Translation commentary on Mark 7:3

Exegesis:

pugmē (only here in the N.T.) ‘fist’: as used in the present passage the word means literally ‘with the fist.’ There is no agreement on what the phrase means here. The general sense of ‘carefully,’ ‘diligently’ is given the word by American Standard Version, The Modern Speech New Testament, Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale (soigneusement), O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada (cuidadosamente); ‘as far as the wrist’ is preferred by Translator’s New Testament; Moffatt, and Berkeley have ‘up to the elbow’; Zürcher Bibel has simply mit der Faust, and Lagrange à poing fermé; Manson and Revised Standard Version omit the word; Goodspeed has ‘in a particular way’ adding “though just what that particular way was we cannot as yet determine;” Weis suggests that the word refers to a special vessel supplied for the purpose.

It would seem that the translator may choose to omit the expression since its meaning is not certain and the various alternatives only obscure rather than clarify. If one wishes to employ some equivalent it is probably best to translate ‘with the fist,’ if such a phrase carries some intelligible meaning in the language into which he is translating the word.

nipsōntai (only here in Mark) ‘they may wash’; the verb is used generally with the meaning of washing some part of the body, not of taking a bath.

kratountes tēn paradosin tōn presbuterōn ‘holding to the tradition of the elders’; the participle may be causal, ‘because they hold….’

krateō (cf. 1.31) ‘hold on to,’ ‘keep,’ ‘observe.’

paradosis (7.5, 8, 9, 13) ‘tradition’: i.e. teachings, precepts, handed over, generally in oral form, from generation to generation (from the verb paradidōmi ‘hand over’: cf. v. 13).

presbuteros (7.5) ‘older (man),’ ‘elder’: in this passage and in v. 5, the word refers to the ‘ancient ones,’ ‘the ancestors’ from whom had come the traditions; elsewhere in Mark (8.31, 11.27, 14.43, 53, 15.1) the word refers to the contemporary ‘elders’ who with the chief priests and scribes (with whom they are always conjoined) composed the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Jews.

Translation:

The Pharisees and all the Jews poses difficulties for the translator, since this type of expression, if translated literally, would mean in many languages that the Pharisees were not Jews. One must therefore render the phrase in some such form as ‘the Pharisees, and in fact, all the other Jews,’ ‘all the Jews, including the Pharisees’ or ‘all the Jews, and especially the Pharisees.’ The use of ‘especially’ is justified in this inverted order by virtue of the fact that in the original the Pharisees are the focus of the subject expression.

Wash their hands involves certain special aspects which are not clearly understood from the Greek term which means literally ‘with the fist.’ In some translations it is, however, possible to give something of the meaning without a literal translation (which might be entirely misleading). For example, in Navajo this passage reads ‘they wash their hands ceremonially,’ an expression which is quite understandable within the Navajo religious patterns.

The transliteration of Jews may need a classifier, ‘the people called Jews.’

Observing should not be translated literally in the sense of ‘looking at’ or ‘watching,’ but in the meaning of ‘keeping,’ ‘living according to,’ or ‘obeying.’

Tradition is essentially the ‘customs’ of the people, and for this aspect of any people’s life there are always some adequate terms, even though the assortment may be rather varied, e.g. ‘the old root-trunk,’ in which the life of a people is likened to a tree (Kekchi), ‘to live as the ancients did’ (Central Tarahumara), ‘sayings passed down from long-ago times’ (Barrow Eskimo), ‘what their fathers of old told them to follow’ (Navajo), ‘the ordinance maintained by the forefathers’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), and ‘word that has been kept from the ancients’ (Tzeltal).

The elders are ‘the fathers,’ ‘those who lived long ago,’ or ‘the ancestors.’

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 7:3

7:3–4

7:3–4 is background information. These verses are Mark’s explanation of the Jewish custom of ceremonial hand-washing. Mark explained this custom to help his Gentile audience understand the story better. Some other translations have parentheses around these verses. You should use whatever is natural in your language to show that these verses are explanatory background information.

7:3a

Now: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Now introduces background information about ceremonial hand-washing. Here is another way to translate it:

For (Revised Standard Version)

in holding to the tradition of the elders: The phrase in holding to the tradition of the elders may be connected to 7:3b–c in various ways:

• It may express the purpose or motivation for ceremonially washing their hands. For example:

in order to keep the traditions of the elders
-or-
in obedience to ancient tradition (Revised English Bible)

• It may express the result of ceremonially washing their hands. For example, the New Revised Standard Version says:

thus observing the tradition of the elders

• The clause relationship may be left implicit. For example, the God’s Word starts a new sentence:

They follow the traditions of their ancestors.

