teach

The Greek that is translated as a form of “teach” is translated with some figurative phrases such as “to engrave the mind” (Ngäbere) or “to cause others to imitate” (Huichol). (Source: Bratcher / Nida)

In Noongar it is translated as karni-waangki or “truth saying” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

Capernaum, iterative verbs

Some languages, including Chilcotin, heavily use iterative verbs which denote a continuously repeated action.

Quindel King reports (in Northern Canada Evangelical Mission 1996, p. 70): “While Jesus was ministering, he did a lot of traveling, so we must determine where Jesus went and be able to indicate with iterative verb forms when he made a repeat visit to a certain town, lake shore or even a home! This must be done throughout the entire book so that there will be no confusion on the part of the hearers or readers.”

In the translation of Mark there are three mentions of Jesus visiting Capernaum. In Mark 1:21 the Chilcotin translation indicates that that was his first visit with his disciples (jagheninan — “they, a small group”), in Mark 2:1 only Jesus is referenced (nanjah — “he returned”), in Mark 9:33 Jesus and his disciples are mentioned (najaghindan — “they, a small group, returned”). (Source: Quindel King)

Mark 1:21-28 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 1:21-28 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

Jesus and the four disciples came to the town of Capernaum. There is a house of prayer there. It was where the Jews gathered together every Sabbath to pray, to teach, to listen. It was the Sabbath day. Jesus went in there. He began to teach. The people listened attentively. They wondered:

— How is he teaching? There used to be teachers of the law, but here he was different; it was as if God had given him authority.

The people marveled. Suddenly some man jumped up. Satan was in him. He began to shout fearfully:

— You, Jesus of Nazareth! Why have you come here to us? You are planning to destroy us! I know you! God has chosen you!

Jesus looked at him and said:

— Be quiet! The demon in this man, get out!

The demon inside the man began to scream and thrash and jumped out, and the man fell down. The people around marveled, people began to say:

— How can this be? Jesus has the power to command Satan and Satan obeys.

The rumor of this miracle spread everywhere.

Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):

Иисус вместе с четырьмя учениками прибыли в город Капернаум. Там есть дом молитвы. Туда каждую субботу собирались иудеи вместе, чтобы молиться, учить, слушать. Был день суббота. Иисус зашел туда. Начал учить. Народ слушал внимательно. Все удивлялись:

— Как это он учит? Раньше ходили учителя закона, но вот он совсем другой; как будто бы Бог дал ему власть.

Народ удивлялся. Вдруг вскочил какой-то человек. Сатана был в нем. Он начал страшно кричать:

— Ты, Иисус из Назарета! Ты зачем пришел сюда к нам? Ты задумал нас истребить! Я знаю тебя! Бог избрал тебя!

Иисус посмотрел на него и сказал:

— Замолчи! Бес в этом человеке, выйди вон!

Бес внутри человека стал кричать, биться и выскочил вон, а человек упал. Народ вокруг изумился, люди начали говорить:

— Как же это?! Иисус имеет власть приказывать сатане и сатана слушается.

Слух об этом чуде стал распространяться повсюду.

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

<< Mark 1:14-20 in Russian Sign Language

Mark 1:29-39 in Russian Sign Language >>

Sabbath

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “Sabbath” in English is rendered as “day we rest” in Tzotzil, in Mairasi as “Jew’s Rest Day,” in Quiotepec Chinantec as “day when people of Israel rested,” in Shilluk as “day of God,” in Obolo as Usen Mbuban or “Holy Day,” and in Mandarin Chinese as ānxírì (安息日) or “rest day” (literally: “peace – rest – day”).

