Mark 7:1-23 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 7:1-23 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

The people of Judea strictly followed the demands of tradition. Before eating, they were to wash their hands thoroughly up to the elbows. After going to the store and the market, they had to wash their hands thoroughly. Also they had to be thorough with kitchen utensils: cauldrons, plates.

And so the Pharisees and teachers of the law came from Jerusalem. They were indignant when they saw that Jesus’ disciples were not fulfilling the demands of tradition.

In indignation they turned to Jesus:

— Behold, your disciples are not fulfilling the demands of tradition! They had not washed their hands and were eating bread. What is this?

Jesus answered them:

— You Pharisees are hypocrites. In ancient times there lived a prophet named Isaiah. He was talking about the people of his time, but they were just like the Pharisees. The prophet said that these people thought they were very pious, very proud of it, but in fact, inwardly they were empty, far from God. They thought they were pious and outwardly honored God — but it was all false. They began to invent their own rules and laws and pass them off as God’s law, as God’s commandments. That’s what you are doing now, Pharisees. You disregard God’s commandments and make up your own. You have rejected God’s law, but you demand that people obey your rules.

In ancient times Moses gave Ten Commandments. There is this commandment: “Honor your father and mother.” If a son offends his parents, according to the law he should be punished by death.

And it happens like this: old parents who have no money to feed themselves, but the son has money. But you say to such a person:

— You should not give money to old parents, you should bring it as a gift to the Temple.

That is, you encourage people not to take care of their parents. Thus, your rules and statutes abrogate the Law of God.

Jesus called the people together and said to them:

— Listen and ponder! Do you think that man is defiled by food? No! Food is outward. But evil thoughts in the heart are what defile a man and spoil him.

Jesus walked away from the crowd and went into the house. Jesus’ disciples followed him. There the disciples began to question Jesus:

— We did not understand the meaning of what you were telling.

Jesus said:

— Have you not understood? Food is external. What you eat, it will not contaminate you, because it will be digested in the stomach and come out again, it does not give you bad thoughts in your heart. But if you have bad thoughts in your heart, it contaminates you. You think bad thoughts, you start doing bad things: cunning, malice, stealing, murder, cheating, greed, malice, deceit, rudeness, slander, insult, pride, stupidity — where does it all come from? It all comes from within, from the thoughts. If thoughts are dirty, then a person is unclean.

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

Жители Иудеи строго выполняли требования традиции. Перед едой они должны были тщательно вымыть руки до локтей. После магазина и рынка должны обязательно чисто-чисто вымыть руки. Также должны были тщательно быть кухонную посуду: котлы, тарелки.

И вот фарисеи и учителя закона пришли из Иерусалима. Они возмутились, когда увидели, что ученики Иисуса не исполняли требований традиции.

В негодовании они обратились к Иисусу:

— Вот, твои ученики не исполняют требований традиции! Они не вымыли руки и стали есть хлеб. Что это такое?

Иисус им ответил:

— Вы фарисеи — лицемеры. В древности жил пророк по имени Исайя. Он говорил о людях своего времени, но они были таким же, как фарисеи. Пророк говорил, что эти люди считали себя очень набожными, очень гордились этим, но на самом деле, внутренне они пусты, далеки от Бога. Они считали себя набожными и внешне почитали Бога — но это все фальшь. Они стали придумывать свои собственные правила и законы и выдавать их за Божий закон, за Божьи заповеди. Так же и вы сейчас поступаете, фарисеи. Вы заповедями Божьими пренебрегаете, и придумываете свои собственные. Божий закон вы отвергли, а требуете, чтобы люди исполняли ваши правила.

В древности Моисей дал 10 заповедей. Есть такая заповедь: «Почитай отца и мать». Если сын оскорбляет своих родителей, по закону он должен быть наказан смертью.

А бывает так: старые родители, у которых нет денег пропитание, а у сына деньги есть. Но вы же говорите такому человеку:

— Не нужно давать денег старым родителям, нужно их принести в дар в Храм.

То есть вы побуждаете людей не заботиться о родителях. Таким образом, ваши правила и уставы отменяют Закон Божий.

