take up their cross

The Greek that is translated as “take up their cross” in English is translated in Galela as “let go of each of their desires in their hearts” (source: Howard Shelden in Kroneman 2004, p. 501).

In Korku it is translated as “take up trouble for me to the extent that he would be ready to give his life on the cross for me,” and in Chipaya as “be ready to suffer, even die.” (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)

In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated as with Kreuz und Schande auf sich nehmen or “take up the cross and shame.”

See also cross (carry).

deny oneself

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The Greek that is translated with “deny himself” or “deny oneself” is according to Bratcher / Nida “without doubt one of the most difficult expressions in all of Mark to translate adequately.” These are many of the (back-) translations:

cross

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The Greek that is translated as “cross” in English is often referred to a visualization of the cross’ shape. In Mandarin Chinese and Japanese, for instance, it is translated as 十字架 (Chinese: shízìjià; Japanese: jūjika) — “10-character-frame” because the character for “10” has the shape of a cross) or in Ancient Greek manuscripts with the staurogram (⳨) a ligature of the Greek letters tau (Τ) and rho (Ρ) that was used to abbreviate stauros (σταυρός), the Greek word for cross, and may visually have represented Jesus on the cross.

A staurogram spelling of the word σταυρον (as Ϲ⳨ΟΝ) in Luke 14:27 (Papyrus Bodmer XIV, 2nd century). Source: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

 

Elsewhere it refers to the function, e.g. a newly coined term, like one made up of two Sanskrit words meaning “killing-pole” (Marathi NT revision of 1964), “wood to-stretch-out-with” (Toraja-Sa’dan), or “nailing pole” (Zarma). A combination of the two seems to be used in Balinese, which employs a word for the crossbeams in a house, derived from a verb that can refer both to a beam that stretches from side to side under a roof, and to a person stretched out for torture (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel). Similarly, in Lamba it is translated “with umutaliko — ‘a pole with a cross-piece, on which maize was normally tied’ from the verb ‘talika’ which, strangely enough, is used of ‘holding down a man with arms and legs stretched out, someone gripping each limb.'” (Source C. M. Doke in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 57ff. ).

“In Mongolian, the term that is used is togonoltchi mott, which is found in the top of a tent. The people on the steppes live in round felt-yurts and the round opening on the top of the tent serves as a window. The crosswood in that opening is called togonoltchi mott. ‘Crucified’ is translated ‘nailed on the crosswood.’ This term is very simple, but deep and interesting too. Light comes to men through the Cross. What a privilege to be able to proclaim such a message.” (Source: A. W. Marthinson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 74ff. )

In Mairasi it is translated as iwo nasin ae: “chest measurement wood.” “This term refers to the process of making a coffin when a person dies. The man making the coffin takes a piece of bamboo and measures the body from head to heel. He then breaks the stick off at the appropriate point. For the width he measures the shoulders and then ties the two sticks together in the shape of a cross. As he works, he continually measures to make sure the coffin is the correct size. At the gravesite, the coffin is lowered. Then the gravecloth, palm leaves, and finally the chest measurement stick are laid on top of the coffin before the dirt is piled on. This term is full of meaning, because it is in the shape of a cross, and each person will have one. The meaning is vividly associated with death.” (Source: Enggavoter, 2004)

In Lisu it is translated as ꓡꓯꓼ ꓐꓳ ꓔꓶꓸ DU — lä bo tɯ du: “a place to stretch the arms across” (source: Arrington 2020, p. 215), in Noongar as boorn-yambo: “crossed tree” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Yagaria as malipu yava or “cross-wood,” Alekano as “cross-wise tree,” in Kuman (PNG) as endi pirake or “vertical and horizontal beam” (source for this and two above: Renck 1990, p. 81), and in Tibetan as rgyangs shing (རྒྱངས་​ཤིང་​།), lit. “stretch + wood” (“translators have adopted the name of this traditional Tibetan instrument of torture to denote the object on which Jesus died”) (source: gSungrab website ).

The English translation of Ruden (2021) uses “stake.” She explains (p. xlv): “The cross was the perpendicular joining of two execution stakes, and the English word euphemistically emphasized the geometry: a cross could also be an abstract cross drawn on paper. The Greeks used their word for ‘stake,’ and this carries the imagery of what was done with it, as our ‘stake’ carries images of burning and impaling. ‘Hang on the stakes’ for ‘crucify’ is my habitual usage.”