(Sources: Tzotzil: Marion Cowan in Notes on Translation with Drill, p. 169ff; Mairasi: Enggavoter 2004; Quiotepec Chinantec: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.; Shilluk: Nida 1964, p. 237; Obolo: Enene Enene; Chinese: Jost Zetzsche)

In the old Khmer version as well as in the first new translation this term was rendered as “day of rest” (Thngai Chhup Somrak / ​ថ្ងៃ​ឈប់​សំរាក). Considered inadequate to convey its religious meaning (not only about cessation of work, but also in honor of Yahweh as the Creator), the committee for the Today’s Khmer Version (publ. 2005) decided to keep the Hebrew word and use its transliterated form Thgnai Sabath (​ថ្ងៃ​សប្ប័ទ). “The Buddhist word Thngai Seil ‘day of merits’ used by some Catholics was once under consideration but was rejected because it did not receive unanimous support.” (Source: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1996, p. 233ff.)

In Spanish, the translation is either día de reposo (“day of rest”) or sábado (usually: “Saturday,” derived from the Greek and Hebrew original. Nida (1947, p. 239f.) explains that problem for Spanish and other languages in its sphere of influence: “In translation ‘Sabbath’ into various aboriginal languages of Latin America, a considerable number of translators have used the Spanish sábado, ‘Saturday,’ because it is derived from the Hebrew sabbath and seems to correspond to English usage as well. The difficulty is that sábado means only ‘Saturday’ for most people. There is no religious significance about this word as the is with ‘Sabbath’ in English. Accordingly the [readers] cannot understand the significance of the persecution of Jesus because he worked on ‘Saturday.’ It has been found quite advantageous to use the translation ‘day of rest,’ for this accurately translated the Hebrew meaning of the term and resolves the problem in connection with the prohibitions placed upon some types of activities.”

In French Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts closing of the blinds of a store:


“Sabbath” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

synagogue, temple (inner), temple (outer)

In many English translations the Greek terms “hieron” (the whole “temple” in Jerusalem or specifically the outer courts open to worshippers) and “naos” (the inner “shrine” or “sanctuary”) are translated with only one word: “temple” (see also for instance “Tempel” in German [for exception see below] and “tempel” in Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans).

Other languages make a distinction: (Click or tap here to see more)

  • Navajo: “house in which worship is carried out” (for naos)
  • Balinese: “inner part of the Great Temple” (“the term ‘inner part’ denoting the hindmost and holiest of the two or three courts that temples on Bali usually possess”) vs. “Great Temple”
  • Telugu: “womb (i.e. interior)-of-the-abode” vs. “abode”
  • Thai: a term denoting the main audience hall of a Buddhist temple compound vs. “environs-of-the-main-audience-hall”
  • Kituba: “place of holiness of house-God Lord” vs. “house-God Lord”
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “deep in God’s house” vs. “God’s house” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “inner court of the temple” (Tempelinnenhof) vs. “temple”

Languages that, like English, German, Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans don’t make that distinction include:

  • Mandarin Chinese: “聖殿 Shèng diàn” (“holy palace”)
  • Loma: “the holy place”
  • Pular: “the sacred house” (source for this and the one above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Zarma: “God’s compound”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “big church of the Jews”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “big house on top (i.e. most important)”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “house that is looked upon as holy, that is sacred, that is taboo and where one may not set foot” (lit. “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” — because taboo is violated — using a term that is also applied to a Muslim mosque) (source for this and the three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Mairasi: Janav Enggwarjer Weso: “Great Above One’s (God’s) House” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Noongar: Maya-maya-Kooranyi: “Sacred House” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “the big church of the Israelites”
  • Aguaruna: “the house for talking to God” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Guhu-Samane: “festival longhouse of God” (“The biiri, ‘festival longhouse’, being the religious and social center of the community, is a possible term for ‘temple’. It is not the ‘poro house’ as such. That would be too closely identified with the cult of poro. The physical features of the building, huge and sub-divided, lend it further favor for this consideration. By qualifying it as ‘God’s biiri’ the term has become meaningful and appropriate in the context of the Scriptures.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
  • Enga: “God’s restricted access house” (source: Adam Boyd on his blog)

Another distinction that tends to be overlooked in translations is that between hieron (“temple” in English) and sunagógé (“synagogue” in English). Euan Fry (in The Bible Translator 1987, p. 213ff. ) reports on this:

“Many older translations have simply used transliterations of ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ rather than trying to find equivalent terms or meaningful expressions in their own languages. This approach does keep the two terms separate; but it makes the readers depend on explanations given by pastors or teachers for their understanding of the text.

