weapon

The Greek that is translated as “weapon” in English is translated as “machete” in Ojitlán Chinantec (source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.).

Pharisee

The Greek that is a transliteration of the Hebrew Pərūšīm and is typically transliterated into English as “Pharisee” is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as Fǎlìsài (法利賽 / 法利赛) (Protestant) or Fǎlìsāi (法利塞) (Catholic). In Chinese, transliterations can typically be done with a great number of different and identical-sounding characters. Often the meaning of the characters are not relevant, unless they are chosen carefully as in these cases. The Protestant Fǎlìsài can mean something like “Competition for the profit of the law” and the Catholic Fǎlìsāi “Stuffed by/with the profit of the law.” (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 51)

In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “prayer shawl”. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Pharisee” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts “pointing out the law.” (Source: Anna Smith)


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

In French Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts the box of the phylacteries attached to the forehead:


“Pharisees” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as Observant. He explains (p. 302): “Pharisee has become a public, universal pejorative term for a hypocrite. Pharisees were observant of the interpretation of the Covenant Code called the ‘tradition of the elders.’ They conformed their behaviors to the interpretation. Among the various groups of Jews at the time of Jesus, they were perhaps closest to Jesus in their overall concern to make a radical commitment to the will of God (as they understood it).”

See also Nicodemus.

Judas (the disciple)

The term that is transliterated as “Judas” in English is translated in American Sign Language with the sign for the letter J and the sign signifying holding a bag of money, referring to John 12:6. (Source: RuthAnna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


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

In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with with the sign for “kiss,” referring to Matthew 26:49 et al. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


“Judas” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

complete verse (John 18:3)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 18:3:

  • Uma: “So, the leaders of the priests and the Parisi people ordered a group of Roman soldiers and House of God guards to go with Yudas going to that garden. They carried fighting equipment, lampu and torches.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then Judas led the soldiers of the Roman tribe and the temple guards to that orchard. These guards were sent along with him by the Pariseo and the leading priests. They carried weapons (bessi) and torches (la’al) and lamps (payita’an).” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then Judas arrived there accompanied by a company of soldiers and police who were sent by the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying lights and they were armed.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And there is where-he-led a unit-group of soldiers and Temple police that the leaders of the priests and Pharisees had sent. They were all-using-torches/lights and all-carrying-arms.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Therefore Judas went there to that plantation because that was his agreement with the chiefs of the priests and the Pariseo. He was leading the Templo guards they had sent and also one iskuwadra (generic for any military group) of soldiers. They had lights and they were well armed with weapons.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Judas arrived to where Jesus was. Accompanying him was a group of soldiers and the police sent by the priests and Pharisees. They brought swords and lamps. Some carried wood which was burned to light the way.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on John 18:3

Good News Translation restructures the first part of this verse. In Greek went to the garden is literally “comes there” and is preceded by the long clause, taking with him a group of Roman soldiers, and some temple guards sent by the chief priests and the Pharisees. Moreover, they were armed and carried lanterns and torches is literally “with lanterns and torches and weapons.” In the Greek text this entire clause follows the verb “comes there.” Most modern English translations restructure this complex sentence. However, Revised Standard Version, attempting to follow the word order of the Greek, sounds as if Judas were the one who brought the lanterns and torches and weapons (“So Judas, procuring a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons.”) Lanterns and torches are mentioned only in John’s account.

A literal translation of the first part of verse 3 may be misleading, for it may imply that Judas first went to the garden and later took along a group of Roman soldiers. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the temple guards are described as having been sent by the chief priests and Pharisees, and their assignment to this task must have taken place before Judas lead them to the garden. The fact that the syntactic order and the temporal order of events do not match may require some readjustment in structure, for example, “The chief priests and Pharisees sent some temple guards to accompany Judas. There was also a group of Roman soldiers, and Judas lead them to the garden.” It is unlikely that Judas himself was armed, and therefore one may translate “The soldiers and guards were armed and carried lanterns and torches.” In translating were armed one may say “they had their swords” or “they carried their weapons.”

John is the only one of the four Gospels to mention Roman soldiers in connection with the arrest of Jesus. The Greek word translated a group of Roman soldiers (New English Bible “a detachment of soldiers”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and Barclay “Roman soldiers”) is a technical military term (translated “cohort” by many) referring to the tenth part of a legion. Even though the full complement of a cohort was six hundred men, the actual number varied considerably sometimes there were as few as two hundred. For that reason, it is better to use a generic term, such as “group” or “detachment,” rather than the technical term “cohort.” Out of this larger group apparently only a smaller detachment of soldiers was sent along with an officer in command (see verse 12).

The word translated temple guards is the same word translated “guards” in 7.32 (see there) The temple guards were no doubt Jewish, but the Roman soldiers were Gentiles.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .