2and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it.
The phrase that is translated into English as “a colt that has never been ridden” can be translated in Kalmyk much more succinctly than even the original Greek text since Kalmyk as arkhlata (архлата) a specific word for an unbroken colt. (source: David Clark)
In the Arhuaco translation of Luke 19:35 (in the English translation: “after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.”) the co-translator knew how unruly unbroken colts are so they translated “they held the donkey steady so that Jesus could get on it.” (source: Paul Lundquist in The Bible Translator 1992, p. 246.)
Yakan: “the lonely place” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “a land where no people lived” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “the place with no inhabitants” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Note that in Luke 15:4, usually a term is used that denotes pastoral land, such as “eating/grazing-place” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “village” or “town” in English is translated in Noongar as karlamaya or “fire (used for “home“) + houses” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
There was a town called Nazareth in the region of Galilee. That’s where Jesus lived. Here is the Jordan River. John the messenger was near it. Jesus came from Nazareth to the Jordan River. There He dipped into the water. Then He came out of the water and looked up into heaven. The clouds had parted in different directions. The Spirit of God descended on Jesus in the form of a bird. God from heaven looked at Jesus and said:
— I am very glad! You are my beloved son!
Jesus looked at heaven, then at the desert around him. Then the Spirit of God took Jesus and carried him far away into the desert. Jesus stayed there for 40 days.
In that place was Satan, who was persecuting Jesus. Satan hoped to tempt Jesus to make an accidental mistake. But the angels of God were protecting Jesus. There were some ravenous beasts around, Jesus walked among them. But the angels of God protected Jesus on every side.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
В области Галилея был город Назарет. Там жил Иисус. Вот река Иордан. Возле нее находился вестник Иоанн. Вот Иисус пришел из Назарета к реке Иордан. Там он погрузился в воду. Потом Он вышел из воды и посмотрел на небо. Облака разошлись в разные стороны. Дух Божий в виде птицы спустился на Иисуса. Бог с небес посмотрел на Иисуса и сказал:
— Я очень рад! Ты — мой сын любимый!
Иисус посмотрел на небо, потом на пустыню вокруг. Тут Дух Божий взял Иисуса и унес далеко в пустыню. Иисус там находился в течение 40 дней.
В том месте был Сатана, который преследовал Иисуса. Сатана надеялся искусить Иисуса, чтобы тот случайно ошибся. Но ангелы Божьи оберегали Иисуса. Были там и хищные звери вокруг, Иисус ходил среди них. Но ангелы Божьи оберегали Иисуса со всех сторон.
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 11:2:
Uma: “he said to them: ‘You go to that village we are facing over there [in sight, far away]. Just when you enter the village, you will see a young keledai [animal] tied up, that has never been ridden. Undo its ropes and bring it here.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “He said to them, ‘Go to that village ahead of you. When you arrive there, immediately you will see the offspring of an asnu tied (to something), it has not been ridden on. Untie (it) and bring (it) here.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “he said, ‘Go to the village that we are about to arrive in, and when you get there you will see a young asnu tied up there that has never been ridden on. Untie it and bring it here.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “saying, ‘Go to that town across-the-way. Exactly as you are arriving there, you will come-upon a young (lit. child of) donkey that has never been ridden that is tethered. Untie it and bring it here.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “He said to them, ‘Go there to that bario of Betfage. When you get there, you will see a young asno horse tethered, which has not yet been-broken-for-riding. Untie it and bring it here to me.” (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 Translator 2002, 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.
to pneuma ‘the (Holy) Spirit,’ ‘the Spirit (of God).’
ekballei ‘drives out’: the historic present is characteristic of Mark’s style. In Mark ekballō ‘drive out’ always denotes strong and, at times, violent action being used mainly of the expulsion of demons (1.34, 39; 3.15, 22, 23; 6.13; 7.26; 9.18, 28, 38; 16.9, 17); where people are involved force is always indicated (1.43; 5.40; 11.15; 12.8), while once it is used of the removal of an eye (9.47). In the present passage, the parallels in Matthew (anagesthai ‘be led’) and Luke (agesthai ‘be led’) may argue in favor of force for the Marcan ekballei ‘drives out.’ Cf. Jerome expellit and in English “drive” (King James Version, American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, Moffatt, Berkeley); Zürcher Bibeltreiben.
Force is certainly involved. There is no need, however, of inferring resistance or unwillingness on the part of Jesus.
tēn erēmon (cf. v. 4) ‘uninhabited places,’ traditionally the haunt of evil powers.
Translation:
In this context it is quite important that one make sure that a word used for ‘Spirit’ carries the proper connotation, for ‘driving one out into an uninhabited region’ is precisely what demons are usually credited with doing. Hence, in many translations ‘Spirit of God’ or ‘Holy Spirit’ should be used here (Balinese, Kpelle, South Bolivian Quechua, Shipibo-Conibo).
There is no doubt about the fact that the Greek word ekballō implies a strong action, but it is possible to translate this word in such a way as to give quite a wrong impression. In one language in West Africa the term used meant literally ‘to chase him away’ and in one Eskimo dialect the word was one generally used of ‘driving dogs.’ The force of this Greek verb applies primarily to the psychological compulsion, not any physical violence, and hence to use an expression which emphasizes the physical aspects may ultimately result in a distortion of the meaning. Accordingly, many translations simply use a causative form, ‘the Holy Spirit made him go’ or ‘caused him to go.’ In Balinese the expression is ‘by the might of the Holy Spirit, Jesus went,’ meaning that the Holy Spirit was the force which caused Jesus to go.
For a discussion of “wilderness” see 1.3.
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 .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.