Иисус созвал людей и сказал им:

— Слушайте и поразмыслите! Вы думаете, человек оскверняется пищей? Нет! Еда — это внешнее. Но злые мысли в сердце — вот, что оскверняет человека и портят его.

Иисус ушел от толпы и вошел в дом. Ученики Иисуса последовали за ним. Там ученики стали спрашивать Иисуса:

— Мы не поняли смысл того, что ты рассказывал.

Иисус сказал:

— Вы не поняли? Пища — это внешнее. То, что вы едите, это вас не испачкает, потому что это переварится в желудке и снова выйдет наружу, от этого в сердце не появляются плохие мысли. Но если в вашем сердце плохие мысли — это вас пачкает. Вы думаете плохие мысли, начинаете делать плохие дела: хитрость, злоба, воровство, убийство, измены, жадность, злоба, лукавство, грубость, клевета, оскорбление, гордость, глупость — это все откуда? Это все исходит изнутри, из мыслей. Если мысли грязные, то и человек нечист.

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

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Mark 7:24-30 in Russian Sign Language >>

disciple

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The Greek that is often translated as “disciple” in English typically follows three types of translation: (1) those which employ a verb ‘to learn’ or ‘to be taught’, (2) those which involve an additional factor of following, or accompaniment, often in the sense of apprenticeship, and (3) those which imply imitation of the teacher.

Following are some examples (click or tap for details):

  • Ngäbere: “word searcher”
  • Yaka: “one who learned from Jesus”
  • Navajo (Dinė), Western Highland Purepecha, Tepeuxila Cuicatec, Lacandon: “one who learned”
  • San Miguel El Grande Mixtec: “one who studied with Jesus”
  • Northern Grebo: “one Jesus taught”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “child (i.e., follower) of the master”
  • Indonesian: “pupil” (also used in many Slavic languages, including Russian [ученик], Bulgarian [учени́к], Ukrainian [учень], or Polish [uczeń] — source: Paul Amara)
  • Central Mazahua: “companion whom Jesus taught”
  • Kipsigis, Loma, Copainalá Zoque: “apprentice” (implying continued association and learning)
  • Cashibo-Cacataibo: “one who followed Jesus”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “his people” (essentially his followers and is the political adherents of a leader)
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl: based on the root of “to imitate” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Chol: “learner” (source: Larson 1998, p. 107)
  • Waorani: “one who lives following Jesus” (source: Wallis 1973, p. 39)
  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “learner” (Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Javanese: “pupil” or “companion” (“a borrowing from Arabic that is a technical term for Mohammed’s close associates”)
  • Cherokee: “those by whom one is followed” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 23)
  • German: Jünger or “younger one” (source for this and one above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Jüngerinnen und Jünger or “female and male disciples.” Note that Berger/Nord only use that translation in many cases in the gospel of Luke, “because especially according to Luke (see 8:1–3), women were part of the extended circle of disciples” (see p. 452 and looked up at his disciples).
  • Noongar: ngooldjara-kambarna or “friend-follow” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • French 1985 translation by Chouraqui: adept or “adept” (as in a person who is skilled or proficient at something). Watson (2023, p. 48ff.) explains (click or tap here to see more):

    [Chouraqui] uses the noun “adept,” which is as uncommon in French as it is in English. It’s an evocative choice on several levels. First, linguistically, it derives — via the term adeptus — from the Latin verb adipiscor, “to arrive at; to reach; to attain something by effort or striving.” It suggests those who have successfully reached the goal of their searching, and implies a certain struggle or process of learning that has been gradually overcome. But it’s also a term with a very particular history: in the Middle Ages, “adept” was used in the world of alchemy, to describe those who, after years of labor and intensive study, claimed to have discovered the Great Secret (how to turn base metals like lead into gold); it thus had the somewhat softened meaning of “someone who is completely skilled in all the secrets of their field.”

    Historians of religion often use the term adept with reference to the ancient mystery religions that were so prevalent in the Mediterranean in the centuries around the time of Jesus. An adept was someone who, through a series of initiatory stages, had penetrated into the inner, hidden mysteries of the religion, who understood its rituals, symbols, and their meaning. To be an adept implied a lengthy and intensive master-disciple relationship, gradually being led further and further into the secrets of the god or goddess (Isis-Osiris, Mithras, Serapis, Hermes, etc.) — secrets that were never to be revealed to an outsider.

