. Собрали одну полную корзину, потому вторую, третью, всего собрали полных 12 корзин.
In v. 33 after hupagontas ‘going’ Textus Receptus adds hoi ochloi ‘the crowds,’ omitted by all modern editions of the Greek text.
After epegnōsan ‘recognized’ Textus Receptus adds auton ‘him’; Tischendorf, Merk, Soden, and Kilpatrick add autous ‘them’; no addition is made by Nestle, Westcott and Hort, Vogels, Souter, Lagrange, and Taylor.
At the end of the verse after autous ‘them’ Textus Receptus adds kai sunēlthon pros auton ‘and they gathered to him,’ which is omitted by all modern editions of the Greek text.
Exegesis:
kai eidon ‘and they saw’: most translations take polloi ‘many’ to be the subject of eidon ‘saw’; some, however, understand eidon in an impersonal sense, ‘people saw,’ with polloi ‘many’ the subject of epegnōsan ‘recognized’ alone – so The Modern Speech New Testament ‘but the people saw them going, and many recognized them’ (cf. Lagrange, Taylor).
epegnōsan (cf. 2.8) ‘they perceived,’ ‘they recognized’: this rendering better expresses the meaning of the verb here than ‘knew’ (Revised Standard Version).
pezē (only here in Mark) ‘by land’ (opposed to en ploiō ‘by boat’), ‘on foot’ .
apo pasōn tōn poleōn ‘from all the cities’: cf. 1.5 for another example of this vivid manner in portraying an action involving many people.
sunedramon ekei kai proēlthon autous ‘they ran there and arrived before them’: the adverb ‘there’ refers to the lonely spot to which Jesus and his disciples were going.
suntrechō (only here in Mark) ‘run together’: used of a number of persons who run to a place and gather there.
proerchomai (14.35) ‘come ahead,’ ‘arrive before (someone).
Translation:
They went away must refer to Jesus as well as the disciples.
Lonely place is ‘an uninhabited place’ or ‘a place where there were no people living.’
Many is often rendered as ‘many people.’
Knew them is often better translated as ‘recognized them’ or ‘knew who they were.’
There is a very ambiguous adverb, which must be made more precise in some languages, e.g. ‘to where the boat was headed’ or ‘to where the disciples and Jesus were going.’ A number of languages require very well defined distinctions of place and direction, as determined by the position of the participants in an action. Care must be exercised to be sure that the proper adverb, or adverbial phrase, is employed.
Ahead of them means, of course, ‘before Jesus and his disciples arrived,’ though it is rarely necessary to employ such an extensive paraphrase.
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 .
So: The Berean Standard Bible uses the word So to introduce the result of what Jesus had said.
they went away in a boat by themselves to a solitary place: Jesus and the twelve apostles used a boat to cross part of Lake Galilee in order to leave the crowds behind. The “many” mentioned in 6:33a saw them before they arrived at the solitary place. So it may be clearer to translate this as the Good News Bible has done:
they started out in a boat
they: The pronoun they refers to Jesus and the twelve apostles.
a boat: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as a boat is literally “the boat” (as in the Revised Standard Version). This may imply that it was the same boat they had used before (see 5:21a). But it is probably best to follow the example of the Berean Standard Bible and many other English versions and say a boat. You could also say that they went “by boat.”
boat: The boats used on Lake Galilee were small boats used for fishing and travel across the lake. They could hold from about four to fifteen people. People used sails or oars (long paddles) to cause the boats to move across the water. If you do not have a word for boat in your language, here are some translation options:
• Use a phrase that describes the function of a boat. For example:
a vehicle for crossing water -or-
something for carrying people on top of water
• Use the word for a specific kind of boat in your culture. For example:
canoe
a solitary place: The phrase a solitary place is the same Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as “a solitary place” in 6:31c. It refers to a desolate area where few people lived.
In some languages, it may sound unnatural to repeat this phrase since it is also in 6:31c. If that is true in your language, you can leave this phrase implicit. For example:
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.
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