The Greek that is translated as “whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all” or similar in English is translated in Tzotzil as “If anyone wants to be thought of as the most important, let him humble himself, let him help all people,” in Chuj as “If there is one man wants to lift up himself among you, he must make himself lowly before you. He must enter as the servant of you all, he said,” and in Choapan Zapotec as “If a person wants to command his fellow-men, he must consider himself to be as a person who has no authority, let him work without pay for anyone.” (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)
Jesus (dijo): “Vamonos” y caminaba en frente. Los discípulos que iban atrás estaban diciendo: “Yo so el primero, el líder.” “Tú no, yo soy el primero, el líder.”
Los discípulos estaban discutiendo así y llegaron al pueblo de Capernaúm y fueron a casa. Jesús les dijo: “Ahorita estaban discutiendo, ¿qué era?”
Los discípulos lo miraban: Caray, y estaban callados. Jesús les miró y se sentó y llamó a los doce discípulos que vinieran alrededor. (Dijo): “¿Uds quieren ser el primero, el líder? Deben ser entonces el último, humilde, necesitan servir a todas las personas.”
“Yo les cuento un ejemplo”, y llamó un niño y lo tomó en su regazo. “Yo les mando a que pongan atención a los niños. Eso es lo mismo como si ponen atención a mi, yo el mismo que Dios mandó que viniera, y si uds ponen atención a mi eso es lo mismo como si ponen atención a Dios.”
Jesus (said): “Let’s go” and he walked ahead of them, behind him the disciples came and they were saying: “I am the first, the leader.” “No, not you, I am the first, the leader.”
The disciples were arguing thus and they arrived at the village of Capernaum and went home. Jesus said to them: “Just now you were arguing. What was it about?”
The disciples looked at him: Oh no, and they kept quiet. Jesus looked at them and sit down and called the disciples around him. (He said): “You want to be the first, the leader? Then you must be the last, humble, you need to serve all the people.”
“I will tell you an example”, and he called a child and took it on his lap. “I tell you that you need to pay attention to the children. That is the same as paying attention to me, I who was sent by God to come, and if you pay attention to me it’s the same as paying attention to God.”
The disciples and Jesus were walking along the road. Jesus went first, followed by the disciples. The disciples began to argue with each other about who was the most important. Finally they all came to a house in the town of Capernaum. In the house Jesus asked the disciples:
— As we were walking, what did you argue with each other about on the way?
The disciples were silent. Jesus sat down, called the disciples to him, and said to them:
— Those of you who want to be first must be last of all and must serve all.
Jesus took a child and placed it in the center. He embraced the child and said. If you love me, you must also be willing to love and care for this child. And the one who loves me deeply also loves my father who sent me.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Ученики и Иисус шли по дороге. Иисус шел первый, ученики за ним. Ученики стали спорить друг с другом, кто из них самый главный. Наконец, все они пришли в дом в городе Капернаум. В доме Иисус спросил учеников:
— Когда мы шли, о чем вы спорили друг с другом в пути?
Ученики молчали. Иисус сел, подозвал к себе учеников и сказал им:
— Тот из вас, кто хочет быть первым, должен быть последним из всех и должен служить всем.
Иисус взял ребенка и поставил его в центре. Он обнял ребенка и сказал. Если вы любите мне, то вы должны быть готовы также полюбить и этого ребенка и заботиться о нем. А тот, кто глубоко любит меня, тот любит и моего отца, который послал меня.
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 9:35:
Uma: “So, Yesus sat and he called his twelve disciples, he said: ‘Who[ever] wants to have the bigger life, he must live making-himself-low [i.e., humbly], lower than all his companions, and he must be a servant to all his companions.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “So-then Isa sat down and he called his twelve disciples to his side. He said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be made very great/honored much, he should cause himself to be low/humble himself so that he is the lowest of all, and he should be the servant of all people.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Then Jesus sat down, and he called tp him his twelve disciples, and he said to them, ‘Any one of you who wants to be greatest, this is what he must do. He must consider that his status is very low, and he must let all of his companions order him around.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then Jesus sat-down. He called his twelve disciples and said, ‘The one who wants to become the greatest, he must make himself the lowest and serve all his companions.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Jesus got settled sitting down and caused those twelve disciples of his to come close. He said, ‘The one who wants to be first in praiseworthiness/glory, he must make himself lower than all and become servant of all people.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
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.
