Mark 9:14 - 29 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 9:14-29 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.
Los tres discípulos acordaron a guardar el secreto y Jesús bajó y los discípulos también bajaron. Dijeron uno al otro: “¿Qué significaría resucitar?” “No entiendo.” “Yo tampoco.”

Mientras caminaban pensaron de algo y dijeron: “Jesús, te preguntamos ¿porqué nos dicen los maestros de la Ley que primero vendrá Elías y después el Cristo?”

Jesús (respondió): “Esto es verdad, primero viene Elías para preparar las cosas para que estén listos cuando después viene el Cristo.

Pero ya ha venido Elúas y las personas eran en contra de él, y Elías ha sufrido exactamente como está escrito en el rollo.

En la misma manera el Hijo de Hombre sufrirá y las personas lo rechazarán.”

Jesús y los tres discípulos llegaron caminando y vieron un grupo de maestros de la Ley alrededor de los discípulos, y estaban discutiendo con ellos.

Muchas personas etsaban viendo y se volvieron a ver con sorpresa que Jesús había venido y todos fueron a él y lo saludaron, y Jesús los saludó (preguntando): “¿Qué pasó que están discutiendo?”

Un hombre vino diciendo: “Mi hijo no puede hablar porque tiene un demonio adentro de él. Muchas veces he visto que se cae en el suelo convulsionando, crujiendo sus dientes, con saliva en su cara.”

Ahorita traje my hijo buscando a Jesús, pero no estabas y ya dije a tus discípulos que expulsaran el demonio, pero no lo podían.

Un grupo de los maestros de la Ley vino y están discutiendolo, por eso.”

Jesús (dijo): “Ay, todas estas personas no creen nada. ¿Cómo voy a seguir más estar junto con ellos?, estoy cansado.

Que venga tu hijo.” Las personas ayudaron a recoger al joven.

El demonio adentro vio a Jesús “caray” y estaba revolcando en el suelo convulsionando con saliva en su cara.

Jesús miró hacia abajo y dijo: ¿Cuánto tiempo lo ha tenido?” (El hombre respondió): “Creciendo tenía lo mismo, antes mi hijo ha caído revolcando en el fuego y también ha caído en el agua y casi se hundió.

Yo lo veía muchas veces y descubrí que mi hijo tiene un demonio adentro, que quiere maltratarlo para que muere. Nosotros dos estamos sufriendo, por favor ten compasión, quizá puedes ayudarnos, por favor.”

Jesús (dijo): “¿Quizá puedo? No, tú cree que sí y se puede todo.”

(El hombre respondió): “Sí creo, pero aún tengo dudas en mi mente, ayudame a quitar las dudas.”

Jesús miró alrededor y vio una multitud de gente viniendo, miró al hombre revolcando en el suelo y regañó el demonio: “tú, que cierras su oído de modo que no puede hablar, ahorita te expulso, no lo entres otra vez, jamás.”

Dentro del joven que estaba revolcando en el suelo el domonio gritó y salió, y quedó acostado con sus ojos cerrados.

Las personas que lo vieren (dijeron): “El está muerto.” Pero Jesús lo tomó de la mano y se paró.

Después Jesús y los discípulos fueron a la casa y los discípulos preguntaron: “¿Porqué nosotros no podíamos expulsar el demonio, cómo es?”

Jesús (dijo): “Este demonio es muy fuerte, uds necesitan orar para poder expulsar un demonio, a uds les falta que no hacen oración, es por eso.”


Jesus and the three disciples walked on and arrived and saw a group of teachers of the Law standing around the disciples and they were arguing with them.

Many people were watching and they turned around and were surprised to see that Jesus had come, and they all went to him and greeted him and Jesus greeted them (asking): “What has happened that they are arguing?”

A man came up saying: “My son cannot speak because he has a demon inside him. Many times I have seen him fall in the floor, convulsing, gnashing his teeth with salive running down his face.”

“Just now I brought my son searching for Jesus but you were not there and I told your disciples to drive out the demon but they could not.

