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The Greek that is usually translated as “scribe” in English “were more than mere writers of the law. They were the trained interpreters of the law and expounders of tradition.”

Here are a number of its (back-) translations:

  • Yaka: “clerk in God’s house”
  • Amganad Ifugao: “man who wrote and taught in the synagogue”
  • Navajo: “teaching-writer” (“an attempt to emphasize their dual function”)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “book-wise person”
  • San Blas Kuna: “one who knew the Jews’ ways”
  • Loma: “educated one”
  • San Mateo del Mar Huave: “one knowing holy paper”
  • Central Mazahua: “writer of holy words”
  • Indonesian: “expert in the Torah”
  • Pamona: “man skilled in the ordinances” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Sinhala: “bearer-of-the-law”
  • Marathi: “one-learned-in-the-Scriptures”
  • Shona (1966): “expert of the law”
  • Balinese: “expert of the books of Torah”
  • Ekari: “one knowing paper/book”
  • Tboli: “one who taught the law God before caused Moses to write” (or “one who taught the law of Moses”) (source for this and 5 above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Noongar: Mammarapa-Warrinyang or “law man” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Mairasi: “one who writes and explains Great Above One’s (=God’s) prohibitions” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Chichewa: “teacher of Laws” (source: Ernst Wendland)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “teachers of law”
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “writer”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “person who teaches the law which Moses wrote”
  • Alekano: “man who knows wisdom” (source for this and four above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Saint Lucian Creole French: titcha lwa sé Jwif-la (“teacher of the law of the Jews”) (source: David Frank in Lexical Challenges in the St. Lucian Creole Bible Translation Project, 1998)
  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “one who teaches the holy writings”
  • Atatláhuca Mixtec: “teacher of the words of the law”
  • Coatlán Mixe: “teacher of the religious law”
  • Lalana Chinantec: “one who is a teacher of the law which God gave to Moses back then”
  • Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “one who know well the law” (Source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Huixtán Tzotzil: “one who mistakenly thought he was teaching God’s commandments”(Huixtán Tzotzil frequently uses the verb -cuy to express “to mistakenly think something” from the point of view of the speaker; source: Marion M. Cowan in Notes on Translation 20/1966, pp. 6ff.)
  • German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “theologian”
  • English translation by Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023): Covenant Code scholar

In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines the signs for “expert” and “law.” (Source: Anna Smith)


“Scribe” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

complete verse (Mark 12:38)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 12:38:

  • Uma: “When Yesus taught the crowds he said to them: ‘You be careful, don’t you imitate the character of the religion teachers. They are happy to walk around using/wearing long shirts/clothes, and they are happy when people on the edge of the main-street bow to greet them.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then while Isa was still teaching/preaching, he said, ‘Avoid/stay-away-from the teachers of the religious law. They like/are happy to walk-about dressed in long (robes) and they like/are happy to be greeted-touching-hands (sinalam) in the market-places.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And in his teaching he said, ‘Be on your guard so that you are not like the teachers of the law, for the only thing they like is walking around in long robes being honored by the people in the market.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Jesus continued to teach and he said, ‘Beware of the teachers of the law, because they like to wear fine/beautiful robes so that they thus have a means-of-being-recognized and they also like those who see them to honor them saying, ‘Where are you (sing.) going, sir?’ when they go visiting in the marketplace.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Jesus further said in that teaching of his, ‘Now,’ he said, ‘all of you be careful of the explainers of law, who love to walk about in long clothes which are the clothing of the great/important. And their pleasure is to be appropriately-greeted/acknowledged in places where there are many people.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 12:38

Exegesis:

en tē didachē autou ‘in his teaching,’ ‘while he was teaching’: didachē has here the active meaning of ‘act of teaching’ (cf. 1.22).

blepete apo (cf. 8.15) ‘watch out for,’ ‘be on the lookout against.’

tōn grammateōn tōn thelontōn ‘the scribes who like’: the participle thelontōn ‘liking’ having the article before it, is attributive, and so defines and particularizes the noun (‘the scribes’) it modifies. In essence Jesus is warning his disciples to watch out for those (particular) scribes who like to walk about, etc.: he is not, according to the wording of the text, accusing all scribes of ostentation and hypocrisy.

thelō (only here in participial form in Mark) ‘wish,’ ‘want’: here with the meaning ‘like.’

en stolais (cf. 16.5) ‘in robes’: here refers to a long flowing robe, the tallith, “denoting scholarship and piety.”

peripatein (cf. 2.9) ‘to walk,’ ‘to walk about.’

aspasmous (only here in Mark) ‘greetings,’ ‘formal salutations’ given them in their quality as religious leaders, including, perhaps, a low obsequious bow (cf. Lagrange). It is to be noticed that aspasmous is in the accusative case, the direct object of the participle thelontōn ‘liking.’

agorais (cf. 6.56) ‘market places,’ ‘town squares.’

Translation:

In his teaching (see 2.13) is often rendered as a verb expression, ‘as he taught’ or ‘when he was teaching,’ with ‘the people’ as object of ‘teaching’ if one must use a transitive verb requiring an object.

He or his may require the substitution of ‘Jesus.’

Long robes may be translated as ‘long clothes’ or ‘long coats’ (Navajo).

To have salutations usually requires a shift of subject expression, e.g. ‘they enjoy to have people greet them’ or ‘they like to have people give them a greeting.’ In Tzeltal this is rendered as ‘a strong greeting’ to indicate the obsequious nature of the salutation.

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 .