she answered him

The Greek in Mark 7:28 that is translated as “she answered him” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) idiomatically with die Frau aber ließ nicht locker or “but the woman would not let up.”

Mark 7:24b - 30 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 7:24b-30 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)

De repente una mujer lo descubrió y se acercó a él, se arrodilló y dijo: “Mi hija, una niña, tiene un demonio adentro, por favor expulsa el demonio.”

Jesús le dijo: “Yo ayudo primero a todas las personas judías. Por ejemplo, si los niños están alrededor de la mesa comiendo pan y el padre viene, les quita el pan y lo da al perro, y el perro lo come, ¿piensas que está bien? No.”

La mujer (dijo): “Sí, tienes razón, ¿pero si por ejemplo los niños están alrededor de la mesa comiendo pan y de repente por error algo cae y el perro lo come…?”

Jesús la miró (y dijo): “Bien, el demonio ya ha salido de tu hija. Puedes irte.”

La mujer se paró y se fue, y después fue a la casa y vio que su hija estaba acostada en la cama y que el demonio ya se había ido.

La mujer que se arrodilló y lo contó (a Jesús), esta mujer no era judía, había nacido en el lugar Sirofenicia.


Suddenly a woman discovered him, went up to him, knelt down and said: “My small daughter has a demon inside, please throw the demon out.”

Jesus said to her: “I first help all the Jewish people. For example, if the children are around the table eating bread and the father comes, takes away the bread and gives it to the dog, and the dog eats it, would you think that is good? No.”

The woman (said): “Yes, you’re right, but what if for example the children are eating around the table and suddenly by accident something falls on the floor and the dog eats it…?”

Jesus looked at her (and said): “Good, the demon has already left your daughter. You can go.”

The woman got up and left, and then she went home and saw that her daughter was lying in bed and that the demon had already left her.

The woman who just knelt and told (Jesus), this woman was not Jewish, she was born in the place Syrophoenicia.

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

<< Mark 7:17b-24a in Mexican Sign Language
Mark 7:31 in Mexican Sign Language >>

See also Matthew 15:21-28 in Mexican Sign Language.

Mark 7:24-30 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 7:24-30 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

Jesus went to the city of Tyre. There he went into a house. He wanted to do it secretly so that people would not know. But the rumor about him spread quickly, and everyone soon knew that Jesus was there. There was a woman there. She was a non-Jewish woman. She came to Jesus, fell on her knees before Him and begged Him:

— “Help! A demon has possessed my daughter. She is tormented. Please come and heal her, cast out the demon.

Jesus said to her:

— I have come for the sake of the Jews, because they are God’s children, and first of all I must feed them with bread. I cannot take the bread away from the children and give it to the dogs.

The woman said:

— Yes, that is true! But when the children eat bread at the table, crumbs fall on the floor and something goes to the dogs. The dog can take those crumbs and eat them. So can I…

Jesus said to her:

— Are you ready to be satisfied with crumbs? You can go home, the demon has already come out of your daughter.

The woman hurried home, entered the house, opened the door, and saw her daughter lying quietly on the bed, smiling, with no demon in her, and she was healthy.

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

Иисус пошел в город Тир. Там он зашел в один дом. Он хотел сделать это тайно, чтобы люди не знали. Но слух о Нем быстро распространялся, и все вскоре узнали, что Иисус находится там. Там была одна женщина. Она была не-еврейка. Они пришла к Иисусу, упала перед ним на колени и стала умолять Его:

— Помоги! В мою дочь вселился бес. Она мучается. Пожалуйста, приди, исцели ее, изгони беса.

Иисус сказал ей:

— Я пришел ради евреев, потому что они дети Божьи, и в первую очередь я должен накормить их хлебом. Я не могу забрать хлеб у детей и отдать его собакам.

Женщина сказала:

— Да, это так! Но когда за столом дети едят хлеб, крошки падают на полу и что-то перепадает собакам. Собака может брать эти крошки и есть. Так же и я…

Иисус сказал ей:

— Ты готова довольствоваться крошками? Ты можешь возвращаться домой, бес уже вышел из твоей дочери.

Женщина поспешила домой, вошла в дом, раскрыла дверь и видит: ее дочь спокойно лежит на кровати, улыбается, и никакого бес в ней больше нет и она здорова.