“A group of teachers of the Law came and they are arguing about it, that’s why.”

Jesus (said): “Oh no, all these people have no faith at all. How am I going to continue being with them? I am tired.

“Let your son come.” The people helped to bring the young man.

The demon inside saw Jesus “Oh no” and he lay writhing on the ground, convulsing and with saliva running down his face.

Jesus looked down and said: “How much time has he been like this?” (The man answered): “He has had this growing up, before now my son has fallen in the fire convulsing, and he also has fallen in water and almost drowned.

“I have watched him time and again and realized that my son has a demon inside him who wants to mistreat him so that he dies. Both of us are suffering, please take pity on us, maybe you can help us, please.”

Jesus (said): “Maybe I can? No, you need to believe and then everything is possible.”

(The man answered): “Yes I believe, but I still have doubts in my mind, help me and take away the doubts.”

Jesus looked around and saw a great multitude of people coming, he looked at the man writhing on the ground and told off the demon: “You who close his ears so that he cannot speak, I throw you out right now, and do not enter him ever again.”

From inside the young man who was writhing on the ground the demon screamed and went out of him and he lay on the ground with his eyes closed.

The people who saw it (said): “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and he got up.

Afterwards Jesus and the disciples went home and the disciples asked: “Why could we not throw out the demon, how is that?”

Jesus (said): “This demon is very strong, you need to pray in order to be able to throw out a demon, what’s lacking is that you don’t pray at all, that’s why.”

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

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Mark 9:30-32 in Mexican Sign Language >>

Mark 9:14-29 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 9:14-29 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

After the transfiguration Jesus and the three disciples were walking back. There were other disciples waiting for them down below, and there was a large crowd of people, with the teachers of the law standing in the crowd. Jesus’ disciples and the teachers of the law were arguing with each other about something. When the crowd noticed Jesus, the people got excited and ran to meet him. Jesus asked:

— What are you arguing about?

One man stood up from the crowd and said:

— Teacher! A demon has possessed my son. The demon is shaking my son, and my son cannot hear or speak. The spirit is tormenting him, rolling him on the ground, my son’s mouth is foaming, he is gnashing his teeth, his whole body is shaken and frozen. Nothing helps. I asked your disciples to cast out the demon, but they could not.

Jesus looked at them and said:

— O people who have little faith! What shall I do with you? Bring me this boy.

The sick boy was brought to Jesus. When the demon saw Jesus, he shook the boy violently and threw him to the ground, foaming from his mouth.

Jesus asked the boy’s father:

— When did the demon take possession of him?

The father answered:

— A long time ago, since he was a child. The demon has been attacking my son and trying to kill him. Once he threw him into the fire. I barely had time to save him. Once he threw him into the water, I barely saved my son. If you can, please help me! Have mercy.

Jesus said:

— What do you mean “if you can”…? If one has faith, anything is possible.

The boy’s father cried out:

— I have faith! I have faith! If I don’t have enough faith, please help me!

Jesus said to the demon:

— Come out of him! And I forbid you to go back into him!

The demon screamed terribly and came out of the boy, and the boy remained motionless, as if dead. The people around him thought he was dead. But Jesus took the boy by the hand and lifted him up.

Afterward Jesus went into a house. Jesus’ disciples followed him. They began to ask Jesus:

— Teacher! How did you manage to cast out the demon? We tried, but it didn’t work.

Jesus replied:

— The only way to cast out this demon is through prayer!

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

После преображения Иисус и три ученика возвращались обратно. Внизу их ждали другие ученики, а вокруг была большая толпа народа; в толпе стояли учителя закона. Ученики Иисуса и учителя закона о чем-то спорили друг с другом. Когда толпа заметила Иисуса, люди обрадовались, побежали к нему навстречу. Иисус спросил:

— О чем у вас спор?

