The Greek that is transliterated as “Herod (Antipas)” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for king and and a sign depicting cutting off the head (of John the Baptist), referring to Matthew 14:10 et al. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Jesus and His disciples were on a boat. The disciples started to look for food. They searched and searched and it turned out that they had forgotten the food on the shore. Only one piece of bread was found. The disciples began to ask each other, “What shall we eat?”
Jesus told the disciples:
— If you put a little yeast in the dough, the whole dough will puff up. Just like that yeast are the Pharisees and King Herod. They do not believe in Me. Beware of them!
The disciples continued to wonder, “What shall we eat?”
Jesus realized what they were thinking and said to them:
— Do you still not understand? Why do you say, “What shall we eat?” You are like blind men. You have eyes, you should be able to see. You have ears to hear. Remember, when I fed five thousand men, there were only five loaves. And everyone had enough to eat. How many baskets of uneaten pieces did you collect?
The disciples answered, “Twelve.”
Jesus continued:
— And when there were four thousand men, and I divided the seven loaves among them, and all ate to their fill. And then you gathered the uneaten pieces into baskets. How many baskets did you collect?
The disciples answered, “Seven baskets.”
Jesus said:
— Why do you worry about the bread now? Do you still not understand me?
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Иисус с учениками плыли на лодке. Там ученики начали искать себе еду. Искали-искали, и оказалось, что они забыли еду на берегу. Отыскался только один кусок хлеба. Ученики стали спрашивать друг друга: «Что же мы будем есть?»
Иисус сказал ученикам:
— Если в тесто положить немного дрожжей, то все тесто вспухнет. Вот так же, как эти дрожжи, — фарисеи и царь Ирод. Они не верят в Меня. Остерегайтесь их!
Ученики продолжали недоумевать: «Что же мы будем есть?»
Иисус понял, о чем они думают, и сказал им:
— Неужели до сих пор вы не понимаете? Почему говорите «Что мы будем есть?» Вы — словно слепые. Ведь у вас есть глаза, вы должны видеть. У вас есть уши, вы должны слышать. Помните, когда я накормил пять тысяч человек, хлебов всего было пять. А все наелись досыта. Сколько корзин недоеденных кусков вы собрали?
Ученики ответили: «Двенадцать».
Иисус продолжал:
— А когда было четыре тысячи человек, и я разделил между ними семь хлебов, и все наелись досыта. А потом вы собирали недоеденные куски в корзины. Сколько корзин вы собрали?
Ученики ответили: «Семь корзин»
Иисус сказал:
— Зачем же вы сейчас беспокоитесь о хлебе? Неужели вы до сих пор не понимаете меня?
Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)
El barco llegó en el lugar Dalmanuta. Jesús salió del barco y vino un grupo de Fariseos. Dijeron: “Una prueba, haz un milagro, manda que el cielo se transforme. Nosotros lo queremos ver en persona.”
Jesús dijo: “Todos uds siempre insisten que quieren ver que yo muestre algo, como prueba. ¿Porqué? No los voy a obedecer.” Y se fue caminando, entró el barco, y el barco se piró.
El barco estaba navigando y los discípulos habían olvidado a traer pan. Otro discípulo dijo: “Hay un pan”, y el barco estaba navigando.
Después Jesús miró alrededor y dijo: “Les advierto, ¡cuidado¡ Por ejemplo, una persona que está haciendo pan, pone un poco de levadura cuando está amasando y la masa sube. Esto es parecido a los Fariseos y al Rey Herodes.
Los discípulos se preguntaron: “¿Qué quiere decir, es porque no traímos pan?”
Jesús dijo: “¿Porqué están hablando de que no hay pan? No entienden, todavía no lo han descubierto. Son duros de mente.”
Tienen ojos pero son distraídos (no ponen atención), tienen oídos pero son distraídos.
¿No recuerdan que me veían recientemente con los cinco panes que rompí y repartí a los 5000 hombres para comer? Después ¿cuántas canastas llenas de sobras había?
Los discípulos: “Doce.”
Yo en otra ocasión recientemente con los siete panes que rompí y repartí a 4000 personas para comer. ¿Después cuántas canastas llenas de sobras había?
Los discípulos: “Siete.”
Jesús dijo: “¿Cómo es que todavía no entienden?”
The boat arrived in the place Dalmanuta. Jesus got out of the boat and a group of Pharisees came. They said: “A test, do a miracle, order the heavens to transform. We want to see it in person.”
Jesus said: “All you people always insist that you want to see me show something, as a test. Why? I will not obey you.” And he walked away and got into the boat and it left.
The boat was sailing and the disciples had forgotten to bring bread. Another disciples said: “There is one loaf of bread”, and the boat sailed on.
Then Jesus looked around and said: “I warn you, be careful! For example, a person who is making bread puts a little yeast in the dough when she is kneading and the dough rises. This is like the Pharisees and King Herod.
The disciples wondered: “What does it mean, is it because we did not bring bread?”
Jesus said: “Why are you talking about there not being any bread? You don’t understand, you still haven’t got it. You are hardheaded.
“You have eyes but you are distracted (you don’t pay attention), you have ears but you are distracted.
