complete verse (Mark 11:5)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 11:5:

  • Uma: “The people standing there asked them: ‘Why are you untying that keledai?'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “There were people standing there. Some of them asked them, they said, ‘Hey, why do you untie that offspring of the asnu?'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when they were untying it, there were some people there who asked them, they said, ‘What are you doing there? Why are you untying it?'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “those standing there said, ‘Why are you untying that?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “they were questioned by the people standing-around there. ‘Why are you untying the tether of that asno?’ they said.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 11:5

Exegesis:

tines tōn ekei hestēkotōn ‘some of those who were standing there,’ i.e. “some bystanders” (cf. 9.1 and 15.35).

ti poieite luontes ton pōlon ‘what are you doing untying the colt?’: the burden of the question, of course, is ‘Why are you untying the colt?,’ ‘What do you mean by untying the colt?’ (cf. Moffatt, Manson, Gould).

Translation:

Said to must often be translated as ‘asked’ because of the following question.

The periphrastic construction. … doing, untying … must be changed to ‘why are you untying…’ in many languages.

In some instances untying must be translated by a somewhat expanded expression, e.g. ‘untying the rope which is around the neck of the colt’ or ‘loosing the rope which is holding the colt.’

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 .