high priest

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “high priest” in English is translated as “the ruler of the priests of our nation” in Yatzachi Zapotec, as “very great priest” in Chol (source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.), as “first over the priests” in Ayutla Mixtec, and “chief of the priests” in Desano (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.).

In Uma it is translated as “Big Priest,” in Western Bukidnon Manobo as “high sacrificer,” and in Tagbanwa as “Most-important Priest of God.” (See here.)

See also priest and chief priest.

complete verse (Mark 14:47)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 14:47:

  • Uma: “From there, one of the people standing near Yesus drew his sword, he hit a slave of the Big Priest with his, managing to slice off his ear.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But there was one of those standing close by, he drew his sword and slashed a servant of the leading priest, and severed his ear.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “But one of the persons there before drew out his sword and slashed at the servant of the high priest and it landed on his ear and cut it off.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Simultaneously one who was standing there drew his sword. He suddenly-sliced-at the slave of the highest priest and his ear was sliced-off.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When one of the disciples saw, he drew his bolo and slashed. The one he slashed was a slave of the Most-important Priest. The ear which got hit was cut off.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 14:47

Exegesis:

heis … tis (cf. 5.22) ‘a certain one’: Lagrange thinks this indicates that this person was known to the author.

tōn parestēkoton (4.29) ‘of those standing by,’ ‘of those present’ (for this use of the perfect participle hoi parestēkotes ‘bystanders,’ cf. 14.69, 70; 15.35). The vague language does not identify the man as a disciple, and seems to exclude, perhaps purposely, such identification.

spasamenos (only here in Mark) ‘drawing (his sword)’: this does not necessarily mean, strictly, ‘drawing out of a scabbard.’ It may mean generally ‘pulling’ or ‘brandishing.’

epaisen (only here in Mark) ‘he struck,’ ‘he hit’: here with the resultant meaning ‘he wounded.’

ton doulon (cf. 10.44) ‘the slave.’

tou archiereōs (cf. 2.17) ‘of the high priest’: here, of course the high priest of the time (identified in the other Gospels as Caiaphas).

apheilen (only here in Mark) ‘he took away,’ ‘he cut off.’

ōtarion (only here in Mark; the diminutive of ous 4.9) ‘ear’: though the diminutive of ous, it is equal in meaning to it. Taylor suggests that the lobe of the ear may be intended by the word here.

Translation:

Drew his sword may be rendered as ‘pulled out his sword’ or ‘showed his sword.’ In some languages, of course, sword is merely ‘a huge knife’ or machete.

It is not necessary to make a distinction between the attributives employed in ‘chief priests’ and ‘high priest.’ (In Greek the terms are the same; the only difference is the plural and singular contrast.) In many languages therefore chief priests are merely ‘the big priests’ and high priest is ‘the big priest.’ In some instances, one may say ‘the biggest priest’ for ‘the high priest,’ since there was technically only one high priest at a time. Of course, instead of ‘big’ one may use an equivalent of ‘great,’ ‘important,’ ‘head,’ or ‘high.’

Many societies distinguish carefully between servants and slaves, but where this is not done, one may often employ certain descriptive terms, e.g. ‘one compelled to work without wages’ or ‘man who was owned by.’ In some languages the term used for the lowest grade of servants seems to be a fitting equivalent of slave.

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 .