complete verse (Mark 14:52)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 14:52:

  • Uma: “so he took of his sarong and fled naked.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But he left his wrap-around behind and ran-away naked.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “however he struggled and got away naked, for he left his blanket behind, held onto by the people.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But he abruptly-flung-it-off and abruptly-ran-away naked.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But that with which he had cloaked himself got removed. Naked was how he ran away.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 14:52

Text:

At the end of the verse Textus Receptus, Soden, Vogels, Merk, and Kilpatrick add ap’ autōn ‘from them,’ which is omitted by the majority of modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

katalipōn (cf. 10.7) ‘leaving,’ ‘leaving behind.’

gumnos ‘naked’: here it is an adjective, modifying the subject of the verb.

ephugen (cf. v. 50) ‘fled,’ ‘ran away.’

Translation:

Left must not be understood in the sense of ‘laying the cloth down’ as some translations imply. In Navajo the rendering is accurate and idiomatic, ‘he ran out of the cloth red,’ in which ‘red’ is a term meaning ‘naked.’

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 .