The Greek and Hebrew that are often translated as “miracles” or “miraculous powers” into English are translated as “thing which no one has ever seen before” (San Blas Kuna), “thing marveled at” (Tepeuxila Cuicatec), “breathtaking thing” (Ngäbere), “long-necked thing” (referring to the onlookers who stretch their necks to see) (Huautla Mazatec), “sign done by God’s power” (Mossi), “supernatural power” (Javanese), “thing that has heaven-strength” (Highland Totonac) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida), “amazing thing” (Muna) (source: René van den Berg), “sign no one else could do” (Tenango Otomi) (source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125), or “impossible thing” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004).
The Greek that is translated as “lay hands on (someone)” in English is translated in Tae’ with “‘He-pressed-down,’ a verb that in former times was used with the specific meaning of ‘to press down one’s hand on a person’s head,’ in order to fortify his soul after a dangerous experience, but in Christian usage came to refer to the gesture made when blessing a person.”
Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)
Jesus y sus discípulos ahora van a Nazaret, el mismo Nazareth donde había vivido y crecido Jesús.
El sábado después, el día de descanso, Jesús empieza a enseñar y predicar en el templo.
Las personas que lo veían estaban sorprendidos y decían: “¿Cómo sabe enseñar y también puede hacer milagros? ¿Quién le da la sabiduría? ¿Cómo?”
Otras personas decían: “Yo lo conozco, el es Jesús que era carpintero, su mamá es María y sus hermanos son Jacobo, José, Judas y Simón, y también hay varias hermanas.”
Las personas que estaban viendolo no lo tomaban en serio, lo conocían y adentro no les gustaba, estaban viendo con desprecio.
Jesús dijo: “Mira, les explico; cuando los profetas van a su pueblo, a la casa donde antes vivían y crecían, las personas de la familia no tienen nada de respeto.
Si los profetas van a otro pueblo las personas allá sí los respetan, ¿entienden?”
Después pocos enfermos se acercaban, y Jesús les imponía las manos y los sanaba. Jesús no podía hacer más milagros porque las personas no creían.
Jesus and his disciples now go to Nazareth, the same Nazareth where Jesus had lived and grown up.
Afterwards on Saturday, the day of rest, Jesus begins to teach and preach in the religious building.
The people who saw him were surprised and said: “How does he know how to teach and also to do miracles? Who gives him the wisdom? How?”
Other people said: “I know him, he is Jesus who used to be the carpenter, his mother is Mary and his brothers are James, Joseph, Judas and Simon and there are also various sisters.”
The people who were watching did not take him seriously, they knew him and inside they did not like it, they were looking on with scorn.
Jesus said: “Look, I will explain; when prophets go to their village, to the house where they used to live and grew up, the people of the family have no respect for them at all.
“If the prophets go to another village the people there do respect them, do you understand?”
Then a few sick people came up and Jesus put his hands on them and healed them. Jesus could not do more miracles because the people did not believe.
The city of Capernaum. Here is the city of Nazareth. This is where Jesus lived and grew up in. Jesus and his disciples came from Capernaum to Nazareth. It was a Sabbath day. There in Nazareth there is a synagogue where the Jews gather. Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. He taught and taught and taught. The people listened to him and marveled:
— We know that Jesus is a former carpenter, he is an ordinary man. His mother is Mary, he has four brothers: James, Joses, Judas, Simon. He also has several sisters. How does he have so much wisdom? How can he teach like that? It can’t be like that!
Some said:
— We heard that Jesus healed people in different towns and places.
Others said:
— That can’t be!
And the people did not believe Jesus.
Jesus looked at them and said:
— It has happened before! God had chosen a prophet. People in different places believed him. But the people from the town where the prophet grew up, his relatives, friends — they did not believe the prophet. It is the same now.
