complete verse (Mark 12:4)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 12:4:

  • Uma: “After that, the field owner sent another slave. When he arrived there, they beat him too, his head was wounded, they yelled at him severely and sent him away.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Then the owner of the garden sent again another one of his servants to them. They clubbed him on the head and shamed him.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Then the owner of the field sent another servant, but they wounded that servant in the head and treated him shamefully.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “So the farm owner again sent a slave. But they clubbed his head and shamed him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When that owner observed/discovered, he sent another of his slaves, but they clubbed- his -head and really insulted him.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 12:4

Text:

Before ekephalaiōsan ‘they wounded in the head’ Textus Receptus adds lithobolēsantes ‘having stoned,’ which is omitted by all modern editions of the Greek text.

Instead of ētimasan ‘they dishonored’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has apesteilan ētimōmenon ‘they sent away dishonored.’

Exegesis:

ekephalaiōsan (only here in the N.T.) means ‘they summed up’ (from kephalaion ‘a summary,’ ‘a resume’ which, in turn, is from kephalē ‘head’): in this passage, however, it is the consensus that the word means ‘they wounded (him in) the head,’ a meaning found nowhere else. Field discusses the word and its use, concluding that the Vulgate in capite vulneraverunt ‘they wounded (him) in the head’ is probably the only meaning to be attributed to the verb in this passage. Burkitt’s suggestion that the reading of the text may be a palaeographical blunder for ekolaphisan ‘they buffeted,’ has not been widely accepted (cf. Taylor, in favor, and Lagrange, against).

ētimasan (only here in Mark) ‘they dishonored,’ ‘they insulted,’ ‘they treated shamefully.’

Translation:

He may require the use of ‘the owner,’ since in some languages he would refer back to the immediately preceding third person singular referent, namely, the servant who was beaten.

Treated him shamefully is sometimes expressed in a negative form, e.g. ‘they treated him as they should not have done,’ which in some languages conveys quite accurately the meaning of insult and disrespect. In other instances, however, the closest equivalent is ‘they were very mean to him.’

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 .