See also crucify, cross (carry), and this devotion on YouVersion .

disciple

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The Greek that is often translated as “disciple” in English typically follows three types of translation: (1) those which employ a verb ‘to learn’ or ‘to be taught’, (2) those which involve an additional factor of following, or accompaniment, often in the sense of apprenticeship, and (3) those which imply imitation of the teacher.

Following are some examples (click or tap for details):

  • Ngäbere: “word searcher”
  • Yaka: “one who learned from Jesus”
  • Navajo (Dinė), Western Highland Purepecha, Tepeuxila Cuicatec, Lacandon: “one who learned”
  • San Miguel El Grande Mixtec: “one who studied with Jesus”
  • Northern Grebo: “one Jesus taught”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “child (i.e., follower) of the master”
  • Indonesian: “pupil” (also used in many Slavic languages, including Russian [ученик], Bulgarian [учени́к], Ukrainian [учень], or Polish [uczeń] — source: Paul Amara)
  • Central Mazahua: “companion whom Jesus taught”
  • Kipsigis, Loma, Copainalá Zoque: “apprentice” (implying continued association and learning)
  • Cashibo-Cacataibo: “one who followed Jesus”
  • Huautla Mazatec: “his people” (essentially his followers and is the political adherents of a leader)
  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl: based on the root of “to imitate” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Chol: “learner” (source: Larson 1998, p. 107)
  • Waorani: “one who lives following Jesus” (source: Wallis 1973, p. 39)
  • Ojitlán Chinantec: “learner” (Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Javanese: “pupil” or “companion” (“a borrowing from Arabic that is a technical term for Mohammed’s close associates”)
  • Cherokee: “those by whom one is followed” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 23)
  • German: Jünger or “younger one” (source for this and one above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): Jüngerinnen und Jünger or “female and male disciples.” Note that Berger/Nord only use that translation in many cases in the gospel of Luke, “because especially according to Luke (see 8:1–3), women were part of the extended circle of disciples” (see p. 452 and looked up at his disciples).
  • Noongar: ngooldjara-kambarna or “friend-follow” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • French 1985 translation by Chouraqui: adept or “adept” (as in a person who is skilled or proficient at something). Watson (2023, p. 48ff.) explains (click or tap here to see more):

    [Chouraqui] uses the noun “adept,” which is as uncommon in French as it is in English. It’s an evocative choice on several levels. First, linguistically, it derives — via the term adeptus — from the Latin verb adipiscor, “to arrive at; to reach; to attain something by effort or striving.” It suggests those who have successfully reached the goal of their searching, and implies a certain struggle or process of learning that has been gradually overcome. But it’s also a term with a very particular history: in the Middle Ages, “adept” was used in the world of alchemy, to describe those who, after years of labor and intensive study, claimed to have discovered the Great Secret (how to turn base metals like lead into gold); it thus had the somewhat softened meaning of “someone who is completely skilled in all the secrets of their field.”

    Historians of religion often use the term adept with reference to the ancient mystery religions that were so prevalent in the Mediterranean in the centuries around the time of Jesus. An adept was someone who, through a series of initiatory stages, had penetrated into the inner, hidden mysteries of the religion, who understood its rituals, symbols, and their meaning. To be an adept implied a lengthy and intensive master-disciple relationship, gradually being led further and further into the secrets of the god or goddess (Isis-Osiris, Mithras, Serapis, Hermes, etc.) — secrets that were never to be revealed to an outsider.

    Is “adept” a suitable category in which to consider discipleship as we see it described in the Gospels? On some levels, the link is an attractive one, drawing both upon the social-religious framework of the ancient Mediterranean, and upon certain aspects of intimacy and obscurity/secrecy that we see in the relationship of Jesus and those who followed him. The idea that disciples are “learners” — people who are “on the way” — and that Jesus is portrayed as (and addressed as) their Master/Teacher is accurate. But the comparison is unsatisfactory on several other levels.

    First, the Gospels portray Jesus’s ministry as a largely public matter — there is relatively little of the secrecy and exclusiveness that is normally associated with both the mystery cults and medieval alchemy. Jesus’s primary message is not destined for a small, elite circle of “initiates” — although the Twelve are privy to explanations, experiences and teachings that are not provided to “the crowds.” For example, in Matthew 13:10-13:

    Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to [the crowds] in parables?” He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’”

    Etymologically, adeptus suggests someone who “has arrived,” who has attained a superior level of understanding reserved for very few. However, what we see in the Gospels, repeatedly, is a general lack of comprehension of many of Jesus’s key teachings by many of those who hear him. Many of his more cryptic sayings would have been virtually incomprehensible in their original context, and would only make sense in retrospect, in the wake of the events of Jesus’s passion, death, and resurrection. The intense master-student relationship is also lacking: the Gospels largely portray “the disciples” as a loose (and probably fluctuating) body of individuals, with minimal structure or cohesion. Finally, there seems to be little scholarly consensus about the degree to which the mystery cults had made inroads in Roman-ruled Palestine during the decades of Jesus’s life. According to Everett Ferguson in his Backgrounds of Early Christianity.