    Is “adept” a suitable category in which to consider discipleship as we see it described in the Gospels? On some levels, the link is an attractive one, drawing both upon the social-religious framework of the ancient Mediterranean, and upon certain aspects of intimacy and obscurity/secrecy that we see in the relationship of Jesus and those who followed him. The idea that disciples are “learners” — people who are “on the way” — and that Jesus is portrayed as (and addressed as) their Master/Teacher is accurate. But the comparison is unsatisfactory on several other levels.

    First, the Gospels portray Jesus’s ministry as a largely public matter — there is relatively little of the secrecy and exclusiveness that is normally associated with both the mystery cults and medieval alchemy. Jesus’s primary message is not destined for a small, elite circle of “initiates” — although the Twelve are privy to explanations, experiences and teachings that are not provided to “the crowds.” For example, in Matthew 13:10-13:

    Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to [the crowds] in parables?” He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’”

    Etymologically, adeptus suggests someone who “has arrived,” who has attained a superior level of understanding reserved for very few. However, what we see in the Gospels, repeatedly, is a general lack of comprehension of many of Jesus’s key teachings by many of those who hear him. Many of his more cryptic sayings would have been virtually incomprehensible in their original context, and would only make sense in retrospect, in the wake of the events of Jesus’s passion, death, and resurrection. The intense master-student relationship is also lacking: the Gospels largely portray “the disciples” as a loose (and probably fluctuating) body of individuals, with minimal structure or cohesion. Finally, there seems to be little scholarly consensus about the degree to which the mystery cults had made inroads in Roman-ruled Palestine during the decades of Jesus’s life. According to Everett Ferguson in his Backgrounds of Early Christianity.

    Although Christianity had points of contact with Stoicism, the mysteries, the Qumran community, and so on, the total worldview was often quite different….So far as we can tell, Christianity represented a new combination for its time…. At the beginning of the Christian era a number of local mysteries, some of great antiquity, flourished in Greece and Asia Minor. In the first century A.D. the vonly mysteries whose extension may be called universal were the mysteries of Dionysus and those of the eastern gods, especially Isis.

    And Norman Perrin and Dennis C. Duling note, in their book The New Testament:

    Examples of such mystery religions could be found in Greece… Asia Minor… Syria-Palestine… Persia… and Egypt. Though the mysteries had sacred shrines in these regions, many of them spread to other parts of the empire, including Rome. There is no clearly direct influence of the mysteries on early Christianity, but they shared a common environment and many non-Christians would have perceived Christians as members of an oriental Jewish mystery cult.56

    Given the sparse archaeological and literary evidence from this period regarding mystery cults in Roman Palestine, and the apparent resistance of many Palestinian Jews to religious syncretism, Chouraqui’s use of the noun adept implies a comparison between the historical Jesus and mystery cults that is doubtful, on both the levels of chronology and religious culture. Personally, I believe this choice suggests a vision of Jesus that distances him from the religious world of ancient Judaism, thus creating a distorted view of what spiritually inspired him. But the idea of the disciples as “learners” on a journey (as the Greek term suggests) is a striking one to consider; certainly, the Gospels show us the Twelve as people who are growing, learning, and developing…but who have not yet “arrived” at the fullness of their vocation.

Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as apprentice.

In Luang several terms with different shades of meaning are being used.

  • For Mark 2:23 and 3:7: maka nwatutu-nwaye’a re — “those that are taught” (“This is the term used for ‘disciples’ before the resurrection, while Jesus was still on earth teaching them.”)
  • For Acts 9:1 and 9:10: makpesiay — “those who believe.” (“This is the term used for believers and occasionally for the church, but also for referring to the disciples when tracking participants with a view to keeping them clear for the Luang readers. Although Greek has different terms for ‘believers’, ‘brothers’, and ‘church’, only one Luang word can be used in a given episode to avoid confusion. Using three different terms would imply three different sets of participants.”)
  • For Acts 6:1: mak lernohora Yesus wniatutunu-wniaye’eni — “those who follow Jesus’ teaching.” (“This is the term used for ‘disciples’ after Jesus returned to heaven.”)