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

<< Mark 7:1-23 in Russian Sign Language
Mark 7:31-37 in Russian Sign Language >>

complete verse (Mark 7:28)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 7:28:

  • Uma: “The woman said: ‘Indeed true, Lord. But even the dogs under the table, they usually eat the children’s food that scatters from the top of the table.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “‘That is true, Sir,’ said the woman. ‘But even the dogs under the table eat what is dropped by the children.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The woman spoke, she said, ‘That’s true, but the dogs can lick up the crumbs which are fallen from the food of the children.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘That’s admittedly so, Sir,’ said the woman, ‘but even the dogs, they eat the scraps-of-food that fall when the children are eating.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “‘That’s true, Lord,’ was the reply of that woman. ‘But isn’t it so that the dogs under the table eat the crumbs which fall when the children eat?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Mopán Maya: “She said to him, That is right, teacher. But me, I am like a little dog and the people of Israel are like a little child. When the child is eating, the crumbs fall and the little dog picks them up. Therefore help me a little bit.” (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)

dog

Dogs were domesticated very early and were used for hunting and as watchdogs in the ancient world. In Egypt as early as 4000 B.C. people made pottery images that indicate that sleek fast hunting dogs were bred which looked like the modern greyhound. From Babylonian sculpture we know that around 2500 B.C. large hunting dogs that looked like the modern bull-mastiff were kept by people in the Mesopotamian civilizations.

Among the Jews however while dogs were kept mainly as watch-dogs they were held in contempt and left to feed themselves by scavenging. This habit of scavenging and the fact that dogs were possibly associated with some Egyptian gods meant that dogs were seen as very unclean animals by the Jews. The dog found in Jewish settlements in Bible times was probably the pariah dog Canis familiaris putiatini which looked something like a small light brown Alsatian or German shepherd. This type of dog in its wild and domesticated forms is found all over the Middle East and on the mainland coasts of South and Southeast Asia (where it is known as the crab-eating dog). The Australian dingo is also very similar.

Small pet dogs were kept in homes in the Greek and Roman civilizations by gentiles but not by Jews. This is probably the type of dog referred to by the Greek word kunarion in Matthew 15:26 and Mark 7:27.

[Sarah Ruden (2021, p. 27), who translates kunarion as “little doggy,” says the following: “In the entire Greek Bible, only [these two passages] use this diminutive (kunarion) of the word for ‘dog,’ a rare and largely comical word. This word choice weakens the usual sense of dogs as dirty and uncivilized and excluded from the home, much less from the table that symbolized God’s providential bounty.”]

As mentioned above dogs were held in contempt as unclean. To call someone a dog was therefore very derogatory and to refer to someone as a “dead dog” was even more so. Israelites viewed dogs as second only to pigs as unclean animals. Dogs as scavengers around the villages ate anything from household refuse to animal carcasses and human excreta. They even ate human corpses that lay unburied after battles. Furthermore the dog was possibly one of the symbols of the Egyptian god Anubis (although many modern scholars believe the symbol to be the jackal).

With all of the above in mind it is understandable that dying and then being eaten by unclean dogs was seen as the worst of all possible fates.

In the first century A.D. gentiles were considered to be unclean and were referred to by Jews in a derogatory way as “dogs.” There is therefore strong irony in the expression in Philippians 3:2 where Judaizing Christians are referred to as dogs.

One additional connotation associated with dogs in the Bible is sexual perversion and promiscuity a connotation probably arising from the fact that sexually aroused male dogs do not always differentiate between sexes as they seek to mate and the fact that dogs of both sexes mate repeatedly with different partners.

Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

Lord

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The Hebrew adonai in the Old Testament typically refers to God. The shorter adon (and in two cases in the book of Daniel the Aramaic mare [מָרֵא]) is also used to refer to God but more often for concepts like “master,” “owner,” etc. In English Bible translations all of those are translated with “Lord” if they refer to God.

In English Old Testament translations, as in Old Testament translations in many other languages, the use of Lord (or an equivalent term in other languages) is not to be confused with Lord (or the equivalent term with a different typographical display for other languages). While the former translates adonai, adon and mare, the latter is a translation for the tetragrammaton (YHWH) or the Name of God. See tetragrammaton (YHWH) and the article by Andy Warren-Rothlin in Noss / Houser, p. 618ff. for more information.

In the New Testament, the Greek term kurios has at least four different kinds of use:

  • referring to “God,” especially in Old Testament quotations,
  • meaning “master” or “owner,” especially in parables, etc.,
  • as a form of address (see for instance John 4:11: “Sir, you have no bucket”),
  • or, most often, referring to Jesus

In the first and fourth case, it is also translated as “Lord” in English.

