Translation commentary on Mark 8:17

Text:

Before pepōrōmenēn ‘hardened’ Textus Receptus, Tischendorf, and Kilpatrick add eti ‘still,’ ‘yet,’ which is omitted by the majority of modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

gnous ‘knowing’: better translated ‘becoming aware’ than ‘being aware.’

hoti ‘that’ (or Translator’s New Testament ‘why’: see previous verse).

oupō noeite oude suniete; ‘do you not yet perceive or understand?’: for similar questions cf. 7.18.

noeō (cf. 7.18) ‘perceive,’ ‘understand,’ ‘apprehend.’

suniēmi (cf. 4.12) ‘understand,’ ‘comprehend.’

pepōrōmenēn echete tēn kardian humōn: ‘do you have your heart hardened?’ i.e. ‘is your understanding dull?.’ Cf. Translator’s New Testament ‘are you … insensible in mind?’ For the meaning of this figure cf. 3.5; 6.52.

Translation:

It does not have the same referent as in 8.16, where it refers to what Jesus has said. In this verse 17, the third person neuter pronoun it refers to what the disciples had just said, and accordingly, one may render this as ‘when Jesus became aware of what they were saying’ or ‘Jesus was aware of what they were saying, and he said to them’ (or ‘he asked them’).

Discuss the fact that may be shifted to the direct form, ‘Why do you say, We don’t have bread?’ or ‘Why do you say, It’s because we don’t have bread?’

Perceive and understand involve two successive steps in understanding, the first involving perception and the second judgment, e.g. ‘see and realize,’ ‘perceive and judge,’ or ‘recognize and understand.’

For the figure of speech involving ‘hard hearts,’ see 3.5 and 6.52.

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 8:17

8:17a

Aware of their conversation, Jesus asked them: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Aware of their conversation is literally “and knowing.” It refers back to the disciples’ conversation in 8:16. Jesus knew that they were talking about the fact that they had not brought any more bread with them in the boat. Refer to that conversation in a natural way in your language. The text does not say how Jesus knew, so your translation should also not say specifically how he knew.

8:17b

Why are you debating about having no bread?: This is a rhetorical question. It expresses rebuke. In some languages it may be necessary to include implied information as you translate this rhetorical question.

Jesus scolded his disciples for thinking that the reason he was warning them in 8:15 was because they did not bring bread. In 8:19–20 he reminded them that he had multiplied small amounts of bread to feed large crowds of people. When he spoke about the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod, he was warning against their dangerous influence or attitude. Clearly, Jesus expected his disciples to think about the danger of the Pharisees and Herod, not about bread.

There are at least two ways to translate this rebuke.

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

Why should you think that I was warning you about not having any bread?
-or-
Should you be arguing about having no bread after my warning?

• As a statement. For example:

It is not your lack of bread that you should be discussing now!
-or-
My warning should not cause you to talk about having no bread!
-or-
Whether you have bread with you has nothing to do with what I just told you!

Use whichever form is most natural to express this rebuke in your language.

8:17c

Do you still not see or understand?: This is a rhetorical question that is asking two things:

(a) Do you still not see…? (“perceive” in the Revised Standard Version)

(b) Do you still not…understand?

Jesus asked this to rebuke his disciples because they did not understand him. The question does not imply that the disciples were not intelligent or that they were unable to understand ordinary things. There are at least two ways to translate this rebuke.

• As a rhetorical question. For example, the Good News Bible says:

Don’t you know or understand yet?

• As a statement. For example:

You should have perceived and understood by now!

Use whichever form is most natural to express this rebuke in your language.

see or understand: The Greek verbs that the Berean Standard Bible translates as see and understand are literally “perceive” and “understand,” as in the Revised Standard Version. The text uses two verbs with almost the same meaning to emphasize this meaning. In this context the verbs emphasize that the disciples did not understand. Jesus’ question implies that they should have understood.

It may not be natural in your language to repeat verbs with the same meaning here. If that is true, you may indicate the emphasis here in a different way. For example:

Do you(plur) still not yet understand?
-or-
Do you(plur) still not understand at all?
-or-
By now you(plur) should be able to understand!

understand: Throughout this story, Jesus did not specifically state what his disciples did not understand. The text implies that by that time they should have been able to understand that he was God’s Son, the Messiah. It is recommended that you leave this information unstated. However, in some languages a verb like “understand” requires an object. If that is true in your language, you may need to express the idea in a general way. For example:

understand who I am
-or-
perceive the truth

8:17d

Do you have such hard hearts?: Here Jesus used another rhetorical question to rebuke his disciples. This question has the same meaning as the question in 8:17c. There are at least two ways to translate this rebuke.

• As a rhetorical question. For example, the New Century Version says:

Are your minds closed?

• As a statement. For example:

Your hearts/minds must be hardened/closed.

Use whichever form is most natural to express this rebuke in your language. See the General Comment on 8:17c–d for a suggestion about how to combine these verse parts.

such hard hearts: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as such hard hearts is an idiom. It is used when people are too stubborn to understand spiritual truth. It does not refer to a lack of intelligence. Jesus rebuked his disciples because they saw him do many miracles but still did not understand what his miracles showed about him. You can translate this idiom in two ways:

• Use a figure of speech from your language that refers to a refusal to understand. For example, here are some other English idioms:

Are your minds so dull? (Good News Bible)
-or-
Are your minds still closed? (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Why do you refuse to open your hearts?

• Translate the meaning of the figure of speech. For example:

Do you not want to comprehend this?
-or-
Why do you refuse to understand like that?

The phrase such hard hearts is very similar to the phrase “their hearts had been hardened” in 6:52. See how you translated it there.

General Comment on 8:17c–d

The rhetorical questions in 8:17c and 8:17d have almost the same meaning. In some languages it may be more natural to combine these questions. For example:

Have you made your hearts so hard that you still cannot understand?
-or-
Have you closed your minds so that you still cannot perceive the truth about me?

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