    Although Christianity had points of contact with Stoicism, the mysteries, the Qumran community, and so on, the total worldview was often quite different….So far as we can tell, Christianity represented a new combination for its time…. At the beginning of the Christian era a number of local mysteries, some of great antiquity, flourished in Greece and Asia Minor. In the first century A.D. the vonly mysteries whose extension may be called universal were the mysteries of Dionysus and those of the eastern gods, especially Isis.

    And Norman Perrin and Dennis C. Duling note, in their book The New Testament:

    Examples of such mystery religions could be found in Greece… Asia Minor… Syria-Palestine… Persia… and Egypt. Though the mysteries had sacred shrines in these regions, many of them spread to other parts of the empire, including Rome. There is no clearly direct influence of the mysteries on early Christianity, but they shared a common environment and many non-Christians would have perceived Christians as members of an oriental Jewish mystery cult.56

    Given the sparse archaeological and literary evidence from this period regarding mystery cults in Roman Palestine, and the apparent resistance of many Palestinian Jews to religious syncretism, Chouraqui’s use of the noun adept implies a comparison between the historical Jesus and mystery cults that is doubtful, on both the levels of chronology and religious culture. Personally, I believe this choice suggests a vision of Jesus that distances him from the religious world of ancient Judaism, thus creating a distorted view of what spiritually inspired him. But the idea of the disciples as “learners” on a journey (as the Greek term suggests) is a striking one to consider; certainly, the Gospels show us the Twelve as people who are growing, learning, and developing…but who have not yet “arrived” at the fullness of their vocation.

Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as apprentice.

In Luang several terms with different shades of meaning are being used.

  • For Mark 2:23 and 3:7: maka nwatutu-nwaye’a re — “those that are taught” (“This is the term used for ‘disciples’ before the resurrection, while Jesus was still on earth teaching them.”)
  • For Acts 9:1 and 9:10: makpesiay — “those who believe.” (“This is the term used for believers and occasionally for the church, but also for referring to the disciples when tracking participants with a view to keeping them clear for the Luang readers. Although Greek has different terms for ‘believers’, ‘brothers’, and ‘church’, only one Luang word can be used in a given episode to avoid confusion. Using three different terms would imply three different sets of participants.”)
  • For Acts 6:1: mak lernohora Yesus wniatutunu-wniaye’eni — “those who follow Jesus’ teaching.” (“This is the term used for ‘disciples’ after Jesus returned to heaven.”)

Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.

In American Sign Language it is translated with a combination of the signs for “following” plus the sign for “group.” (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


“disciples” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor

In British Sign Language a sign is used that depicts a group of people following one person (the finger in the middle, signifying Jesus). Note that this sign is only used while Jesus is still physically present with his disciples. (Source: Anna Smith)


“Disciple in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

See also disciples (Japanese honorifics).

Mark 8:31 - 38 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 8:31-38 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)

Jesús les advirtió: “En el futuro cercano, los ancianos judíos, los líderes de los sacerdotes y los maestros de la Ley, que no creen en el Hijo del Hombre, lo rechazarán.

Lo maltratarán, y el Hijo del Hombre tiene que sufrir, ellos lo matarán y morirá, pero después de tres días resucitará.”

Los discípulos pensaban: “Jesús está explicandolo claramente.”

Pedro dijo: “Nosotros dos tenemos un asunto”, y los dos se fueron un poco adelante. (Pedro dijo): Lo que tú dices está equivocado, está mal.”

Jesús miró a los discípulos, y volvió a mirar a Pedro regañandolo: “Tú hablas en la misma manera como satanás. Apartate satanás, tú no piensas como Dios, tú piensas como la gente.” Pedro se calló.

Jesús vio los discípulos y otras personas, y los llamó “ven” y una multitud se acercó. Jesús dijo: “Si uds quieren estar conmigo, acompañarme como discípulos, les advierto que no (pueden decir) necesito cuidar y conservar mi vidas y mis cosas, no, hay que dejar todo.

Deben aceptar a cargar la cruz, que quiere decir que me siguen sufriendo hasta la muerte.