Jesus could not perform a miracle in this place. Only some sick people Jesus healed. Jesus went out and went to different villages. In different places he taught the people.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Город Капернаум. Вот город Назарет. Там Иисус жил и вырос в нем. Иисус вместе со своими учениками из Капернаума прибыли в Назарет. Это был день субботний. Там в Назарете есть синагога, где собираются евреи. Иисус зашел в синагогу и начал учить. Он учил-учил. Люди слушали его и удивлялись:
— Мы же знаем, что Иисус бывший плотник, он — обычный человек. Его мать — Мария, у него четыре брата: Иаков, Иосет, Иуда, Симон. Также у него есть несколько сестер. Откуда у него столько мудрости? Как он может так учить? Не может такого быть!
Одни говорили:
— Мы слышали, что Иисус в разных городах и местах исцелял людей.
Другие говорили:
— Не может такого быть!
И люди не верили Иисусу.
Иисус посмотрел на них и сказал:
— Так было и раньше! Бог избрал пророка. Люди в разных местах верили ему. А вот люди из того города, где пророк вырос, его родные, знакомые — они пророку не верили. Так же и сейчас.
В этом месте Иисус не смог совершить чуда. Только некоторых больных людей Иисус исцелил. Иисус вышел и пошел по разным селениям. В разных местах он учил людей.
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 6:5:
Uma: “So, Yesus expressed-surprised / was-critical-of them for they did not believe. That’s why he couldn’t do many surprising things there. The only thing he did was to lay-hands on several sick people to heal them. Yesus wandered around paying-visits-to villages and teaching people.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “And Isa could not do powerful deeds there, except that he placed his hands on a number of sick people and healed them.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “That’s why there was no miracle that Jesus could do in that village. He laid his hands on just a few sick people, and they got well.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “There were a few sick that Jesus put-his-hands-on to heal, but he had no way to do many miracles there.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well since it was like that, Jesus didn’t do any amazing things there, except that a few sick people he touched/put-his-hand-on and healed them.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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, iyas-are-ru (癒やされる) or “heal” is used.
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
oligois arrōstois epitheis tas cheiras etherapeusen ‘(by) laying his hands on a few sick ones he healed (them).’
arrōstos (6.13; 16.18) ‘powerless,’ i.e. ‘sick,’ ‘ill.’
epitithenai tas cheiras (cf. 5.23) ‘to lay hands upon.’
therapeuō (cf. 1.34) ‘heal,’ ‘cure.’
ethaumasen (cf. 5.20) ‘he marveled,’ ‘he was surprised.’
dia tēn apistian autōn ‘on account of their unbelief’: most English translations (cf. also Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale, Lagrange, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada) have it ‘at their unbelief’ translating dia not as cause but as the object of the surprise of Jesus.
apistia (9.24; 16.14) ‘lack of belief,’ ‘lack of trust’ in Jesus (cf. faith, confidence, in Jesus, 2.5; 5.34). In this context the word describes the unwillingness of the people of Nazareth to believe that Jesus could work miracles.
kai periēgen tas kōmas kuklō didaskōn ‘and he went around among the adjacent villages teaching.’
periagō (only here in Mark) ‘go about,’ ‘make a tour.’
kōmē (6.36, 56; 8.23, 26, 27; 11.2; cf. agros 5.14) ‘village,’ ‘small town’; in general smaller than polis ‘city’ but larger than agros ‘hamlet’ – cf. especially 6.36, 56.
kuklō (cf. 3.34) ‘round about,’ ‘around’: here modifies tas kōmas ‘surrounding villages.’
Translation:
Could evidently means that though Jesus had the power to perform miracles, in Nazareth he was unable to use his power because of the lack of faith on the part of the people.
For mighty work, see 6.2.
Few is a relative word, which receives its meaning from the context. In other languages there are often equally arbitrary delimitations. For example, in Tzeltal the equivalent of few is ‘two or three,’ but this does not mean literally two or three, but as in the case of English few acquires its meaning from the context; compare ‘a few people in town’ and ‘a few people in our living room,’ obviously capable of quite different meanings.
Unbelief may be rendered as a phrase ‘they did not believe’ or ‘they did not have confidence in him.’
Villages would imply the hamlets surrounding Nazareth, e.g. ‘he went around from hamlet to hamlet, teaching the people.’
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 .
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