convulse

The Greek that is translated as “convulsions” or similar in English is translated in Low German idiomatically with the reduplicative rüttel un schüttel for “shake” (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006).

with a loud voice

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “with a loud voice” in English is translated in Low German idiomatically as luuthals or “loud-throated” (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006).

It is also used in Acts 19:28 for krazó (κράζω).

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 >>

complete verse (Mark 1:26)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 1:26:

  • Uma: “That person shook/trembled because of the evil spirit, and he cried out, and the evil spirit that possessed [rode] him came out.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then the man was convulsed by the demon and after the demon had screamed/shouted, he came out from the man.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And immediately the demon caused that man to have convulsions and caused him to scream loudly, and the demon came out of him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Whereupon the spirit caused-that man -to-convulse while-simultaneously he made-him -scream, and then he left him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “That person was again caused to convulse by that evil spirit who was possessing him. And then it cried out as it left his body.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “Then the ruinous demon twisted him. Having twisted him, it screamed out greatly. It came out of him.” (Source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
  • Balinese: “The demon(s) tormented the man so that he jerked, then went out while he (or they) screamed, loudly.” (Source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950 p. 75ff. )

Translation commentary on Mark 1:26

Exegesis:

sparaxan (9.26) ‘convulsing.’ The word clearly points to a seizure, a convulsion (cf. 9.20, Lk. 9.39). A man suffering an attack of this sort is described as anthrōpos sparattomenos ‘a man convulsed.’

to pneuma to akatharton ‘the unclean spirit’ is in the nominative case, and is the subject of all the verbs in the verse.

sparaxan … kai phōnēsan ‘convulsing … and shouting’ are both aorist participles, whose action is simultaneous with that of the main verb exēlthen ‘went out.’ The Revised Standard Version “crying” should not be understood in the sense of weeping.

Translation:

Convulsing him should be translated by a term used to identify such types of seizures as occur in epilepsy. It is not enough to say ‘shook him.’ Such fits may of course be described in various ways in different languages. In Tzeltal, for example, such an attack is spoken of as ‘his wind was stopped.’

Crying with a loud voice is simply ‘yelled,’ but note that the spirit is the one who is credited with the scream, not the man.

In some languages the three actions of ‘convulsing,’ ‘yelling,’ and ‘coming out’ may have to be placed in a temporal sequence, but generally they can be rendered as ‘as the unclean spirit caused the man to have a fit and screamed out it came out of 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 .