complete verse (Mark 12:6)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 12:6:

  • Uma: “‘There was no-one left for the field owner to send, only his one and very own son whom he loves was left. In the end he sent his son to the ones who were taking care of his field, he said: ‘They will certainly submit to him.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Na, one was left over for the owner of the garden to send. This was his son (lit. male child) whom he really loved. In the end he told him to go to them. He said in his liver, ‘Surely they will respect my son.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Finally the only one left was his beloved son. He sent him to them for he was thinking, he said, ‘It just isn’t possible that they will not honor my son.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When that was so, the ones-he-was-sending were used-up and only his much-loved child was-left. So then he sent his child, because he said in his mind/thoughts, ‘They will respect (lit. have-shame-to) him.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well, there was only one left whom it was possible to send to them, (that was) his very-held-dear son. That was the last one whom he sent. In his mind (he thought), ‘It’s certain that they will welcome/treat-well this son of mine.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 12:6

Text:

After agapēton ‘beloved’ Textus Receptus adds autou ‘his,’ which is omitted by all modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

hena ‘one’: in the nature of the case either ‘man’ or ‘messenger’ is to be understood, rather than ‘slave’ (vv. 2, 4, 5) to which, grammatically, the pronoun refers.

huion agapēton (cf. 1.11) ‘a beloved son,’ ‘an only son.’

eschaton (cf. 9.35) ‘last,’ ‘at last’ as an adverb, with reference to time, not to rank.

hoti is recitative, introducing direct speech.

entrapēsontai ‘they will reverence,’ ‘they will respect’: the verb entrepō (only here in Mark) in the active means ‘to make ashamed,’ and in the passive ‘to be put to shame,’ ‘to be ashamed’; here, ‘have regard for,’ ‘respect.’

Translation:

He had still one other has been wrongly translated as ‘another servant,’ which, as noted above, is not the meaning of the passage. However, to avoid this difficulty one may translate as ‘there was still another person with him’ or ‘he had with him still one other man.’

For beloved son see 1.11.

They will respect must refer to the action of the tenants, translatable in some languages as ‘show honor to.’

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 .