complete verse (Mark 7:18)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 7:18:

  • Uma: “He said to them: ‘Don’t you understand either? Food that enters our mouth from the outside, it’s not that which makes us bad in God’s sight.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “He said to them, ‘Including you also, you don’t understand? Do you not understand that even whatever food enters the body of a person does not defile him?” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus said, ‘You are just like the rest of the people, because why didn’t you understand a while ago that what a person eats cannot cause God to be displeased with him” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Jesus said, ‘You also, do you not yet understand? Do you not know that what a person causes-to-go-into his mouth, that is not what makes-him -dirty?” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “‘What, even you too,’ said Jesus, ‘you also have no understanding/wisdom? Don’t you know that it’s not what a man eats which makes him disgusting in the sight of God?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

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formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people

Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.

As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff.), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.

Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.

In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.

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