complete verse (Mark 14:11)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 14:11:

  • Uma: “They were happy to hear his plan, and they promised to give him money. From there, Yudas searched for a good opportunity to sell Yesus to his enemies.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Na, when they heard what Judas said, they were very happy and they promised to give him money. So-then after that, Judas looked out for a good time when he would hand Isa over to them.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when the leaders knew why he had come, they were very much pleased. They promised to give Judas money. And beginning from then, Judas was looking for a way to betray Jesus.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Great was their happiness and they promised to give him money. Then Judas began to search for his opportunity to betray Jesus.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When those Judas had gone to heard, they were glad, and promised they would give him money. Well from then on, Judas looked for a time when he could hand-over Jesus to those who wanted to arrest (him).” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 14:11

Exegesis:

echarēsan (15.18) ‘they were glad,’ ‘they rejoiced.’

epēggeilanto (only here in Mark) ‘they promised’: this is the normal meaning of the middle form of the verb epaggellō ‘announce,’ ‘proclaim.’

argurion (only here in Mark) ‘silver,’ i.e. ‘money.’

ezētei pōs (cf. v. 1) ‘he was seeking how,’ ‘he was considering in what way.’

eukairōs (only here in Mark; cf. eukairos 6.21; eukaireō 6.31) ‘conveniently,’ ‘opportunely.’

Translation:

Heard it gives rise to certain difficulties in translating, since some languages do not possess such a general third person neuter pronoun. In Greek there is no pronoun at all, but some languages cannot use a verb such as ‘hear,’ without specifying an object, e.g. ‘heard what he said,’ or ‘heard his offer.’

Money, which is entirely indefinite in Greek and English, may need some additional qualifier in another language, e.g. ‘some money’ or ‘an amount of money.’

Sought an opportunity may be rendered ‘was looking for a good way to’ or ‘was trying to find a good chance to.’

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 .