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

In American Sign Language it is translated with a combination of the signs for “following” plus the sign for “group.” (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


“disciples” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor

In British Sign Language a sign is used that depicts a group of people following one person (the finger in the middle, signifying Jesus). Note that this sign is only used while Jesus is still physically present with his disciples. (Source: Anna Smith)


“Disciple in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

See also disciples (Japanese honorifics).

parable

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The Greek that is usually translated as “parable” in English is translated in other languages in a number of ways:

In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines the signs for “tell-a-story” and “compare.” (Source: Anna Smith)


“Parable” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as analogy because “the Greek word has the sense of tossing down something alongside something else. Hence an analogy.”

See also image and figures of speech.

Mark 7:1- 2 and 5 - 17a in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 7:1-2 and 5-17a 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)

Todos los judíos y los fariseos tienen sus costumbres y tradiciones, por ejemplo no empiezan a comer antes de lavar las manos, y cuando estén limpios pueden comer.

Los fariseos y algunos maestros de la ley salieron de Jerusalén y fueron (hacia Jesús y sus disípulos) y se dieron cuenta de que los discípulos estaban comiendo pan.

Los Fariseos pensaban: No han lavado las manos, están inmundos. Y dijeron: “Jesús, ¿porqué no obedecen tus discípulos la ley? Ellos saben las costumbres y las tradiciones de la Ley.”

Vemos que los discípulos están comiendo con manos inmundas.

Jesús (dijo): “Alto, mira, les explico algo. Hace mucho el hombre Isaías escribió en un rollo que Dios dice: uds siempre están hablando sobre respeto a Dios, pero adentro sus corazones están vacios, y su adoración a Dios no sirve porque lo que personas inventaron uds lo copiaron y lo han enseñado como ley, y después (se convirtió en) costumbres y tradiciones.

Isaías tenía razón en lo que escribió: Uds mismos, fariseos y maestros de la ley, son hipócritas porque lo que Dios manda en los mandamientos de la ley uds no lo toman en serio, pero las leyes que fueron inventados por personas uds las obedecen como costumbres y tradiciones. ¡Son bien inteligentes! Uds se apartan de los mandamientos de la ley de Dios

Moisés dice que Dios manda en los mandamientos de la ley que se debe respetar a los padres, y si alguien es disrespetuoso y rebelde debe ser matado.

Pero yo veo algo diferente; uds fariseos sugieren a un hombre que diga a sus papás que no les puede ayudar con dinero porque es ocupado por el corban, que significa que da el dinero al templo, para Dios.

¿Porqué aconsejan uds, los fariseos, que no es necesario ayudar a los papás? Porque uds no valoran la palabra de Dios, no lo toman en serio, pero sí valoran sus costumbres y tradiciones como leyes. Veo que tienen muchos errores.”

Llamó a la gente a que vinieran y una multitud se acercó. (Dijo): “Por favor pongan atención. ¿Uds piensan que lo que se come y entra el estomago puede hacer el corazón sucio y separarlos de Dios? No.

Si el corazón está inmundo de adentro sí hay separación de Dios. Veanme y entiendan, uds necesitan intentar a descubrirlo.”

Jesús se despidió y se fue a casa.


All the Jews and the Pharisees have their customs and traditions, for example they don’t begin to eat until they have washed their hands, and when they are clean they can eat.

The Pharisees and some teachers of the Law went out of Jerusalem and went over (towards Jesus and his disciples) and they noted that the disciples were eating bread.

The Pharisees thought: They haven’t washed their hands, they are unclean. And they said: “Jesus, why are your disciples not obeying the Law? They know the customs and the traditions of the Law.

“We see that the disciples are eating with unclean hands.”

Jesus (said): “Stop, look, I will explain something. A long time ago the man Isaiah wrote in a scroll that God says: you are always talking about respect for God, but inside your hearts are empty and your worship is in vane, because things that people have invented, you have copied and taught them as law, and then (they have become) customs and traditions.