“Translators who have tried to find meaningful equivalents, for the two terms ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ have usually made a distinction between them in one of two ways (which focus on the contrasting components of meaning). One way takes the size and importance of the Temple to make a contrast, so that expressions such as ‘sacred meeting/ worship house of the Jews’ and ‘big sacred meeting/worship house of the Jews’ are used. The other way focuses on the different nature of the religious activity at each of the places, so that expressions such as ‘meeting/worship house of the Jews’ and ‘sacrifice/ceremony place of the Jews’ are used.

“It is not my purpose in this article to discuss how to arrive at the most precise equivalent to cover all the components of meaning of ‘temple’. That is something that each translator really has to work through for himself in the light of the present usage and possibilities in his own language. My chief concern here is that the basic term or terms chosen for ‘temple’ should give the reader of a translation a clear and correct picture of the location referred to in each passage. And I am afraid that in many cases where an equivalent like ‘house of God’ or ‘worship house’ has been chosen, the readers have quite the wrong picture of what going to the Temple or being in the Temple means. (This may be the case for the word ‘temple’ in English too, for many readers.)”

Here are some examples:

  • Bambara: “house of God” (or: “big house of worship”) vs. “worship house” (or: “small houses of worship”)
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” (see above) vs. “meeting house for discussing matters concerning religious customs” (and “church” is “house where one meets on Sunday”)
  • Navajo: “house in which worship is carried out” vs. “house of gathering” (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida)
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Herod’s temple (source: Bible Lands 2012)

Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing synagogues in New Testament times (source: Bible Lands 2012)

See also this devotion on YouVersion .

complete verse (Mark 1:21)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 1:21:

  • Uma: “From there, Yesus with his followers went to Kapernaum-town. On the Yahudi worship day, he entered into the worship house and began to teach.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Isa and company went to the town Kapernaum. When Saturday came, the day of-no-work of the Yahudi, Isa went to the prayer-house to preach/teach to the people.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “They went to the town Capernaum, and when it was Saturday which is the Day of Rest, Jesus went into the Church of the Jews and there Jesus taught the people.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Plural Jesus went to Capernaum. On the day for-resting, they entered the sinagoga (synagogue), and Jesus began to teach.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “They went to Capernaum. When it was the Day of Rest, they entered the worship-place and then Jesus taught there.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “Then they arrived at Capernaum. Then on the very day to rest, having entered into the small house to praise God in. he taught them.” (Source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
  • Balinese: “Then He together with those followers went to the city Kapernaum. There, when it was Sabat, He entered the place of worship and gave teaching.” (Source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950 p. 75ff. )

Translation commentary on Mark 1:21

Text:

Instead of eiselthōn eis tēn sunagōgēn edidasken ‘entering into the synagogue he taught’ in Textus Receptus, Westcott and Hort, Souter, Vogels, Nestle, Lagrange, and Merk, the reading edidasken eis tōn sunagōgēn ‘he taught in the synagogue’ is adopted by Tischendorf, Soden, Turner, Taylor, and Kilpatrick. The evidence, both external and internal, entitles this reading to consideration.