Из народа встал один человек и сказал:

— Учитель! В моего сына вселился бес. Бес сотрясает моего сына, а мой сын не слышит и не может говорить. Дух мучает его, катает его по земле, изо рта у моего сына идет пена, он скрежещет зубами, все тело его сотрясается и цепенеет. Ничто не помогает. Я просил твоих учеников изгнать беса, но они не смогли.

Иисус посмотрел на них и сказал:

— О люди, у которых мало веры! Что же мне делать с вами? Принесите мне этого мальчика.

К Иисусу привели больного мальчика. Когда бес увидел Иисуса, он сильно затряс мальчика, повалил его на землю, изо рта его шла пена.

Иисус спросил отца мальчика:

— Когда бес вселился в него?

Отец ответил:

— Давно, с самого его детства. Бес нападает на моего сына и пытается его погубить. Однажды бросил его в огонь. Я едва успел его спасти. Однажды бросил его в воду, я едва успел спасти сына. Если ты только можешь, прошу, помоги! Смилуйся.

Иисус сказал:

— Что значите «если можешь»?… Если у человека есть вера, то возможно все.

Отец мальчика закричал:

— Я верую! верую! Если мало у меня веры, прошу, помоги!

Иисус сказал бесу:

— Выйди из него! И запрещаю тебе возвращаться в него обратно!

Бес страшно закричал и вышел из мальчика, а мальчик остался лежать неподвижно, словно мертвый. Люди вокруг решили, что он умер. Но Иисус взял мальчика за руку и поднял его.

После этого Иисус вошел в один дом. Ученики Иисуса последовали за ним. Они стали спрашивать Иисуса:

— Учитель! Как тебе удалось изгнать беса? Мы пытались, но у нас ничего не получилось.

Иисус ответил:

— Этого беса можно изгнать только одним — молитвой!

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

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Mark 9:30-32 in Russian Sign Language >>

complete verse (Mark 9:29)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 9:29:

  • Uma: “He said to them: ‘Evil-spirits like that cannot be expelled with any knowledge whatsoever, only with prayer.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “He said to them, ‘That kind of demon cannot be cast out by anything except only if asked of God.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus answered, he said, ‘That kind of demon cannot be driven away except by prayer, for there is no other way.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘An evil-spirit like that, it doesn’t leave if the one causing-it -to-leave doesn’t pray to God,’ said Jesus answering.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Jesus replied, saying, ‘That kind of evil spirit can’t be driven out without perseverance/much-effort in prayer.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Jesus heals a boy

Image taken from the Wiedmann Bible. For more information about the images and ways to adopt them, see here .

For other images of Willy Wiedmann paintings in TIPs, see here.

Following is the 1973 painting “The Possessed” of the JESUS MAFA project, a response to New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings was selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings:

From Art in the Christian Tradition , a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Image retrieved March 23, 2026. Original source: librairie-emmanuel.fr.

pray / prayer

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “pray” (or “prayer”) in English is often translated as “talking with God” (Central Pame, Tzeltal, Chol, Chimborazo Highland Quichua, Shipibo-Conibo, Kaqchikel, Tepeuxila Cuicatec, Copainalá Zoque, Central Tarahumara).

Other solutions include:

  • “beg” or “ask,” (full expression: “ask with one’s heart coming out,” which leaves out selfish praying, for asking with the heart out leaves no place for self to hide) (Tzotzil)
  • “cause God to know” (Huichol)
  • “raise up one’s words to God” (implying an element of worship, as well as communication) (Miskito, Lacandon) (source of this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • “speak to God” (Shilluk) (source: Nida 1964, p. 237)
  • “talk together with Great Above One (=God)” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter, 2004)
  • “call to one’s Father” (San Blas Kuna) (source: Claudio and Marvel Iglesias in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 85ff. )
  • “beg” (waan) (Ik). Terrill Schrock (in Wycliffe Bible Translators 2016, p. 93) explains (click or tap here to read more):

    What do begging and praying have to do with each other? Do you beg when you pray? Do I?

    “The Ik word for ‘visitor’ is waanam, which means ‘begging person.’ Do you beg when you go visiting? The Ik do. Maybe you don’t beg, but maybe when you visit someone, you are looking for something. Maybe it’s just a listening ear.

