Following is a Ukrainian Orthodox icon of the Transfiguration by Ivan Rutkovych (c. 1650 – c. 1708) (for the Church of Christ’s Nativity in Zhovkva, Ukraine, today in the Lviv National Museum).
Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
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.”
Six days had passed. Jesus took three disciples with Him – Peter, James, John — and they went up a high mountain. There on the mountain, no one was there, just the four of them. And then Jesus’ appearance began to change. His clothes became shiny. His clothes became white as snow. There is no such white color on earth. And no one can wash clothes like that. Then Moses and Elijah appeared. Both of them talked with Jesus.
The disciples were amazed. Peter turned to Jesus:
— Teacher! It is so good here! Let’s make three tents: one for you, Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah.
Suddenly a cloud came down from the sky. It covered them. God’s voice came out of the cloud, “Jesus is my beloved son! Listen to him!”
The disciples were amazed. They began to look and suddenly saw Jesus standing alone. Moses and Elijah had disappeared.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Прошли шесть дней. Иисус взял с собой троих учеников — Петра, Иаков, Иоанна — и они взошли на высокую гору. Там на горе, никого не было, только они вчетвером. И тут облик Иисуса начал изменяться. Его одежды заблестели. Его одежда стала белой как снег. На земле такого белого цвета нет. И никто не может так выстирать одежды. После этого явился Моисей и Илия. Оба они беседовали с Иисусом.
Ученики были поражены. Петр обратился к Иисусу:
— Учитель! Здесь так хорошо! Давай сделаем три шалаша: один — для тебя, Иисус, один — для Моисея и один — для Илии.
Вдруг с неба спустилось облако. Оно покрыло их. Из облака раздался голос Бога: «Иисус — он мой любимый сын! Слушайте его!»
Ученики были поражены. Они стали смотреть и вдруг увидели, что Иисус стоит один. Моисей и Илия исчезли.
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 9:7:
Uma: “At that time also, a cloud arrived enveloping them, and from the cloud they heard a speaker who said: ‘This one here is my Child whom I love. Listen to his words!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “So-then a bright-cloud appeared and they were overshadowed and there was a voice from inside this cloud saying, ‘This is my Son (whom) I really love. Listen to him.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Then they were engulfed in a cloud, and they heard someone suddenly speaking from the cloud, ‘This is my beloved son, Hear/obey his words.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then a cloud arrived and blocked-them all -from-view. Then there was a voice from the cloud saying, ‘This one is my child whom I greatly-love. Listen to what he says!'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well suddenly/unexpectedly they were overshaddowed by a cloud, and there was a voice which seemed-to-come-from that cloud, which said, ‘This one is my very-dear Son. Listen well to him.'” (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 choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains in the following way: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
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®).
egeneto nephelē episkiazousa ‘there came a cloud, overshadowing,’ ‘there appeared a cloud, covering’: it is generally agreed that egeneto ‘came,’ ‘appeared’ here has an independent force of its own and does not function as an auxiliary to episkiazō ‘overshadow’ (as Revised Standard Version translates it): cf. American Standard Version, The Modern Speech New Testament, Moffatt, Goodspeed, Manson, Translator’s New Testament, Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale, Zürcher Bibel.
nephelē (13.36; 14.62) ‘cloud.’
episkiazō (only here in Mark) ‘overshadow’ (from skia ‘shadow’), ‘cover.’
houtos estin ho huios mou ho agapētos ‘this is my Son, the Beloved’: cf. the Voice from Heaven at the baptism of Jesus, 1.11. Notice that at the baptism the Voice addresses itself to Jesus; here, to the disciples.
Translation:
Overshadowed may be rendered as ‘passed over them,’ ‘came between them and the sun’ or ‘covered up the sun for them.’
As noted in Mark 1.3 in some languages one cannot speak of a ‘voice speaking,’ much less one ‘coming out of a cloud,’ as in this verse. People may speak, but not ‘voices come.’ In Central Tarahumara, for example, the only way to translate this passage is to say ‘God spoke out of the cloud.’ Some translators have tried to make the reference less specific by rendering the passage as ‘they heard someone speaking in the cloud,’ but this suggested a person, not God. In certain instances, however, it is possible to say ‘they heard words coming from somewhere in the cloud’ (cf. Indonesian and Javanese ‘and a voice out of the cloud was heard’), a rendering which conserves something of the indefinite form of the original.
For my beloved Son see 1.11. In Navajo this phrase becomes ‘this is the Son I love,’ but it is nonrestrictive. That is to say, this passage must not be translated in such a way as to suggest that Jesus is the Son God loves, while other sons he does not love. The correct meaning may be conveyed in some languages by translating ‘this is my Son; I love him.’
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 .
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