kathisas (10.37, 40; 11.2, 7; 12.36, 41; 14.32; 16.19) ‘sitting down’ – perhaps as a teacher.
tous dōdeka (cf. 3.14, 16; 6.7) ‘the Twelve’: a title, not simply a number.
ei tis thelei (cf. 8.34) ‘if any one wants’: as in 8.34, this translation is to be preferred to Revised Standard Version ‘if any one would.’
prōtos (cf. 6.21) ‘first,’ used with the idea of rank and position (cf. also 10.31, 44, where the word is used with this same meaning).
estai pantōn eschatos kai pantōn diakonos ‘he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.’ This statement is not in the nature of a threat against the selfseekers, as though it meant, “This is what will happen if anyone wants to be first!” It is rather Jesus’ teaching on how really to be ‘first’: ‘If you want to be first, become the last, become the servant of all’ (cf. Gould). The future estai ‘shall be’ has the force (as often) of an imperative ‘must be.’
eschatos (10.31; 12.6, 22) ‘last’ in rank or position, as in the case of prōtos ‘first’; therefore, ‘least,’ ‘most insignificant.’
diakonos (10.43) ‘servant.’
Translation:
Called the twelve must be carefully translated, for ‘calling’ may imply shouting to, which obviously is not the meaning here. Rather, the meaning is that Jesus told his disciples to gather around him or to come to him to listen to what he had to say.
The twelve must be expanded in many languages to ‘the twelve disciples,’ since numerals cannot be used as substantives in this type of construction.
If any one would be first may require some more specific delimitation, since ‘first’ may not imply rank or relative position among persons, as it does in Greek and English. For example, in Tzeltal one must translate, ‘if any one wishes to raise himself up to the first place’ (implying relative height), but in other languages, e.g. Punu, one may say ‘if any one wishes to be at the face,’ meaning the front of the line of men going down a trail; cf. Toraja-Sa’dan ‘when someone wants to be in the forefront’; Javanese ‘leading-man.’ Still another ordering is found in some languages ‘if any one wishes to be the elder,’ employing age grading as a basis for rank in any group. It makes no difference whether a language employs space or time as a basis for distinction – the important thing is the ranking of members within a group.
Last of all must be translated in contrast with ‘first.’ For example, in Punu one may say ‘he must return to the back of all,’ thus preserving the figure of the trail.
Servant of all may need some cultural adaptation, e.g. ‘do errands for everyone’ (Copainalá Zoque).
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 .
Sitting down: The words Sitting down indicate that Jesus was getting ready to teach. It does not mean that Jesus was tired or wanted to rest. In some languages, it may be necessary to make this explicit. For example:
Sitting down to teach -or-
So Jesus sat down to teach
Jesus called the Twelve: The word called indicates that Jesus summoned the disciples to come and listen.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
told the twelve disciples to gather around him (Contemporary English Version) -or-
summoned the twelve disciples -or-
called the Twelve to him (New Jerusalem Bible)
the Twelve: The phrase the Twelve refers to Jesus’ twelve disciples. The Good News Bible says:
the twelve disciples
See how you translated this phrase in 4:10a.
9:35b–d
If anyone wants to be first, he must be the last of all and the servant of all: The words first and last refer to ranking or status. They refer to the most and least important person. These words do not refer to time (like the first one to come) or location (like the first one in a line).
Here are some other ways to translate this:
Whoever wants to be first must place himself last of all and be the servant of all. (Good News Bible) -or-
Whoever wants to be the most important person must take the last place and be a servant to everyone else. (God’s Word) -or-
If you want the place of honor, you must become a slave and serve others! (Contemporary English Version)
anyone: The word anyone implies anyone among you. A follower of Christ who wants to become the leader of other believers must take the position of the least important servant. He must serve his companions.
the servant of all: The expression the servant of all refers to serving or helping other people. It does not refer to taking a job as a servant.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
serve all others -or-
be like a servant of everyone else
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