You may follow any of these options. See the General Comment on 7:3a–c below.

holding: The Greek word the Berean Standard Bible translates as holding literally means to “grab hold of, seize, hold tightly.” Here Mark used this word in a figurative sense to mean “following” or “obeying.” Mark used this word to show that the Pharisees and those like them closely followed the traditions or customs of the Jewish elders.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

carefully following
-or-
obey (Contemporary English Version)

the tradition of the elders: The phrase the tradition of the elders refers to the religious rules that the Pharisees taught. Over the years, the Pharisees made many religious rules/laws. The Pharisees said that following these rules was as important as following the law of Moses. People called these added rules the tradition of the elders.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

the rules of the elders
-or-
the teachings of their forefathers

elders: The word elders refers here to Jewish religious leaders of previous generations who taught these rules to the Jews of following generations. Some examples of other ways to say elders are:

ancestors (Good News Bible)
-or-
forefathers

7:3b-c

the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat until they wash their hands ceremonially: There is a textual issue in this verse:

(1) Most Greek manuscripts have a Greek idiom that literally means with a fist. This refers to washing in a specific, ceremonial or customary way. For example the Good News Bible says:

they do not eat unless they wash their hands in the proper way

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Good News Bible, God’s Word, Contemporary English Version, NET Bible, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, New Century Version, New Living Translation, New Jerusalem Bible)

(2) Some Greek manuscripts have a word that literally means often or thoroughly. For example, the New Revised Standard Version says:

[they] do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands

(New Revised Standard Version, King James Version, New American Standard Bible)

(3) Some Greek manuscripts do not have either expression. For example, the Revised Standard Version says:

do not eat unless they wash their hands

(Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, English Standard Version)

It is recommended that you follow option (1), since it has the support of the majority of manuscripts. These include some of the oldest and most reliable manuscripts. Also, most English versions follow this option.

7:3b

the Pharisees and all the Jews: The Pharisees were themselves Jews. So in some languages it may be necessary to translate this as:

For the Pharisees, as well as the rest of the Jews (Good News Bible)
-or-
The Jews, especially the Pharisees (New Living Translation)

Pharisees: The Pharisees were a Jewish religious group or party. See the note on Pharisees at 7:1a.

all: The word all in this context is a hyperbole. Mark did not mean that all Jews without exception followed the ritual hand-washing regulations. He meant that this was a custom that was generally followed by Jews. (Gundry (page 349) identifies “all” specifically as a hyperbole. Several commentators mention that the common people would not have followed these regulations very carefully. However, it was common among authors of that time to make generalizations of this nature, especially when writing to people of other backgrounds (France page 281, Guelich pages 363–364, Lane page 245, Lenski page 283).)

If your language uses hyperbole, you may be able to use a word like all. If people in your area will not understand this as hyperbole, you may want to refer to the Jews in general, as the New Living Translation does.

the Jews: The word Jews here refers to the followers of the Jewish religion. The word comes from the name of their ancestor Judah, the great-grandson of Abraham.

If you do not have a word in your language for Jews, you could form a word based on the Hebrew name “Yehuda” (Judah). You could also borrow the term from a major language translation used in your area. Use the form or phrase your language naturally uses for names of tribes called after a common ancestor. For example:

Yahudi (Arabic)

do not eat: In some languages it may be natural to provide an explicit object for the verb eat. See the note on eating at 7:2a.

7:3c

until they wash their hands ceremonially: This phrase states what the Jews always did before they ate their meals. They always washed their hands first.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

until they have first ceremonially washed their hands
-or-
[never eat] before washing their hands in a special way (New Century Version)

ceremonially: The Greek expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates as ceremonially is an idiom that literally means “with a fist.” It refers to washing in a specific, ceremonial way. However, scholars are not certain of the actual method of washing that is described here. (This idiom occurs only here in the New Testament. Proposed meanings include: “turning one fist inside the hollow of the other hand,” “up to the wrist/elbow,” and “with a handful of water.” Hiebert (pages 171–175) gives a good summary of these methods.) There are at least two ways to translate this idiom:

• Give the general meaning of this idiom. For example:

[they] do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing (New International Version)
-or-
[they] do not eat unless they perform a ritual washing (NET Bible)

• Describe a specific method that Jewish people used when they washed. For example:

[they] never eat without washing their arms as far as the elbow (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
[they] do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands (New Living Translation)

General Comment on 7:3b–c

In some languages it may be natural to translate these verse parts using a positive statement. For example:

3bThe Pharisees and all the Jews 3calways ceremonially wash their hands 3bbefore they eat

General Comment on 7:3a–c

In some languages, it may be more natural to reorder the information in these verse parts. For example, the Good News Bible has:

3bFor the Pharisees, as well as the rest of the Jews, 3afollow the teaching they received from their ancestors: 3bthey do not eat 3cunless they wash their hands in the proper way…

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