Mark 6:45-52 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 6:45-52 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

Jesus did a miracle. There were five loaves and two fish. Jesus fed all the people, about 5,000 of them. They all ate, and there were even extra pieces of bread left over for the 12 baskets. Though the disciples saw the miracle, they did not understand its meaning.

Jesus looked at them and said:

— Go, get into the boat and go to the city of Bethsaida. I will stay here a while longer.

The disciples obeyed, they got into the boat and set sail. Jesus let all the people go home and remained alone. He went up on a mountain and prayed there. It was late evening. At this time the disciples sailed to the middle of the lake. Jesus, standing on the mountain, saw the sea raging. A strong wind arose, and there were waves on the lake. The boat with the disciples could hardly remain on the water. Jesus saw this, and he walked straight across the water. He stepped on the water and did not sink and walked on the water. It was early morning, and the disciples on the boat were exhausted. Jesus walked on the water past the boat. The disciples noticed him and cried out in terror:

— The Spirit! The Spirit is coming!

They were very frightened. Jesus stopped and said:

— Disciples, it is I, Jesus!

Jesus walked straight across the water to the boat and got into it. Immediately the wind died down and the lake calmed down. The disciples were amazed. They said to each other:

— Jesus walked on the water?! He did not drown? And the wind obeyed Jesus?!

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

Иисус сделал чудо. Было пять хлебов и две рыбы. Иисус накормил ими всех людей, которых было около 5000. Все они наелись, даже остались лишние куски хлеба, которые собрали 12 корзин. Ученики хоть видели это чудо, но смысл его не поняли.

Иисус посмотрел на них и сказал:

— Идите, садитесь в лодку и отправляйтесь в город Вифсаида. А я еще побуду здесь.

Ученики повиновались, они сели в лодку и отплыли. Иисус отпустил всех людей по домам и остался один. Он взошел на гору и там молился. Наступил поздний вечер. Ученики в это время проплыли середину озера. Иисус, стоя на горе, увидел, как море стало бушевать. Поднялся сильный ветер, на озере были волны. Лодка с учениками еле держалась на воде. Иисус увидел это, и он пошел прямо по воде. Он ступил на воду и не тонул и шел по воде. Наступило уже раннее утро, ученики на лодке совсем уже выбились из сил. Иисус же шел по воде мимо лодки. Ученики заметили его и стали в ужасе кричать:

— Дух! Дух идет!

Они очень испугались. Иисус остановился и сказал:

— Ученики, это Я, Иисус!

Иисус прямо по воде подошел к лодке и сел в нее. Ветер тут же стих, и озеро тут же успокоилось. Ученики были поражены. Они говорили друг другу:

— Иисус шел по воде?!! И не тонул?!! И ветер подчиняется Иисусу?!

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

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Mark 6:53-56 in Russian Sign Language >>

Mark 6:45-52 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 6:45-52 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 dijo a los discípulos: “Uds suban al barco y zarpen a Betsaida, vayan” y caminó hacia toda la gente y los despidió y subió la montaña.

Jesus estaba orando toda la noche y los discípulos estaban zarpando en el barco. Después vino un viento fuerte, y los discípulos que estaban remando, no podían remar.

Desde la montaña donde Jesús estaba orando, veía en la distancia las olas y el barco arrojado por las olas. Jesús bajó y caminó en las olas, como a las tres o cuatro de la madrugada.

En el barco, que estaba balanceando en las olas, los doce discípulos miraron que alguien vino caminando en las olas, pareció una fantasma, y gritaron de angustia.

Jesús estaba caminando hacia ellos (y dijo): “Calmense, no tengan miedo, soy yo mismo.”

Jesús caminó al barco y subió y instantaneamente el viento desapareció y las olas disminuyeron y el barco no estaba moviendo tan fuerte. Los discípulos estaban sorprendidos, boquiabiertos.

Los discípulos, ¿porqué estaban sorprendidos y boquiabiertos? No entendían, por el milagro reciente del pan no habían descubierto nada, sus mentes eran duros.


Jesus said to the disciples: “You go in the boat and sail to Betsaida, go now”, and he walked over to all the people and sent them off and he walked up the mountain.

Jesus was praying the whole night and the disciples were in the boat. Then a strong wind came and the disciples, who were rowing, could not row anymore.

From the mountain where Jesus was praying, he saw in the distance the waves and the boat being thrown about on the waves. Jesus walked down and walked on the waves at about three or four o’clock in the morning.

In the boat, which was swung about by the waves, the twelve disciples looked and saw someone coming, walking on the waves, it looked like a ghost and they screamed in anguish.

