grieving, sorrowful

The Greek that is translated as “grieving” or “sorrowful” in English is often translated metaphorically: “his stomach died” (Mezquital Otomi), “he was heavy in his stomach” (Uduk), “his heart was pained” (Kpelle), “he was sick in his mind” (Amganad Ifugao), “his heart hung” (Loma), and “his heart was spoiled” (Mossi).

See also Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling.”

evidentiality, he had great wealth

Avaric uses the so-called evidential verbal forms. Such forms are used when the speaker himself has not witnessed a given action or event, but has come to know about it indirectly or by report.

So, for example, when in the episode of the rich young man it is said that “he had great wealth,” this information, which was acquired by the teller from hearsay rather than from actual experience, can be expressed by means of these evidential verb forms. In addition, evidential verbs are used in the text of parables, being the standard form for reported speech in texts describing what the teller has not actually witnessed.

Source: Magomed-Kamil Gimbatov and Yakov Testelets in The Bible Translator 1996, p. 434ff.

complete verse (Mark 10:22)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 10:22:

  • Uma: “Hearing those words of Yesus, his heart hurt [anger or sadness]. He went away from there with a sad heart, for he had much stuff.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When he heard those words of Isa, his face was sad and he left grieved/sad, for he had very much wealth.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then that person, when he heard that which Jesus said, his breath became very painful, and he left there very sad for he had great wealth.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When he heard that-aforementioned which Jesus had said, it could be seen in his face/eyes that he was sad, and he left them mourning, because he was extremely rich.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When that man heard, his face fell/clouded-over(fig.). He went being grieved, because he was really wealthy.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 10:22

Exegesis:

stugnasas (only here in Mark) ‘becoming gloomy’: Arndt & Gingrich suggest possibly ‘shocked,’ ‘appalled.’

epi tō logō ‘at the word,’ ‘with the saying.’

epi ‘upon’: after verbs which express feeling the preposition means ‘at,’ ‘because,’ ‘with’ (cf. 1.22; 3.5).

lupoumenos (14.19) ‘sorrowing,’ ‘sad,’ ‘distressed.’ Manson translates ‘in annoyance.’

ktēmata (only here in Mark) in general means ‘property,’ ‘possessions’; specifically it means ‘lands,’ ‘estates’ (cf. Moulton & Milligan; Swete).

Translation:

Countenance fell can only rarely be translated literally. In Navajo one must say ‘his face drew together’ and in Amganad Ifugao the equivalent is ‘his feeling changed.’

At that saying may be translated as a verb expression in the form ‘when Jesus said that.’

Sorrowful must in some languages be carefully handled in order to avoid the meaning of ‘sorrow’ as an emotional response to death or bereavement. In this passage the meaning is one of emotional distress and disturbance, and as in so many instances of such psychological reactions the ways of speaking about these experiences are quite varied and often highly metaphorical, e.g. ‘his stomach died’ (Mezquital Otomi), ‘he was heavy in his stomach’ (Uduk), ‘his heart was pained’ (Kpelle), ‘he was sick in his mind’ (Amganad Ifugao), ‘his heart hung’ (Loma (Liberia)), and ‘his heart was spoiled’ (More).

The cultural equivalent of great possessions is in many languages ‘many farms’ and in others ‘many houses.’ In some languages the closest corresponding expression is ‘he was very rich.’

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 .