Most languages naturally don’t have one word that covers all these meanings. According to Bratcher / Nida, “the alternatives are usually (1) a term which is an honorific title of respect for a high-ranking person and (2) a word meaning ‘boss’, ‘master’, or ‘chief.’ (…) and on the whole it has generally seemed better to employ a word of the second category, in order to emphasize the immediate personal relationship, and then by context to build into the word the prestigeful character, since its very association with Jesus Christ will tend to accomplish this purpose.”

When looking at the following list of back-translations of the terms that translators in the different languages have used for both kurios and adonai to refer to God and Jesus respectively, it might be helpful for English readers to recall the etymology of the English “Lord.” While this term might have gained an exalted meaning in the understanding of many, it actually comes from hlaford or “loaf-ward,” referring to the lord of the castle who was the keeper of the bread (source: Rosin 1956, p. 121).

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Following are some of the solutions that don’t rely on a different typographical display (see above):

  • Navajo (Dinė): “the one who has charge”
  • Mossi: “the one who has the head” (the leader)
  • Uduk: “chief”
  • Guerrero Amuzgo: “the one who commands”
  • Kpelle: “person-owner” (a term which may be applied to a chief)
  • Central Pame: “the one who owns us” (or “commands us”)
  • Piro: “the big one” (used commonly of one in authority)
  • San Blas Kuna: “the great one over all” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Guhu-Samane: Soopara (“our Supervisor”) (source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.)
  • Balinese: “Venerated-one” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Yanesha’: “the one who carries us” (source: Nida 1952, p. 159)
  • Northern Emberá: Dadjirã Boro (“our Head”)
  • Rarotongan: Atu (“master or owner of a property”)
  • Gilbertese: Uea (“a person of high status invested with authority to rule the people”)
  • Rotuman: Gagaja (“village chief”)
  • Samoan: Ali’i (“an important word in the native culture, it derives from the Samoan understanding of lordship based on the local traditions”)
  • Tahitian: Fatu (“owner,” “master”)
  • Tuvalu: Te Aliki (“chief”)
  • Fijian: Liuliu (“leader”) (source for this and six above: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1994, p. 329ff. )
  • Bacama: Həmə miye: “owner of people” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
  • Hopi: “Controller” (source: Walls 2000, p. 139)
  • Iyansi: Mwol. Mwol is traditionally used for the “chief of a group of communities and villages” with legal, temporal, and spiritual authority (versus the “mfum [the term used in other Bantu languages] which is used for the chief of one community of people in one village”). Mwol is also used for twins who are “treated as special children, highly honored, and taken care of like kings and queens.” (Source: Kividi Kikama in Greed / Kruger, p. 396ff.)
  • Ghomala’: Cyəpɔ (“he who is above everyone,” consisting of the verb cyə — to surpass or go beyond — and pɔ — referring to people. No human can claim this attribute, no matter what his or her social status or prestige.” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn )
  • Binumarien: Karaambaia: “fight-leader” (Source: Oates 1995, p. 255)
  • Warlpiri: Warlaljamarri (owner or possessor of something — for more information tap or click here)

    We have come to rely on another term which emphasizes God’s essential nature as YHWH, namely jukurrarnu (see tetragrammaton (YHWH)). This word is built on the same root jukurr– as is jukurrpa, ‘dreaming.’ Its basic meaning is ‘timelessness’ and it is used to describe physical features of the land which are viewed as always being there. Some speakers view jukurrarnu in terms of ‘history.’ In all Genesis references to YHWH we have used Kaatu Jukurrarnu. In all Mark passages where kurios refers to God and not specifically to Christ we have also used Kaatu Jukurrarnu.

    New Testament references to Christ as kurios are handled differently. At one stage we experimented with the term Watirirririrri which refers to a ceremonial boss of highest rank who has the authority to instigate ceremonies. While adequately conveying the sense of Christ’s authority, there remained potential negative connotations relating to Warlpiri ceremonial life of which we might be unaware.

    Here it is that the Holy Spirit led us to make a chance discovery. Transcribing the personal testimony of the local Warlpiri pastor, I noticed that he described how ‘my Warlaljamarri called and embraced me (to the faith)’. Warlaljamarri is based on the root warlalja which means variously ‘family, possessions, belongingness’. A warlaljamarri is the ‘owner’ or ‘possessor’ of something. While previously being aware of the ‘ownership’ aspect of warlaljamarri, this was the first time I had heard it applied spontaneously and naturally in a fashion which did justice to the entire concept of ‘Lordship’. Thus references to Christ as kurios are now being handled by Warlaljamarri.” (Source: Stephen Swartz, The Bible Translator 1985, p. 415ff. )