Jesus came walking up to them (and said): “Calm down, don’t be afraid, it is me.”

Jesus walked to the boat and got in and instantly the wind disappeared and the waves got smaller and the boat moved more calmly. The disciples were surprised, agape.

Why were the disciples surprised and agape? They did not understand, they had not got it after the recent miracle with the bread, their minds were hard/stubborn.

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

<< Mark 6:32-44 in Mexican Sign Language
Mark 6:53-56 in Mexican Sign Language >>

pray / prayer

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “pray” (or “prayer”) in English is often translated as “talking with God” (Central Pame, Tzeltal, Chol, Chimborazo Highland Quichua, Shipibo-Conibo, Kaqchikel, Tepeuxila Cuicatec, Copainalá Zoque, Central Tarahumara).

Other solutions include:

  • “to beg” or “to ask,” (full expression: “to ask with one’s heart coming out,” which leaves out selfish praying, for asking with the heart out leaves no place for self to hide) (Tzotzil)
  • “to cause God to know” (Huichol)
  • “to raise up one’s words to God” (implying an element of worship, as well as communication) (Miskito, Lacandon) (source of this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Shilluk: “speak to God” (source: Nida 1964, p. 237)
  • Mairasi: “talk together with Great Above One (=God)” (source: Enggavoter, 2004)
  • San Blas Kuna: “call to one’s Father” (source: Claudio and Marvel Iglesias in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 85ff. )
  • Ik: waan: “beg.” Terrill Schrock (in Wycliffe Bible Translators 2016, p. 93) explains (click or tap here to read more):

    What do begging and praying have to do with each other? Do you beg when you pray? Do I?

    “The Ik word for ‘visitor’ is waanam, which means ‘begging person.’ Do you beg when you go visiting? The Ik do. Maybe you don’t beg, but maybe when you visit someone, you are looking for something. Maybe it’s just a listening ear.

    When the Ik hear that [my wife] Amber and I are planning trip to this or that place for a certain amount of time, the letters and lists start coming. As the days dwindle before our departure, the little stack of guests grows. ‘Please, sir, remember me for the allowing: shoes, jacket (rainproof), watch, box, trousers, pens, and money for the children. Thank you, sir, for your assistance.’

    “A few people come by just to greet us or spend bit of time with us. Another precious few will occasionally confide in us about their problems without asking for anything more than a listening ear. I love that.

    “The other day I was in our spare bedroom praying my list of requests to God — a nice list covering most areas of my life, certainly all the points of anxiety. Then it hit me: Does God want my list, or does he want my relationship?

    “I decided to try something. Instead of reading off my list of requests to God, I just talk to him about my issues without any expectation of how he should respond. I make it more about our relationship than my list, because if our personhood is like God’s personhood, then maybe God prefers our confidence and time to our lists, letters, and enumerations.”

In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning (click or tap here to read more):

  • For Acts 1:14, 20:36, 21:5: kola ttieru-yawur nehla — “hold the waist and hug the neck.” (“This is the more general term for prayer and often refers to worship in prayer as opposed to petition. The Luang people spend the majority of their prayers worshiping rather than petitioning, which explains why this term often is used generically for prayer.”)
  • For Acts 28:9: sumbiani — “pray.” (“This term is also used generically for ‘prayer’. When praying is referred to several times in close proximity, it serves as a variation for kola ttieru-yawur nehla, in keeping with Luang discourse style. It is also used when a prayer is made up of many requests.”)
  • For Acts 8:15, 12:5: polu-waka — “call-ask.” (“This is a term for petition that is used especially when the need is very intense.”)

Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.

complete verse (Mark 6:46)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 6:46:

  • Uma: “After the crowds returned-home, he went up a mountain to pray.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “After he had sent them away, he went onto the hill to talk to God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “When the people had gone, Jesus went up a hill to pray.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When he had sent-them -home, he went-uphill on the mountain to go pray.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “After those people had left, he went up the hill to pray there.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

pronoun for "God"

God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).

Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.

In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.

While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal ta (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential ta (祂) is used.”

In Kouya, Godié, Northern Grebo, Eastern Krahn, Western Krahn, and Guiberoua Béte, all languages of the Kru family in Western Africa, a different kind of systems of pronouns is used (click or tap here to read more):

In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.

Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains in the following way: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”

In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)

Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”

In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )

In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)

The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.

Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).

See also first person pronoun referring to God.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Gender of God .