Exegesis:

eisporeuontai … eiselthōn … edidasken ‘they went into … he entered … and taught’: on the change from the third plural of the first verb to the third singular of the next two verbs.

eisporeumai (4.19; 5.40; 6.56; 7.15, 18, 19; 11.2) ‘enter’: here is another use of the Marcan historical present.

euthus tois sabbasin ‘immediately on the sabbath’: the phrase indicates the following Sabbath (cf. The Modern Speech New Testament, Lagrange).

tois sabbasin ‘on the sabbath.’ The plural sabbata ‘sabbaths’ is a Greek transliteration of the Aramaic sabathaʾ, taken as a plural form; the singular sabbaton ‘sabbath’ was formed from this (spurious) plural (cf. Abbott-Smith). The Septuagint uses both sabbaton (sg.) and sabbata (pl.). The meaning is not that of several Sabbaths; when feasts are mentioned the plural form is commonly used (cf. 6.21; 14.1; John 10.22). The dative case used to indicate time is, as Lagrange points out, a classical construction.

edidasken (17 times in Mark ‘taught’; although some do not agree, Moule sees in the imperfect tense of this verb what is called the inceptive force, i.e. an emphasis upon the beginning of the action ‘he began to teach.’ The Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale translates se mit à enseigner.

sunagōgē (1.23, 29, 39; 3.1; 6.2; 12.39; 13.9) ‘synagogue.’ The original meaning of the word is that of the act of ‘gathering’ from sunagō ‘gather,’ ‘collect’); the name is then applied to the place, or building in which this gathering takes place.

Translation:

Went into must in some languages be changed to ‘arrived at’ (Zapotec), for though one may ‘enter into’ a house, a town is regarded as a different type of object, and hence one may ‘arrive at’ but not ‘go in.’

At least at this first occurrence of Capernaum it may be wise to introduce a classifier, e.g. ‘they arrived at town Capernaum, its name’ (Tzeltal).

Immediately on the sabbath may be rendered as ‘as soon as it was…’ or ‘scarcely was it the sabbath when….’

Sabbath (see Bible Translating, 239-40) is most generally translated as ‘rest day’ or ‘day for resting’ (Central Tarahumara, South Bolivian Quechua, Kituba, Yucateco, Highland Totonac, Western Highland Purepecha, Chol, Cashibo-Cacataibo, Amganad Ifugao, Tagalog, Joloana); cf. ‘day of standstill (of work)’ in Toraja-Sa’dan. Some persons have used ‘God’s day,’ but this tends to be confused with Sunday. One translation employed a phrase ‘fear day,’ a traditional form of expression which was supposed to mean ‘day for reverence,’ but it was quite an inadequate means of expression. One can, of course, transliterate the word sabbath, but in some regions this may lead to difficulty, too. For example, the Spanish equivalent is sabado ‘Saturday,’ and any transliterated (or borrowed) form will suggest ‘Saturday,’ which is in no sense recognized as a day of rest or one with any special religious significance.

Some translators have transliterated synagogue, but on the whole this is not a very satisfactory procedure, despite the fact that there are difficulties in translation since an expression chosen for synagogue tends to be confused with forms used for ‘temple’ and ‘church.’ In Toraja-Sa’dan a synagogue is ‘meeting house for discussing matters concerning religious customs’; a church is ‘house where one meets on Sunday’ and a temple is ‘house that is looked upon as holy, that is sacred, that is taboo and where one may not set foot’ (lit. ‘house where one gets a swollen stomach’). In Bambara a synagogue is ‘a worship house’ and the temple is ‘house of God’; a church is designated by a borrowed term eglise. In Navajo a synagogue is a ‘house of gathering’ and the temple ‘a house of worship.’ In some languages it has seemed expedient to identify the difference between a church and a synagogue by qualifying a synagogue as being used by Jews, e.g. ‘Jews’ praise-God house’ (Southern Bobo Madaré). An even closer parallel to church is found in ‘church of Jews’ for synagogue (Mitla Zapotec, Highland Oaxaca Chontal). Because of the fact that the ancient synagogues were also used as a place for the instruction of children during the week, some translators have used ‘school house,’ but this is inadequate to convey the religious significance of the structure.

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 .