“Isaiah was right in what he wrote: You yourselves, Pharisees and teachers of the Law, are hypocrites because what God has ordered in the commandments of the Law you don’t take seriously, but the laws that were invented by people you obey as your customs and traditions. You are really clever! You separate yourselves from the commandments of the Law of God.

§Moses says that God in the commandments of the Law orders that people need to respect their parents, and if someone is disrespectful and rebellious he needs to be killed.

“But I say something different: you Pharisees suggest to a man that he say to his parents that he cannot help them with money because it is taken for the corban, which means that he will give the money to the temple, for God.

“Why do you, Pharisees, advise people that they don’t have to help their parents? Because you don’t value the word of God, you don’t take it seriously, but you do value your customs and traditions as laws. I see that you have many errors.”

He told the people to come and a multitude gathered. (He said): “Please pay attention. You think that what you eat and what goes down to your stomach can make your heart dirty and separate you from God? No.

“If your heart is impure on the inside that will separate you from God. Watch me and understand, you need to try and figure it out.”

Jesus said goodbye and went home.

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

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Mark 7:3-4 in Mexican Sign Language >>

Mark 7:17b - 24a in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 7:17b-24a 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)

Los discípulos dijeron: “Jesús, lo que explicaste ahorita, ¿qué significa? Nosotros no lo entendemos.”

Jesús (dijo): “Uds no entienden igual como las personas de afuera no lo entienden.

Miren, lo que comen entra al estomago, ¿puede ensuciar el corazón y causar pecado? No puede. Lo normal es: lo que se come entra al estomago y es expulsado en el baño.

Cuando personas pecan, esto ensucia el corazón, por ejemplo: a la gente en su corazón sólo les gusta lo malo, las personas quieren placer y no les importan las consequencias, duermen juntos, roban, matan, cometen adulterio, piensan sólo de más dinero, son avaros, crueles y malos, engañan a otros, anhelan lujo, son rencorosos, envidiosos, están en contra de otros, son orgullosos, arrogantes y necios. Todos estos pecados (muestran que) adentro el corazón es inmundo.”

Jesús se retiró.

Lo que explicó Jesús recientemente sobre la comida que entra el estomago y es expulsado en el baño significa que se puede comer todas las cosas, está completamente libre, no se prohibe algo, no pasa nada.

Jesús fue a (un lugar) cerca de Tiro, entró una casa y no quería que la gente lo vieran, estaba allá en secreto, escondido.


The disciples said: “Jesus, what you explained just now, what does it mean? We don’t understand it.”

Jesus (said): “You don’t understand just like the people outside don’t understand.

“Look, what you eat goes down to the stomach, can it then make the heart dirty and cause sin? No, it cannot. The normal thing is: what you eat goes down to your stomach and is got rid of in the bathroom.

“When people sin, that’s what makes the heart dirty, for example: when people inside their hearts only like bad things, when they lust and don’t care (about the consequences), sleep together, steal, kill, commit adultery, only think of more money, son stingy, cruel and bad, deceive people, long for luxury, are rancorous, envious, against others, proud, arrogant and stubborn. All these sins (show that) inside the heart is impure.”

Jesus withdrew.

What Jesus just explained about food going into the stomach and being got rid of in the bathroom means that you can eat everything, it’s completely free, without restriction, nothing will happen.

Jesus went to (a place) near Tyre, and he entered a house. He did not want the people to see him, he was there secretly, hidden.

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

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Mark 7:24b-30 in Mexican Sign Language >>

complete verse (Mark 7:17)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 7:17:

  • Uma: “After that, Yesus left the many people, and he entered a house. His disciples asked him what the meaning of his teaching earlier was.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When Isa and company had left from the people, they went into a/the house. His disciples asked him about that teaching.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when Jesus had left the people and had gone into the house, his disciples asked him the meaning of what he had said.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When Jesus left the many-people and entered the house, his disciples asked that he should explain what he had parabled.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When Jesus had finished (speaking), he left those people then. When he and his disciples were there in the house, they questioned him about that illustration of his.” (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 tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (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 system 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 others 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: “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 Twents as well as Indonesian and Malay. In the latter two 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 "rare" construct denoting God ("enter")

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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 rare (られ) 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, hai-rare-ru (入られる) or “enter” is used.

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