complete verse (Mark 15:3)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 15:3:

  • Uma: “There were all kinds of charges that the leading priests announced to Pilatus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Na, the leaders of the priests accused him of much.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The chief priests accused Jesus of many things,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The leaders of the priests, many-things were what-they -accused-Jesus -of.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Very many things were then being brought out by the chiefs of the priests which they held against Jesus.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 15:3 – 15:4

Text:

In v. 4 instead of katēgorousin ‘they bring charges against’ of the modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has katamarturousin ‘they are witnessing against.’

Exegesis:

katēgoroun (cf. 3.2) ‘they were bringing charges against’: this is a technical term used of bringing charges in court against someone.

polla (cf. 1.45) may be adverbial ‘much,’ ‘strongly,’ ‘insistently,’ or adjectival ‘many things’ (Revised Standard Version), ‘many accusations’ (Moffatt).

ouk apokrinē ouden; (cf. 14.60) ‘do you answer nothing?,’ ‘do you not answer anything?’

ide (cf. 2.24) ‘see!,’ ‘look!’

posa (cf. 6.38) ‘how many (things),’ ‘how many (charges) they bring against you’: posa parallels polla of v. 3.

Translation:

Accused him of many things may be translated as ‘said that he had done many bad things.’

In some instances one may not speak of ‘having … an answer,’ but rather ‘being able … to answer.’ Accordingly, one may say, ‘Are you not able to reply to these accusations’ or ‘are you unable to defend yourself against what they say.’

See cannot be translated literally in many languages since what occurred was ‘heard,’ not ‘seen.’ Hence, one may render this passage as ‘hear how many accusation….’

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 .