    When the Ik hear that [my wife] Amber and I are planning trip to this or that place for a certain amount of time, the letters and lists start coming. As the days dwindle before our departure, the little stack of guests grows. ‘Please, sir, remember me for the allowing: shoes, jacket (rainproof), watch, box, trousers, pens, and money for the children. Thank you, sir, for your assistance.’

    “A few people come by just to greet us or spend bit of time with us. Another precious few will occasionally confide in us about their problems without asking for anything more than a listening ear. I love that.

    “The other day I was in our spare bedroom praying my list of requests to God — a nice list covering most areas of my life, certainly all the points of anxiety. Then it hit me: Does God want my list, or does he want my relationship?

    “I decided to try something. Instead of reading off my list of requests to God, I just talk to him about my issues without any expectation of how he should respond. I make it more about our relationship than my list, because if our personhood is like God’s personhood, then maybe God prefers our confidence and time to our lists, letters, and enumerations.”

In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning (click or tap here to read more):

  • For Acts 1:14, 20:36, 21:5: kola ttieru-yawur nehla — “hold the waist and hug the neck.” (“This is the more general term for prayer and often refers to worship in prayer as opposed to petition. The Luang people spend the majority of their prayers worshiping rather than petitioning, which explains why this term often is used generically for prayer.”)
  • For Acts 28:9: sumbiani — “pray.” (“This term is also used generically for ‘prayer’. When praying is referred to several times in close proximity, it serves as a variation for kola ttieru-yawur nehla, in keeping with Luang discourse style. It is also used when a prayer is made up of many requests.”)
  • For Acts 8:15, 12:5: polu-waka — “call-ask.” (“This is a term for petition that is used especially when the need is very intense.”)

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

See also Nehemiah’s prayer (image).

Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("say")

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.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Mark 9:29

Text:

After proseuchē ‘prayer’ Textus Receptus, Soden, Vogels, and Merk (in brackets) include kai nēsteia ‘and fasting,’ which is omitted by the majority of modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

genos (cf. 7.26) here ‘class,’ ‘kind’: ‘this kind’ probably refers to demons or unclean spirits considered as a whole, rather than to the particular kind of unclean spirit which possessed this boy.

exelthein (cf. 7.29) ‘go out,’ i.e. ‘be driven out,’ ‘be cast out.’

proseuchē (11.17) ‘in prayer,’ ‘by means of prayer’: this means prayer to God.

Translation:

This kind is an elliptical expression which may require some expansion in certain languages, either by the addition of the referent, e.g. ‘this kind of spirit’ (or ‘demon’), or by the shifting of the relationship of referent to qualifier, e.g. ‘demons like this one.’ In some languages there is no word indicating ‘type,’ ‘kind’ or ‘class’ which can be applied to such spirits, and hence one can use ‘this spirit’ or ‘a spirit like this one’ (Kekchi).

The passive construction must often be shifted to active, e.g. ‘you cannot cast out demons like this one except….’

For driven out see problems discussed under cast out, 1.34. In this instance it is usually possible to employ a causative, ‘to cause to come out,’ ‘to cause to go out’ or ‘to cause to leave.’

By anything but prayer must be altered if prayer is translatable only by a verb expression. In such instances the change is generally from an instrumental to a conditional expression ‘you cannot … if you do not pray.’ Though it would seem most natural for Jesus to reply using the second person plural, e.g. ‘you cannot … unless you…,’ in some languages truths which are generally applicable can only be expressed with the first person plural, ‘we cannot…, unless we…’ (Copainalá Zoque); cf. Toraja-Sa’dan ‘except then only when we pray.’

Fasting, which occurs in the Textus Receptus, and certain other derived translations, must not be rendered by a word meaning merely ‘to be hungry’ (see 2.18). In many languages one must indicate the purposeful abstinence from food, e.g. ‘to hold back from eating’ (South Bolivian Quechua).

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 .