The term that is translated as “resurrect” or “rise again” as referring to Jesus in English is translated in British Sign Language with a sign that combines the signs for “Jesus” and “standing on feet again.” (Source: Anna Smith)
“Resurrect” or “rise again” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
The Christian BSL website notes: “A British Sign Language (BSL) translation of Resurrection / Rise Again / Rose Again (Jesus). Jesus’ return to life three days after his death on the cross. In the translation of Rise Again or Rose Again the word AGAIN isn’t signed; signing the word AGAIN in BSL in this context would erroneously indicate that Jesus was resurrected more than once.” (see here )
Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)
Seis días después Jesús llamó a que vinieran Pedro, Jacobo y Juan. Jesús subió y los tres discípulos fueron con él a un lugar en las montañas donde no había gente.
Los discípulos vieron con sus propios ojos que la cara y la ropa de Jesús se cambiaron a un blanco brilloso, no blanco como ropa lavada, sino diferente, un blanco muy brilloso que brillaba sobre ellos.
Vieron Elías y Moisés hablando con Jesús. Los tres discípulos se asustaron y se volvieron miedosos.
Pedro quería decir algo pero no sabía cómo. Dijo: “Maestro, está bien, suficiente, nosotros tres tiremos ramas de los árboles y hagamos tres tiendas para uds, ¿qué te parece?”
Vieron una nube bajando y la voz de Dios (dijo): “Este es mi hijo amado, pongan atención a él, Jesús.” Y la nube desapareció.
Los discípulos vieron sólo a Jesús parado. Después Jesús bajó caminando y los tres discípulos bajaron también.
Jesús les advirtió: “Lo que vieron ahorita no lo cuenten a otras personas, guarden silencio, es un secreto.
Cuando vean al Hijo de Hombre resucitado del muerto, pueden contarlo, ahorita todavía no lo cuenten.”
Six days later Jesus called Peter, James and John to come and he walked up and the three disciples went with him to a place in the mountains where there were no people.
The disciples saw with their own eyes that the face and the clothes of Jesus changed to a shining white, not white like clothes that have been washed, but different, a very shining white that shone on them.
They saw Elijah and Moses talking with Jesus. The three disciples were shocked and became afraid.
Peter wanted to say something but did not know how. He said: “Teacher, it is well, sufficient, let us three break branches from the trees and make three tents for you, what do you think?”
They saw a cloud coming down and the voice of God (said): “This is my beloved son, pay attention to him, Jesus.” And the cloud disappeared.
The disciples saw only Jesus standing there. Then Jesus walked down and the three disciples went down as well.
Jesus warned them: “That which you just saw, don’t tell it to other people, keep silent, it is a secret.
“When you see the Son of Man risen from the dead you can tell, but right now don’t tell it yet.”
The three disciples agreed to keep it secret and Jesus walked on down, and the disciples also went down. They said to each other: “What would resurrection mean?” “I don’t understand.” “Me neither.”
As they were walking they thought of something and said: “Jesus, we ask you, why do the teachers of the Law tell us that Elijah will come first and then the Christ?”
Jesus (answered): “This is true, first comes Elijah to prepare things and make them ready for Christ to come.”
“But Elijah has already come and the people were against him and Elijah suffered exactly as is written in the scroll.
“In the same way the Son of Man will suffer and be rejected by the people.”
After the transfiguration with Jesus on the mountain, he and his three disciples were on their way back. Jesus said to them:
— I am the Son of Man. People will kill me. I will be dead, but then I will rise again, then you can claim that I am the Son of God.
The disciples agreed. But they were confused and spoke among themselves:
— It is not clear… He will die and then rise again? What does it mean?
The disciples asked Jesus:
— Why does the Scripture say that Elijah must appear first? Is this true?
Jesus answered:
— Yes! Elijah must come first. And it has already happened. Elijah came and spoke to the people, preparing them to meet the Lord, but they rejected him. Elijah suffered much and was killed – just as the Scripture says. And the Scripture also says that when the Son of Man, which is me, comes, people will reject him, cause him much suffering, and he will be humiliated.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
После того как на горе с Иисусом было преображение, он и три его ученика возвращались обратно. Иисус сказал им:
— Сын человеческий — это я! Люди убьют меня, я буду мертв, но потом я воскресну, вот тогда вы можете говорить, что Сын Божий — это я.
Ученики согласились. Но они были смущены и между собой говорили:
— Непонятно это… Умрет, а потом воскреснет? Что это значит?
Ученики спросили Иисуса:
— Почему в Писании говорится, что сначала должен явиться Илия? Правда ли это?
Иисус ответил:
— Да! Первым должен прийти Илия. И это уже случилось. Илия приходил, обращался к людям, готовил их к встрече с Господом, но они отвергли его. Илия много пострадал и был убит, — как и написано в Писании. И еще в Писании сказано, что когда Сын человеческий, то есть я, придет, люди отвергнут его, причинят ему множество страданий, и он будет унижен.
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 9:10:
Uma: “They followed his command, they did not tell that happening to anyone. But among themselves they continually were asking just what Yesus’ intention was in saying that he would rise from death.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “They obeyed/followed that instruction, but the three asked among themselves what it meant what he said that he would be alive again from his death.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And they obeyed that word of Jesus, however those three asked each other what Jesus meant when he said that he would be raised from the dead.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “His disciples obeyed him and they didn’t relate it to others, but they still talked-about what he had meant when he said that he would live again.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “The disciples obeyed what had been told them emphatically, but what those three did do was question among themselves as to what he meant by coming alive again.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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 morpheme are (され) 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, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” 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®).