Si dicen: “No, (necesito) cuidar a mi visa y mis cosas, y conservarlos, pues en el futuro perderán su vida.”

Jesús les advirtió: “Si uds creen en mi, y lo anuncian y predican y la gente los matarán, no importa, estarán salvos.

Les advierto: si un hombre rico gan propiedad de negocios por todo el mundo y después muere y pierde su vida y su alma, su riqueza no sirve. ¿Se puede pagar (a Dios) para que te dé vida eterna a tu alma?”

Jesus les advirtió: “Ahora todas las personas malas que no les importa el amor a Dios y que siguen pecando, si mi predicación es una estorba para uds y sienten pena, igual cando en el futuro Dios venga en gloria con el Hijo del Hombre acompañado con muchos ángeles santos, el Hijo del Hombre sentirá pena de ti.”


Jesus warned them: “In the near future the elders of the jews, the leaders of the priests and the teachers of the Law, who don’t believe in the Son of Man, will reject him.

“They will mistreat him and the Son of Man will have to suffer, they will kill him and he will die, but after three days he will rise.”

The disciples thought: “Jesus is explaining it clearly.”

Peter said: “We two have a matter to discuss”, and the two of them went away a little. (Peter said): “You are mistaken in what you say, it is bad!”

Jesus looked at the disciples, and then he looked at Peter again and told him off: “You speak in the same way at Satan. Get away Satan, you don’t think like God, you think like people.” Peter shut up.

Jesus saw the disciples and other people and called them to come, and a multitude approached him. Jesus said: “If you want to be with me, accompany me as disciples, I warn you that you (cannot say) I need to take care of and preserve my life or my things, no, you have to leave it all behind.

“You have to accept carrying the cross, which is to say, follow me in suffering unto death.

If you go: ‘No, I (need to) take care of my life and my things, and preserve them,’ then in the future you will lose your life.”

Jesus warned them: “If you believe in me and you announce it and preach and the people kill you, never mind, you will be saved.

“I warn you: if a rich man gains ownership of businesses throughout the world and then he dies and loses his life and his soul, his richness doesn’t help him. Can you pay (God) so that he will give your soul eternal life?”

Jesus warned them: “Now all the bad people who don’t care about loving God and go on sinning, if my preaching is a nuisance for you and you feel shame, in the same way when in the future God comes in glory with the Son of Man accompanied by many holy angels, the Son of Man will feel ashamed of you.”

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

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Mark 8:34-9:1 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 8:34-9:1 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

Jesus called the many people together, as well as his disciples.

Jesus said:

— Whoever among you wants to follow me must forsake his private life, his desires. Throughout his life he will accept many oppressions, sufferings until death. If a person is ready for all these things, he can follow me. If a person does not try to save his life, if he leaves his interests for me and for the good news, then the life of such a person will be saved in eternal life.

And the one who tries to save his life and lives for his own sake, the life of such a person will be lost. A man wants to get more riches, but still the life of such a person will be lost. What is the use of riches? Is it possible to buy eternal life with riches? No.

There are those and people who will be ashamed to tell about me before sinners and godless people, but will keep silent. But in the future, I will appear in a white robe, in all the glory of the Father and angels will be around me. And then, I will see people who have been ashamed of me, and I will be ashamed of them too.

And some people who are standing here, even before they die, will see the Kingdom of God in all its power.

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

Иисус созвал множество народа, а также своих учеников.

Иисус сказал:

— Кто из вас хочет последовать за мной, тот должен оставить свою личную жизнь, свои желания. В течение всей его жизни он примет множество притеснений, страданий до самой смерти. Если человек готов ко всем этому, он может последовать за мной. Если человек не старается сберечь свою жизнь, если оставляет свои интересы ради меня и ради благой вести, то жизнь такого человека будет спасена в жизни вечной.

А тот, кто старается свою жизнь сберечь и живет ради себя, то жизнь такого человека будет потеряна. Вот человек хочет получить побольше богатств, но все равно жизнь такого человека будет потеряна. Какая польза от богатства? Разве можно купить за богатство вечную жизнь? Нет.

Есть и такие и люди, которые постыдятся рассказать обо мне перед грешниками и безбожниками, но будут молчать. Но в будущем я предстану в белой одежде, во всей славе Отца и ангелы будут вокруг меня. И вот тогда, я увижу людей, которые постыдились меня, и я их тоже постыжусь.

И некоторые люди, которые стоят здесь, еще до своей смерти увидят Царство Божье во всей силе.

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

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