vineyard

The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “vineyard” in English is translated in Noongar as boodjer-djildjiyang, lit. “land for fruit.” (Source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).

complete verse (Mark 12:2)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 12:2:

  • Uma: “The time came to pick the anggur fruit, he sent a slave to go request his portion from those who were taking care of the field.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When the time came for the grapes to bear fruit, the owner of the garden sent one of his servants to the caretakers, to ask for/request his share of the grape fruit.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when harvest time came, he sent one of his servants to get his share of the harvest.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When the picking-season for grapes arrived, the farm owner sent one of his slaves to go get his share.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When the time came for ubas-fruit to fall, he sent a slave to get his share from those farmers he’d left in charge.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 12:2

Exegesis:

tō kairō (cf. 1.5; 11.13) ‘at the season,’ ‘at the (right) time’: in this case, the ‘right time’ would be the fifth year after planting (cf. Lagrange).

apo tōn karpōn ‘from the fruits,’ ‘some of the fruit’: a Semitism, as in the similar construction in 5.35. Under the terms of the lease the tenants were to turn over to the owner of the vineyard a certain portion of the yield.

karpos (cf. 4.7) ‘fruit.’

For apostellō ‘send’ cf. 1.2; doulos ‘slave’ cf. 10.44.

Translation:

The time must in some languages be rendered as ‘the time of harvest’ or ‘the time that the fruit was ripe.’ Otherwise, ‘time’ is entirely too ambiguous.

Tenants may usually be translated by a very well-known local equivalent, but where such a term does not exist a descriptive phrase, paralleling the one used in the previous verse, may be employed, e.g. ‘the men who took care of the vineyard in exchange for part of the fruit’ or simply ‘the men who were taking care of the vineyard,’ since the previous verse would describe the terms of their contract.

To get must imply a legitimate receipt of payment, not a forced exaction.

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 .