Instead of to ek nekrōn anastēnai ‘the rising from the dead’ of all other editions of the Greek text, Lagrange and Taylor, based on the evidence mainly of some Western mss. and some of the early versions, prefer hotan ek nekrōn anastē ‘when he should rise from the dead.’
Exegesis:
ton logon ekratēsan ‘they kept the word,’ i.e. ‘they obeyed the command,’ ‘they observed the recommendation’: for this use of krateō ‘hold’ in the sense of observing or keeping an instruction, cf. 7.3, 4, 8 (cf. Lagrange, Rawlinson). Others, however, understand it differently: Arndt & Gingrich take it to mean that they kept the saying in order to occupy themselves with it later (so Revised Standard Version). Taylor combines the two: ‘they kept it in mind and observed the charge.’ Translator’s New Testament has ‘They seized on the saying, discussing it among themselves….’
pros heautous ‘to themselves,’ ‘with themselves’: although some (Revised Standard Version and others) take this phrase with the verb ekratēsan ‘they kept,’ others take it with the participle suzētountes ‘discussing’ (cf. American Standard Version, Goodspeed, Moffatt, The Modern Speech New Testament, Translator’s New Testament, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada, Zürcher Bibel, Lagrange). From the use of the verb suzēteō in vv. 14, 16, it would appear that the verse here should be read, “They observed the command, questioning among themselves….”
ti estin to ek nekrōn anastēnai ‘what is the to rise from the dead.’ Depending on the use of the definite article to ‘the,’ this phrase may be understood in two different ways: (1) ‘what is the rising from the dead,’ ‘what is the resurrection from the dead’: in this case to anastēnai ‘to rise’ is understood as a verbal noun ‘the rising,’ ‘the resurrection’; this is the position of Arndt & Gingrich: ‘what is the meaning of the saying, To rise from the dead’: in this case to ‘the’ is used to introduce the following words which are taken as a saying, the equivalent in many modern languages to quotation marks, “what is ‘To rise from the dead’ .” The context would seem to favor the second interpretation: it is hardly conceivable that the disciples – Jews all – should not know what was meant by the resurrection from the dead, since it was a well-known article in Jewish faith; rather, they would be puzzled by what Jesus meant in saying that the Son of man should rise from the dead. Their question would have to do with this ‘to rise from the dead.’
Translation:
Depending primarily upon the variety of ways in which this verse may be interpreted (see above), the renderings may be quite diverse, e.g. ‘they did what they were told,’ ‘they obeyed what he had said,’ or ‘they kept to themselves the knowledge of what had happened.’
Questioning may be two quite different verbs in some languages, depending upon whether one assumes that this questioning was reciprocal among the three or entirely within the thinking of each person. If the first interpretation is taken, then the translation would be ‘asked each other’ or ‘talked about it to each other.’ If the second meaning is assumed, then one may translate ‘they thought about it in their hearts’ (Southern Subanen).
In rendering what the rising from the dead meant it is rare that one can conserve as much of the ambiguity as the Revised Standard Version has done, for in general one must choose distinctly between the first of the second interpretation (see above). In the first instance, one must often translate ‘questioned what was meant by the fact that a person may rise from the dead’ or ‘questioned how people might rise from the dead.’ The second interpretation, which seems distinctly preferable, could be rendered as ‘questioned what Jesus meant when he spoke of rising from the dead,’ thus relating Jesus’ statement to a specific occurrence, no to the general belief.
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 .
In some languages, it may be natural to indicate result here. For example, the Contemporary English Version says:
So they kept it to themselves.
So they: The pronoun they refers to Peter, James, and John.
kept this matter to themselves: The phrase kept this matter to themselves is an idiom. This idiom indicates that the disciples did not tell anyone about what had happened. Jesus had told them not to tell anyone, and they obeyed him.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
kept the information to themselves -or-
observed the warning faithfully (New Jerusalem Bible) -or-
did not tell anyone about what happened on the mountain
9:10b
There is an implied contrast between 9:10a and 9:10b. The contrast is between what the disciples did not talk about (what they had seen on the mountain), and what they did talk about. Some English versions make this contrast explicit. For example, the New Century Version has:
but they discussed
Make this contrast clear in a way that is natural in your language.
discussing: The word discussing means “talking about something to understand it” or “talking about something to try to agree about it.” The disciples were trying to understand what Jesus meant.
The Greek tense of the verb probably indicates that they discussed this for some time.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
began to talk about -or-
started to debate about
what it meant to rise from the dead: God had caused several people in the Old Testament to come alive again after they had died. The disciples knew those stories. But they probably believed that Jesus as the Christ would not die. So they were trying to understand how to rise from the dead applied to Jesus.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
what he meant about rising from the dead (New Century Version) -or-
what he meant by “come back to life” (God’s Word) -or-
how “rising from the dead” applied/referred to Jesus
to rise from the dead: Use the same phrase for to rise from the dead that you used in 9:9c. If you need to change the verb form, make sure it is clear that the disciples are referring to what Jesus had just said.
General Comment on 9:10b
The Berean Standard Bible translates 9:10b as an indirect quote. However, in some languages a direct quote would be more natural. For example, the Good News Bible says:
they started discussing the matter, “What does this ‘rising from death’ mean?”
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
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