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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, ko-rare-ru (来られる) or “come” is used.
From the neighborhood of Tyre Jesus went to Sidon. There was a lake in Galilee and 10 towns near it. Jesus went out to the lake in the area where the towns were. As Jesus was walking, crowds of people gathered. There was one man there who was deaf. Jesus was told:
— This man here is deaf, he cannot speak. Lay your hands on him, maybe then he will begin to hear and begin to talk.
Jesus took the deaf man to a secluded place where there were no witnesses. There they were left alone. Jesus laid his hands on the deaf man’s ears, then spat on his fingers and touched his mouth, then prayed and said in a loud voice: “Ephphatha!” That means, “Open up.”
And the deaf man began to hear! He heard everything perfectly. He had not been able to speak before, but now he spoke with a clear voice.
Jesus and the man who used to be deaf went out to the people. Those were amazed and said to each other:
— He can speak! He hears perfectly and can speak!
Jesus turned to the people:
— Don’t tell anyone about this miracle — that he used to be deaf and then he began to hear, you’d better keep quiet.
The people agreed, but it was useless. The more Jesus forbade, the more people talked about him. When all the crowd dispersed, people began to spread the news about Jesus, how he was able to heal the deaf man, who began to hear everything and speak clearly.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Из окрестностей Тира Иисус пошел в Сидон. В Галилее было озеро, а рядом с ним 10 городов. Иисус вышел к озеру в той области, где были эти города. Пока Иисус шел, собирались толпы народа. Там был один человек, который был глухим. Иисусу сказали:
— Вот этот человек — глухой, он не может говорить. Возложи на него руки, может быть, тогда он начнет слышать и начнет разговаривать.
Иисус повел глухого в уединенное место, где не было свидетелей. Там они остались наедине. Иисус возложил руки на уши глухого, затем плюнул себе на пальцы и прикоснулся к его рту, потом начал молиться и громко сказал: Еффафа! Это означает «Откройся».
И глухой начал слышать! Он все отлично слышал. Раньше он не мог разговаривать, а теперь он говорил чистым голосом.
Иисус и человек, который раньше был глухим вышли к людям. Те были поражены и говорили друг другу:
— Он может говорить! Он слышит прекрасно и может говорить!
Иисус обратился к народу:
— Не рассказывайте никому об этом чуде — что раньше он был глухой, а потом начал слышать, лучше молчите.
Люди согласились, но все было бесполезно. Чем больше Иисус запрещал, тем больше люди говорили о Нем. Когда все толпа разошлась, люди стали распространять весть об Иисусе, как он смог исцелить глухого, тот начал все слышать и чисто говорить.
One of the distinctions of the gospel of Mark is a breathlessness of telling the story of Jesus. One way that is achieved is by using the Greek kai, normally “and” in English, at the beginning of sections. Different versions and languages have found their own ways of translating it, but the German translation by Walter Jens (publ. 1990, 1998) is unique by consistently using Und ich erzähle or “And I’m telling (you)” for every such occurrence of kai.
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 7:31:
Uma: “From there Yesus left the village of Tirus and continued his journey passing by the village of Sidon, and returned again to lake Galilea, arriving at the land of Dekapolis.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “So-then Isa left from the places at Tiros and went back again to (places) near the lake Jalil. He went through the place Sidon passing by the place/country they call Ten Towns.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when Jesus went home, he passed through the city of Tyre and through the province called the Ten Towns, and then to the sea of Galilee.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then Jesus left Tiro and walked through Sidon, then the region of the Ten Cities, and returned to lake Galilea.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When Jesus was returning now from that place which was in the district of Tiro, he came to Sidon, and then went on to the Lake of Galilea. He also passed through the place called Decapolis.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The various Greek, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin and Hebrew terms that are translated as “sea,” “ocean,” or “lake” in English are all translated in Chichewa with one term: nyanja. Malawi, where Chichewa is spoken, has a lot of lakes but does not share a border with the ocean. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
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®).
The route indicated by this verse is difficult to understand (cf. commentaries in loc.), but the language itself is clear in its meaning as the text stands.
horiōn (cf. 5.17) ‘boundaries region.’
eis tēn thalassan tēs Galilaias (cf. 1.16) ‘to the Sea of Galilee.’
ana meson tōn horiōn Dekapoleōs ‘through the middle of the region of the Decapolis.’
ana meson ‘through’ or ‘within’; Moule suggests ‘right through.’
Dekapolis (cf. 5.30) ‘the Decapolis.’
Translation:
In some languages the combination of ‘returned’ and ‘went’ may be impossible. A possible adaptation may be ‘went back from the region of Tyre to the Lake of Galilee. In doing this he went through the region of Sidon and the region of the Ten Cities.’ (Note that Sidon is to the north of Tyre, and according to this description of the journey Jesus must have made a circuit to the north and then approached the Lake of Galilee from the east.)
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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