Translation: Chinese

在现代汉语中,第三人称单数代词的读音都是一样的(tā),但是写法并不一样,取决于性别以及是否有生命,即男性为“他”,女性为“她”,动物、植物和无生命事物为“它”(在香港和台湾的汉语使用,动物则为“牠”)。这些字的部首偏旁表明了性别(男人、女人、动物、无生命事物),而另一偏旁通常旁提示发音。

到1930年为止,基督教新教《圣经》经过整整一百年的翻译已经拥有了十几个译本,当时的一位圣经翻译者王元德新造了一个“神圣的”代词“祂”,偏旁“礻”表示神明。一般汉语读者会立即知道这字的发音是tā,而这个偏旁表示属灵的事物,因此他们明白这个字指出,三位一体的所有位格都没有性别之分,而单单是上帝。

然而,最重要的新教圣经译本(1919年的《和合本》)和天主教圣经译本(1968年的《思高圣经》)都没有采用“祂”;虽然如此,许多其他的圣经译本采用了这个字,另外还广泛出现在赞美诗和其他基督信仰的书刊中。(资料来源:Zetzsche)

《吕振中译本》的几个早期版本也使用“祂”来指称“上帝”;这个译本的《新约》于1946年译成,整部《圣经》于1970年完成。克拉默斯(Kramers)指出:“‘他’的这种新写法(即‘祂’)产生了一个小问题,就是在指称耶稣的时候,是否一律使用这个敬语代词?《吕振中译本》遵循的原则是,在称呼耶稣这个人的时候,用一般的‘他’,而在称呼耶稣神性的时候,特别是升天之后的耶稣,则用尊称‘祂’。”

Translator: Simon Wong

Honorary "are" construct denoting God (“go/travel”)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, mukaw-are-ru (向かわれる) or “go/travel” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Mark 6:46

Exegesis:

apotaxamenos autois ‘taking leave of them,’ ‘bidding them farewell.’

apotassomai (only here in Mark) ‘take leave of,’ ‘say good-bye’; Moulton & Milligan give an example of its use in the papyri with the stronger meaning ‘get rid of’ (cf. Lk. 14.33).

autois ‘them’: it is ambiguous in Greek, referring either to the disciples or to the crowd (Mt. 14.23 makes it explicit by saying ‘he dismissed the crowds’). The Revised Standard Version ‘them’ apparently refers to the disciples, as does Translator’s New Testament (and others); Vulgate, Goodspeed, The Modern Speech New Testament, Lagrange and Taylor assume that the crowd is meant. If apotassomai ‘take leave of’ differs in meaning from apoluō ‘dismiss’ of the previous verse (as it probably does), then it would seem that autois ‘them’ refers to the disciples rather than to the crowd. If possible, a translation should preserve the ambiguity of the Greek.

eis to oros (cf. 3.13) ‘to the hill,’ ‘into the hills.’

proseuxasthai (cf. 1.35) ‘to pray’: infinitive of purpose, ‘in order to pray.’

Translation:

As noted above, one should try to preserve the ambiguity in the rendering of them. The sequence of events would seem to imply that the disciples left before the crowd, in which case, of course, them would refer to the people. On the other hand, he may have ordered his disciples to leave, and while they were getting the boat ready (having possibly drawn it up on the beach), Jesus dismissed the crowd and then turned to say good-bye to the disciples.

Went into the hills is good English but impossible in many languages. One may go ‘between the hills,’ ‘to where the hills are,’ or ‘climb among the hills,’ but ‘going into the hills’ may be used only of miners.

For pray see 1.35.

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 6:46

6:46a

After bidding them farewell: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as After bidding…farewell also means “having left.” For example:

After leaving them (New International Version)
-or-
And after he had taken leave of them (English Standard Version)

them: The pronoun them refers to the crowd. Jesus left the crowd.

6:46b

He: The pronoun He refers to Jesus.

went up on the mountain: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as on the mountainside is literally “to the mountain” (as in the NET Bible). This indicates that Jesus went somewhere higher on the mountain. It does not indicate how far up he was. For this reason, some versions translate this as “on a mountainside.”

Here are some other ways to translate this:

went up a mountain (God’s Word)
-or-
went up into the hills (New Living Translation)

mountain: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as mountain means “high country” or “mountain.” Some versions translate this word as “mountain” while others translate it as “hill.”

This mountain was on the edge of the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is surrounded by a steep bank and low mountains on many sides. These mountains are not as high as other mountains in the area.

to pray: The phrase to pray indicates the purpose and reason that Jesus went up the mountainside. He probably went there because there were no other people on the mountain. He could pray to God for some hours, and no one would come to disturb him.

The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as pray means “speak to God.” Some languages may use different words to refer to specific kinds of prayer, such as requests, thanks, or praise. Here you should use a word or expression that has a general meaning. Avoid a term that may imply magical or meaningless words.

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