Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("go")

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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, ik-are-ru (行かれる) or “go” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Mark 6:48

Exegesis:

kai idōn … erchetai ‘and seeing … he comes,’ ‘when he saw … he came’: in Greek the complete sentence goes from kai idōn ‘and seeing’ to epi tēs thalassēs ‘on the sea,’ the main verb being erchetai ‘he comes.’ The text appears to say that ‘he saw them’ from the hill where he was praying, and so he came, about the fourth watch of the night (cf. Lagrange).

basanizomenous en tō elaunein ‘distressed in (their) rowing,’ ‘troubled as they rowed.’

basanizomai (cf. 5.7) here in the sense of ‘be troubled,’ ‘be distressed’; perhaps the whole phrase means ‘they were straining at the oars’ (Goodspeed; cf. Translator’s New Testament; cf. Manson ‘laboring at the oars’; Berkeley ‘toiling hard at rowing’).

en tō elaunein (cf. 4.4 en tō speirein ‘as he sowed’) ‘in the rowing,’ ‘as they rowed’: the verb occurs only here in Mark.

ho anemos (cf. 4.37) ‘the wind.’

enantios (15.39) ‘against,’ ‘contrary,’ ‘opposed.’

peri tetartēn phulakēn tēs nuktos ‘about the fourth watch of the night’: according to the Greco-Roman system the night (6:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M.) was divided into four watches of three hours each. The fourth watch, the last one, would be from 3:00 to 6:00 A.M.

phulakē (in 6.17 ‘prison’) ‘watch.’

peripatōn epi tēs thalassēs ‘walking on the sea,’ ‘walking on (top of) the water.’

peripateō (cf. 2.9) ‘walk.’

kai ēthelen parelthein autous ‘and he was going to pass them by’: it is generally agreed that the verb thelō here does not mean ‘will’ or ‘wish,’ but is used in a weakened sense, being the equivalent of an auxiliary. American Standard Version ‘as if intending to pass them by’ reads into the text more than is there.

parerchomai (13.30, 31; 14.35) ‘pass by,’ ‘pass’: this is the meaning most commentators and translators give the verb in this passage; without a direct object it may mean ‘come to,’ ‘join’ (Lk. 12.37, 17.7) and this is the meaning Goodspeed gives it here, ‘and (he) was going to join them,’ an interpretation which seems quite reasonable in view of the context.

Translation:

Rowing is not too widely practiced in the world, and even where it is known, there are two principal practices: (1) pulling the oars, and hence going in the direction to which one’s back is turned, and (2) pushing the oars, as in the Orient, and thus facing the direction in which the boat is moving. Where rowing is completely unknown, translators have tried to describe the action as ‘making the boat move’ (Eastern Highland Otomi) and ‘pushing the water back with wooden poles’ (Chicahuaxtla Triqui).

Wind was against them may be translated as ‘the wind was blowing against them’ or ‘the wind was blowing on their back’ (i.e. if our Western kind of rowing is understood) or ‘the wind was blowing into their faces’ (if the Oriental type is generally inferred by the people). One may avoid this problem somewhat by saying ‘blowing from the direction in which they were going.’

The fourth watch is variously rendered: ‘when it was almost dawn’ (Southern Subanen), ‘when the cocks had crowed’ (Maninka), ‘towards dawn’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), ‘at the very first cock-crow’ (Batak Toba), ‘when it was already three o’clock at night’ (Indonesian).

Walking on the sea is ‘walking on top of the lake’ (or ‘face of the lake’ in some instances).

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 6:48

6:48a

He could see that the disciples: According to 6:46b, Jesus went up on the mountain to pray. Here the context implies that Jesus paused in his praying and looked out toward the lake to see how the disciples were doing. (Even though it was night, there was probably enough moonlight for Jesus to see the disciples on the lake. Only a few commentators think that this was a “supernatural seeing from afar.” (Clarke quoted in Mark: A Portrait of the Servant by Hiebert, page 165.)) In some languages it may be necessary to make explicit some of this information.

In some languages there are also specific words for “look downward” and “look from a distance.” If your language uses specific words like these, it may be appropriate to use one of them here. For example:

When Jesus looked down at the disciples, he saw that they were straining…

straining to row: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as straining to row is more literally “distressed while rowing.” It indicates that the disciples were working/straining very hard to try to move the boat forward.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

having trouble rowing the boat
-or-
struggling hard to row the boat (New Century Version)

6:48b

the wind was against them: The phrase the wind was against them indicates that the wind was blowing against the front of the boat. The wind was so strong that the disciples were not able to move the boat across the lake.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

the wind was blowing towards them
-or-
the wind was meeting them
-or-
they were going against the wind (God’s Word)

General Comment on 6:48a–b

In some languages it may be natural to put the information that the disciples were rowing in 6:48b. For example, the Contemporary English Version says:

48aHe could see that the disciples were struggling hard, 48bbecause they were rowing against the wind.

General Comment on 6:48a–b

In this verse, 6:48b expresses the reason for the result in 6:48a. In some languages, it may be more natural to change the order of these clauses. For example:

48bThe wind was blowing against them; 48athat is why they were straining at the oars. Jesus saw all this.

6:48c

About the fourth watch of the night: The fourth watch of the night was the period between 3:00 and 6:00 in the morning. At that time, people considered night to be from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. The Romans divided the night into four periods of time. Each period was three hours long. Soldiers took turns guarding (watching) for one period. So the fourth watch was the three-hour period before dawn.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

Not long before morning (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
between three and six o’clock in the morning (Good News Bible)
-or-
As the night was ending (NET Bible)
-or-
Before dawn/daybreak

If your language has a specific expression or idiom for this time of day, consider using it here.

6:48d

Jesus went out to them: Jesus had been up on the mountain. Before he could walk out to the disciples, he first had to walk downhill to the shore. In some languages it may be necessary to make some of this information explicit. For example:

he walked/went down the mountain and went out to them

walking on the sea: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as walking on the sea indicates that Jesus was walking on top of the water. This was a miracle.

In some languages, verbs such as walking are also used to mean “swimming,” and prepositions such as on can also mean “in.” If this is true in your language, you will need to clarify what Jesus was doing. For example:

walking on the surface of the water

6:48e

He intended to pass by them: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as He intended to pass by them is literally “He wanted to go past them.” Jesus was walking as though he intended to walk past the boat without stopping. (A note on 6:48 in the NET Bible says, “The statement ‘he wanted to pass by them’ is somewhat difficult to understand. There are at least two common interpretations: (1) it refers to the perspective of the disciples, that is, from their point of view it seemed that Jesus wanted to pass by them; or (2) it refers to a theophany and uses the language of the Greek Old Testament (LXX) when God “passed by” Moses at Sinai (cf. Exod 33.19, 22). According to the latter alternative, Jesus is “passing by” the disciples during their struggle, in order to assure them of his presence with them. See W. L. Lane, Mark (NICNT), 236.”)

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

He intended to pass by them (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
He was going to pass by them (Revised English Bible)
-or-
He would have passed by them

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