sign

The Greek that is typically translated in English as “sign” is translated in Huehuetla Tepehua as “thing to be marveled at” (source: Larson 1889, p. 279) and in Mairasi as “big work” (source: Enggavoter 2004).

Mark 1:29-39 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 1:29-39 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

House of Prayer. Jesus came out of there. He had two disciples with him, James and John. They came to the house of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was there. She had a fever. She was sick and lying down. Jesus went into the house. And heard that his mother-in-law was lying sick. And Jesus went in and saw her lying there. He took her by the hand and began to lift her up. The mother-in-law got up and suddenly found that there was no fever! She was healthy! She was very happy. And she began cheerfully to prepare food and distribute it.

There were many people gathered in the city of Capernaum. They were all waiting for the sun to set. There were many sick people there who were possessed by demons. Many people were brought to Simon’s house. The sick were being put together and they took up all the space around Simon’s house. They waited for Jesus to come out. Jesus came out and treated the sick: He healed one, cured another, cast out a demon from a demon possessed man. The demons inside the possessed wanted to talk about Jesus, but he forbade them! Jesus healed one, another, and a third. He cast out demons from one man and another. And all this was until late at night.

Early in the morning, when the sun had just risen, Jesus quietly went out of Simon’s house and looked for a deserted place. Jesus began to pray earnestly to God. And Simon and the men began to look for Jesus everywhere, and they searched and searched and searched, and finally they found him. And they said:

— There are people there, they are all waiting for you. Let’s go!

Jesus answered them:

— No. I came here, why? I need to tell everyone about God. You follow me.

There are many different villages in Galilee. Jesus came to these villages – one, another, another, another — went into the house of prayer of the Jews, taught there, cast out demons from people who were possessed by demons. So he came to many villages.

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

Дом молитвы. Иисус вышел оттуда. С ним были два ученика Иаков и Иоанн. Они пришли к дому Симона и Андрея. Там была теща Симона. У нее повысилась температура. Она заболела и лежала. Иисус зашел в дом. И услышал, что теща лежит больная. Ииусу зашел и видит, что она лежит. Он взял ее за руку и стал поднимать. Теща поднялась и вдруг обнаружила, что температуры нет! Она здоровая! Она очень обрадовалась. И она начала бодро готовить еду и раздавать ее.

В городе Капернауме собралось много людей. Они все ждали, когда солнце зайдет. Там было очень много больных, одержимых бесами. Многих людей приносили к дому Симона. Больных складывали, они заняли все место вокруг дома Симона. Они ждали, когда Иисус выйдет. Иисус вышел и лечил больных: одного исцелил, другого исцелил, из одержимого бесом изгнал беса. Бесы внутри одержимых хотели говорить об Иисусе, но Он запрещал им! Исцелял Иисус одного, другого, третьего. Бесов изгонял из одного, другого человека. И все это было до глубокой ночи.

Рано утром, когда только солнце взошло, Иисус тихонько вышел из дома Симона и искал пустынное место. Иисус начал усердно молиться Богу. А Симон и его люди стали искать Иисуса повсюду, искали-искали и, наконец, нашли. И сказали:

— Там люди, они все ждут тебя. Пойдем!

Иисус им ответил:

— Нет. Я пришел сюда, зачем? Мне нужно всем рассказать о Боге. Вы идите за мной.

В Галилее есть много разных селений. Иисус приходил в эти селения — в одно, другое, третье — заходил в дом молитвы евреев, учил там, изгонял бесов из людей, одержимых бесами. Так он приходил во многие селения.

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

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Mark 1:40-45 in Russian Sign Language >>

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Mark 13:4)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

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 exclusive form (excluding Jesus).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (Mark 13:4)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 13:4:

  • Uma: “They said: ‘Tell us (excl.) when what you said earlier will happen, and what will be the sign when all that is about to happen.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “They asked Isa, they said, ‘Tell us (excl.), when will those things that you talked about happen? What is the sign that will appear when all that will soon happen?'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “‘Tell us when will be the time when this will happen and what signs will take place so that we will know when is the time when all these things you talked about a while ago will take place.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘Please tell when that will be done and what sign will be our (excl.) means-of-recognizing that the fulfillment of all these is near.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “‘When is it,’ they said, ‘that those things you said will happen, and what are the signs that all of that will now be fulfilled?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 13:4

Exegesis:

pote (cf. 9.19) ‘when?’

tauta ‘these things’: refers back to the statement that not one stone of the Temple would be left standing on another. In the next clause tauta … panta ‘all these things’ would appear to include more than the single tauta of the first clause. A reasonable explanation is offered by Lagrange who takes ‘all these things’ to refer to everything connected with the destruction of the Temple, the destruction itself being only one of a series of events. The second question, then, represents an expansion of the first one, in normal Semitic style.

sēmeion (cf. 8.11) ‘sign’: here in the sense of a ‘token’ or ‘indication’ pointing to the events referred to. In this context the ‘sign’ asked for would be an indication that the events were about to take place.

hotan mellē tauta sunteleisthai panta ‘when all these things are about to be accomplished.’

hotan (cf. 11.19) ‘when’: indicates one single event.

mellō (cf. 10.32) ‘about to be,’ ‘on the point of.’

sunteleō (only here in Mark) ‘to fulfil,’ ‘accomplish’: the meaning ‘come to an end’ is suggested as possible here by Arndt & Gingrich.

Translation:

Tell us may require a shift to ‘answer us,’ since questions follow.

This, which is an ambiguous or obscure reference, may require a translation by ‘what you said’ (Tzeltal) if the meaning is to be intelligible.

For sign see 8.11.

Accomplished is translatable only as ‘happen’ in some languages.

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 .