  • Mairasi: Onggoao Nem (“Throated One” — “Leader,” “Elder”) or Enggavot Nan (“Above-One”) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Obolo: Okaan̄-ene (“Owner of person(s)”) (source: Enene Enene)
  • Angami Naga: Niepu (“master,” “owner”)
  • Lotha Naga: Opvui (“owner of house / field / cattle”) — since both “Lord” and YHWH are translated as Opvui there is an understanding that “Opvui Jesus is the same as the Opvui of the Old Testament”
  • Ao Naga: Kibuba (“human master,” “teacher,” “owner of property,” etc.) (source for this and two above: Nitoy Achumi in The Bible Translator 1992 p. 438ff. )
  • Seediq: Tholang, loan word from Min Nan Chinese (the majority language in Taiwan) thâu-lâng (頭儂): “Master” (source: Covell 1998, p. 248)
  • Thai: phra’ phu pen cao (พระผู้เป็นเจ้า) (divine person who is lord) or ong(kh) cao nay (องค์เจ้านาย) (<divine classifier>-lord-boss) (source: Stephen Pattemore)
  • Arabic often uses different terms for adonai or kurios referring to God (al-rabb الرب) and kurios referring to Jesus (al-sayyid الـسـيـد). Al-rabb is also the term traditionally used in Arabic Christian-idiom translations for YHWH, and al-sayyid is an honorary term, similar to English “lord” or “sir” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).
  • Tamil also uses different terms for adonai/kurios when referring to God and kurios when referring to Jesus. The former is Karttar கர்த்தர், a Sanskrit-derived term with the original meaning of “creator,” and the latter in Āṇṭavar ஆண்டவர், a Tamil term originally meaning “govern” or “reign” (source: Natarajan Subramani).
  • Burunge: Looimoo: “owner who owns everything” (in the Burunge Bible translation, this term is only used as a reference to Jesus and was originally used to refer to the traditional highest deity — source: Michael Endl in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 48)
  • Yagaria: Souve, originally “war lord” (source: Renck, p. 94)
  • Aguacateco: Ajcaw ske’j: “the one to whom we belong and who is above us” (source: Rita Peterson in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 49)
  • Konkomba: Tidindaan: “He who is the owner of the land and reigns over the people” (source: Lidorio 2007, p. 66)
  • Chichewa: Ambuye Ambuye comes from the singular form Mbuye which is used to refer to: (1) someone who is a guardian or protector of someone or group of people — a grandparent who has founded a community or village; (2) someone who is a boss or master over a group of people or servants and has absolute control over them; (3) owner of something, be it a property, animals and people who are bound under his/her rule — for people this was mostly commonly used in the context of slaves and their owner. In short, Mbuye is someone who has some authorities over those who call him/her their “Mbuye.” Now, when the form Ambuye is used it will either be for honorific when used for singular or plural when referring to more than one person. When this term is used in reference to God, it is for respect to God as he is acknowledged as a guardian, protector, and ruler of everything. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation).
  • Hdi uses rveri (“lion”) as a title of respect and as such it regularly translates adon in the Old Testament. As an address, it’s most often with a possessive pronoun as in rvera ɗa (“my lion” = “my lord” or “sir”). So, for example, Genesis 15:2 (“O Lord God”) is Rvera ɗa Yawe (“My lion Yahweh”) or Ruth to Boaz in Ruth 2:13: “May I find your grace [lit. good-stomach] my lion.” This ties in nicely with the imagery of the Lord roaring like a lion (Hosea 11:10; Amos 3:8; Joel 3:16). Better still, this makes passages like Revelation 5:5 even richer when we read about rveri ma taba məndəra la Yuda, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”. In Revelation 19:16, Jesus is rveri ta ghəŋa rveriha “the lion above lions” (“lord of lords”). (Source: Drew Maust)

Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient Greek Septuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew adonai was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments: “Another case is the use of kurios referring to Jesus. For Yahweh (in English Bibles: ‘the Lord‘), the Septuagint uses kurios. Although the term kurios usually has to do with one’s authority over others, when the New Testament authors use this word from the Septuagint to refer to Jesus, they are making an extraordinary claim: Jesus of Nazareth is to be identified with Yahweh.”

See also Father / Lord.

humble form of "eat" (itadaku)

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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 to do this is through the usage of lexical honorific forms, i.e., completely different words, as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.

In these verses, itadaku (いただく), a respectful form of taberu (食べる) or “eat” is used. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also respectful form of “eat” (meshiagaru), eat (Japanese honorifics), and humble form of “receive” (itadaku).