“You don’t remember when you saw me just before breaking the five loaves of bread and handing them out to 5000 men to eat? Then how many baskets full of leftovers were there?”
The disciples: “Twelve.”
And on another recent occasion with the seven loaves of bread that I broke and handed out to 4000 people to eat. Afterwards how many baskets full of leftovers were there?
The disciples: “Seven.”
Jesus said: “How is it that you still don’t understand?”
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 8:15:
Uma: “Yesus spoke to them with a figure-of-speech, he said: ‘Be careful, watch out for the yeast of the Parisi people and the yeast of King Herodes!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “So-then Isa instructed them in a parable. He said, ‘Be careful. Avoid/stay-away-from the leaven (lit. for-rising) of the Pariseo and the leaven of King Herod.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Then there was a parable which Jesus told them. He is causing them to understand that they should avoid the bad customs of people. He said, ‘Be on your guard so that you might avoid the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of the followers of King Herod.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then Jesus admonished them saying, ‘Beware of the yeast/baking-powder (labadura from Sp. levadura) of the Pharisees and the yeast/baking-powder of Herod.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Jesus warned, saying, ‘Now you be careful of the raising-agent of the Pariseo and of Herodes.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The Greek that is a transliteration of the Hebrew Pərūšīm and is typically transliterated into English as “Pharisee” is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as Fǎlìsài (法利賽 / 法利赛) (Protestant) or Fǎlìsāi (法利塞) (Catholic). In Chinese, transliterations can typically be done with a great number of different and identical-sounding characters. Often the meaning of the characters are not relevant, unless they are chosen carefully as in these cases. The Protestant Fǎlìsài can mean something like “Competition for the profit of the law” and the Catholic Fǎlìsāi “Stuffed by/with the profit of the law.” (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 51)
In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “prayer shawl”. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as Observant. He explains (p. 302): “Pharisee has become a public, universal pejorative term for a hypocrite. Pharisees were observant of the interpretation of the Covenant Code called the ‘tradition of the elders.’ They conformed their behaviors to the interpretation. Among the various groups of Jews at the time of Jesus, they were perhaps closest to Jesus in their overall concern to make a radical commitment to the will of God (as they understood it).”
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 morphemes rare (られ) or are (され) are 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, meiji-rare-ru (命じられる) or “order/command” is used.
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®).
diestelleto (cf. 5.43) ‘he ordered,’ ‘he commanded’: it would be better literally to translate this verb ‘he gave orders’ or (in a weakened sense) ‘he instructed,’ ‘he enjoined’ (Translator’s New Testament, Zürcher Bibel; Lagrange; cf. Moulton & Milligan), than to translate ‘he warned’ (Goodspeed, Manson, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada), ‘he cautioned’ (Moffatt, Revised Standard Version).
horate, blepete apo tēs zumēs ‘beware, watch out for the leaven….’
blepō ‘look,’ ‘see’: in the imperative, ‘pay attention!’ ‘look out!,’ the verb is used in 4.24; 13.5, 9, 23, 33; with the preposition apo ‘from’ following, ‘watch out for!,’ in 8.15; 12.38.
zumē (only here in Mark; cf. the parallels in Mt. 16.6, 11, 12, Lk. 12.1) ‘leaven’: used in a figurative sense in these passages in the Gospels and also in 1 Co. 5.6, 7, 8, and Gal. 5.9, in a bad sense. In general it refers to attitudes, teachings, example. Lagrange: “a principle of moral corruption that contaminates all it touches.” Gould defines the leaven of the Pharisees as being their blindness to spiritual things, and the leaven of Herod as being his worldliness. Herod is Herod Antipas, referred to in 6.14ff.
Translation:
He must be changed to ‘Jesus’ in some languages.
The phrase take heed, beware, or as one may also translate in English “beware, watch out for,” involves a number of subtle problems: (1) the two related verbs, both implying caution and concern, (2) the need of paying attention only in order to avoid, and (3) the possibility of having the two verbs cancel each other out. In one translation this phrase meant ‘beware! take care of…’ (in the sense of ‘provide what is necessary on behalf of’). The meaning here must sometimes be split between two verbs (as in the Revised Standard Version), in which the first verb admonishes the disciples to pay attention and the second insists that they avoid the object in question. From our standpoint, this seems somewhat preferable to the Greek order, which first cautions and then orders one to look out for. The meaning can be conveyed as ‘beware, don’t become involved with….’
Leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod are obviously and purposely obscure phrases, designed evidently by Jesus to stimulate his disciples to consider the real implications of the feeding of the multitude. Accordingly, one must use the word ‘yeast’ (or ‘leaven’), even though within the immediate phrase the meaning is not fully evident.
Leaven is variously rendered, depending upon a number of local cultural factors, e.g. ‘that which causes bread to be sour’ (Highland Puebla Nahuatl), ‘sour-water’ (Yucateco), ‘that which causes bread to swell’ (Shipibo-Conibo), or ‘that which causes bread to rise.’ In some instances it is the same term as for ‘beer foam,’ for that is precisely what is used by the people in the preparation of bread.
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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