Διδάσκαλε, Μωϋσῆς ἔγραψεν ἡμῖν ὅτι " ἐάν τινος ἀδελφὸς ἀποθάνῃ" καὶ καταλίπῃ γυναῖκα " καὶ μὴ ἀφῇ τέκνον", ἵνα " λάβῃ ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ ἐξαναστήσῃ σπέρμα τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ."
19“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.
Many languages have terms for siblings that define whether one is younger or older in relation to another sibling.
The Greek that is translated as “a man’s brother” in English is translated in Chilcotin as ˀeyen ya ˀeŝqi ˀatalilh gwech´ez bunagh (“a younger brother who was born after [a man] his older brother”). (Source: Quindel King)
The Greek that is translated as “raise up children for his brother” or similar in English is translated in Copainalá Zoque as “have children with her who will carry on the older brother’s name,” in Central Tarahumara as “those children are to be as though they were the dead brother’s children,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “he is to have children with her so that in this way his brother’s race will not end,” in Tzotzil as “so that she will have a child who will bear the name of his late brother,” and in Southern Puebla Mixtec as “be like the children of the dead.” (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “widow” in English is translated in West Kewa as ona wasa or “woman shadow.” (Source: Karl J. Franklin in Notes on Translation 70/1978, pp. 13ff.)
The etymological meaning of the Hebrew almanah (אַלְמָנָה) is likely “pain, ache,” the Greek chéra (χήρα) is likely “to leave behind,” “abandon,” and the English widow (as well as related terms in languages such as Dutch, German, Sanskrit, Welsh, or Persian) is “to separate,” “divide” (source: Wiktionary).
See also widows.
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “brother” in English is translated in Kwere as sekulu and in Mandarin Chinese as gēgē (哥哥), both “older brother.”
Note that Kwere also uses lumbu — “older sibling” in some cases. (Source for Kwere: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including Jesus).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 12:19:
The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff.)
“Moses” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España
American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here).
In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:
“Moses” in French Sign Language (source )
The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).
Even at the time of his translation, Jerome likely was not the only one making that decision as this recent article alludes to.
In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).
“Moses” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz
In Estonian Sign Language Moses is depicted with a big beard. (Source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff.)
Exegesis:
didaskale (cf. 4.38) ‘teacher.’
hēmin ‘for us (Jews)’ – not simply ‘for us Sadducees.’
hoti ‘that’: may be taken as introducing indirect discourse (as done by Revised Standard Version) and so translated ‘that’; it is more probable, however, that it serves here to introduce a quotation as direct discourse (represented in English by colon and quotation marks; cf. Translator’s New Testament). The passage quoted is a free rendering of Deut. 25.5f.
apothanē (cf. 5.35) ‘(if) he die.’
katalipē (cf. 10.7) ‘(if) he leave.’
kai mē aphē ‘but (if) he not leave’: kai here is adversative. The verb aphiēmi (cf. 2.5) ‘leave’ is here equivalent to kataleipō of the previous clause.
teknon (cf. 2.5) ‘child’: here used generically, ‘children,’ ‘offspring.’
hina ‘in order that’: may be taken as dependent upon egrapsen ‘he wrote … that,’ giving the content of what Moses wrote, or else simply as imperatival, hina labē ‘he must take’ (equivalent to the Septuagint volitive future lēmpsetai ‘he shall take’).
labē … tēn gunaika ‘he take … the woman’: the phrase here and in vv. 20-21 indicates marriage, and not simply sexual possession, and means ‘take a wife.’
ho adelphos autou ‘his brother,’ that is, the brother of the dead man (and not the brother of the ‘someone,’ tinos, referred to in the previous clause, in which case it would be the dead man himself, or a third, unnamed, brother: that is why instead of ‘his brother’ in the Greek text, Revised Standard Version has ‘the man’ which makes for clarity and accuracy).
exanastēsē sperma tō adelphō autou ‘raise up seed for his brother,’ ‘produce descendants for his brother’: under the regulations of Levirate marriage, the child born to the marriage of a man with his brother’s widow would be accounted the son of the dead man. It is to be noticed that this clause in Mark is not an exact transcription of the Deuteronomic Law (Deut. 25.5f.) but recalls the language of Gen. 38.8-9.
exanistēmi (only here in Mark) ‘raise up’: not in the modern sense of ‘rearing’ or ‘bringing up’ children, but with the meaning of ‘causing to rise (or, appear),’ in the sense of begetting children.
sperma (cf. 4.31) ‘seed’: here figuratively and generically for ‘children,’ ‘offspring.’
Translation:
For us should not be interpreted as an exclusive first person plural reference, as some translators have done, for though the Sadducees had a particular purpose in asking this question, as related to their interpretation of the law, certainly Jesus was included by the Sadducees in the group who were the recipients of the law of Moses.
Wrote … that if … but … the man must take … and raise up … is a very complex form of indirect discourse. In some instances it is wise to simplify the structure in accordance with the regular patterns of the receptor language, e.g. ‘wrote for us these words, If a man’s brother dies…’ or ‘wrote for us, If a man’s brother dies…,’ thus adapting the form to direct discourse.
Man’s brother must often be ‘man’s older brother,’ since so many languages make a distinction between older and younger, especially in this type of context.
Leaves a wife may be changed in perspective to read ‘his wife is alone and has no children’ or ‘leaves his widow without any children.’
The man must be translated as ‘the younger brother’ in languages in which a clear distinction between younger and older brother must be preserved. Of course, it was not absolutely necessary that the levirate relationship be between brothers of successive ages, but that would be the more normal relationship, and in this context this is obviously the order.
Must take the wife must be translated in such a way as to avoid any concept of improper relations, e.g. ‘must marry the widow’ or ‘must marry the woman.’ In most languages the technical term for ‘wife’ must be avoided, since in many societies she is no longer legally the wife of the deceased.
Raise up children is a very specialized kind of idiom which must be changed in most languages, e.g. ‘have children,’ ‘produce children.’ The use of ‘raising up seed’ (which is the literal translation of the Greek) must generally be avoided, since it is likely to be either meaningless (any meaning it might have would refer to plants) or be very vulgar, as a reference to sexual intercourse.
For his brother is neatly expressed in Cashibo-Cacataibo as ‘for the name of his brother,’ indicating that the children would bear the name of the dead brother. In the Tabasco Chontal the precise relationship must be expressed as ‘to produce children by his sister-in-law for his older brother.’
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 .
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