soldier

The Greek that is translated as “soldier” in English didn’t have a direct equivalent in Enlhet so it was translated with “those that bind us” (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. ) and in Noongar it is mammarapa-bakadjiny or “men of fighting” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

complete verse (Mark 15:16)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 15:16:

  • Uma: “After that the soldiers took Yesus to their dwelling in the Gubernur’s house, and they called all their companions to come.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then Isa was taken by the soldiers to the yard of the palace of the governor. And they called all the soldiers of one company to gather.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Then the soldiers brought Jesus inside the yard of the palace of the governor, and they gathered together the whole company of soldiers.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The soldiers brought-in Jesus to the house of the governor and gathered-together all their companions.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Jesus was taken by the soldiers inside the house of the governor. And then they gathered together all their fellow soldiers.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 15:16

Exegesis:

stratiōtai (only here in Mark) ‘soldiers’: these are probably soldiers of Pilate himself (as Mt. 27.27 has it).

apēgagon (cf. 14.44) ‘they led away,’ ‘they took off.’

esō tēs aulēs (cf. 14.54) ‘inside the court’: here aulē is the ‘court’ of a prince, from which the sense ‘palace’ derives. By Suidas the word was defined as ‘the house of the king’ (cf. Moulton & Milligan).

esō ‘within,’ ‘inside’: only here in the N.T. does esō function as a preposition.

praitōrion ‘praetorium’ is a Latin loanword praetorium, the governor’s official residence (cf. the many examples in Moulton & Milligan).

sugkalousin (only here in Mark) ‘they call together,’ ‘they summon.’

holēn tēn speiran (only here in Mark is speira used) ‘the whole cohort,’ ‘the entire contingent (of men),’ ‘the whole detachment’ speira is the Greek word which translates the Latin cohors, normally composed of 600 men (i.e. one-tenth of the legion). It is not necessary to suppose, however, that anywhere near that number of soldiers were there present or took part in the mockery.

Translation:

Palace is often ‘the house of the ruler’ or ‘the governor’s building.’

That is, the praetorium may be treated as an explanatory phrase, involving a transliteration of praetorium, but this may not be very meaningful, for explanatory additions are supposed to elucidate, while in this instance praetorium would mean much less than a translation of palace. Accordingly, some translators have rendered the passage as ‘that is the place called praetorium,’ in order that the word may be readily identified as a borrowing.

The whole battalion may be ‘the rest of the group of soldiers,’ for the soldiers mentioned as subject of the sentence also belonged to this same battalion.

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 .