Sabbath

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “Sabbath” in English is rendered as “day we rest” in Tzotzil, in Mairasi as “Jew’s Rest Day,” in Quiotepec Chinantec as “day when people of Israel rested,” in Shilluk as “day of God,” in Obolo as Usen Mbuban or “Holy Day,” and in Mandarin Chinese as ānxírì (安息日) or “rest day” (literally: “peace – rest – day”).

(Sources: Tzotzil: Marion Cowan in Notes on Translation with Drill, p. 169ff; Mairasi: Enggavoter 2004; Quiotepec Chinantec: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.; Shilluk: Nida 1964, p. 237; Obolo: Enene Enene; Chinese: Jost Zetzsche)

In the old Khmer version as well as in the first new translation this term was rendered as “day of rest” (Thngai Chhup Somrak / ​ថ្ងៃ​ឈប់​សំរាក). Considered inadequate to convey its religious meaning (not only about cessation of work, but also in honor of Yahweh as the Creator), the committee for the Today’s Khmer Version (publ. 2005) decided to keep the Hebrew word and use its transliterated form Thgnai Sabath (​ថ្ងៃ​សប្ប័ទ). “The Buddhist word Thngai Seil ‘day of merits’ used by some Catholics was once under consideration but was rejected because it did not receive unanimous support.” (Source: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1996, p. 233ff.)

In Spanish, the translation is either día de reposo (“day of rest”) or sábado (usually: “Saturday,” derived from the Greek and Hebrew original. Nida (1947, p. 239f.) explains that problem for Spanish and other languages in its sphere of influence: “In translation ‘Sabbath’ into various aboriginal languages of Latin America, a considerable number of translators have used the Spanish sábado, ‘Saturday,’ because it is derived from the Hebrew sabbath and seems to correspond to English usage as well. The difficulty is that sábado means only ‘Saturday’ for most people. There is no religious significance about this word as the is with ‘Sabbath’ in English. Accordingly the [readers] cannot understand the significance of the persecution of Jesus because he worked on ‘Saturday.’ It has been found quite advantageous to use the translation ‘day of rest,’ for this accurately translated the Hebrew meaning of the term and resolves the problem in connection with the prohibitions placed upon some types of activities.”

In French Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts closing of the blinds of a store:


“Sabbath” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

complete verse (Mark 15:42)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 15:42:

  • Uma: “The day Yesus was crucified was the preparing day, that means the day before the worship day, and according to the Yahudi custom beginning that evening it was taboo to work. So, when it was almost sundown,” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “It was the Preparation day, that means, it was the day before the day of-no-work. When it was the afternoon of that day, Yusup arrived there.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When it was late-afternoon on that day which was when-the Jews -prepared for the day for-resting,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “That day was called the Preparing. Well, for the reason that when the sun set the Day of Rest would begin, that’s why when it was late-afternoon,” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 15:42

Exegesis:

ēdē opsias genomenēs ‘evening having already arrived,’ ‘when evening had now come’: ordinarily the phrase opsias genomenēs in Mark (cf. the references in 4.35) would indicate sunset or after, especially with the addition of ēdē (cf. 6.35; 11.11) ‘already,’ ‘by now.’ Here, however, it seems that all that Joseph of Arimathea did took place between the ninth hour (3:00 P.M.), when Jesus died, and sunset, which would mark the beginning of the sabbath (cf. Lagrange). Jeremias points out that Mark has a habit of using a second time reference precisely to define the first one, and refers to 1.32; 1.35; 4.35; 13.24; 14.12; 14.30; 16.2: here, therefore, evening is approaching, but it is still the day of Preparation, before sabbath begins at 6:00 P.M.

epei (only here in Mark) ‘since,’ ‘because.’

paraskeuē (only here in Mark; cf. Mt. 27.62, Lk. 23.54, Jn. 19.14) ‘day of preparation’ (from paraskeuazō ‘prepare’), i.e. Friday, the day the Jews made preparation for the sabbath. Josephus indicates that the preparation for the sabbath usually began after the ninth hour (3:00 P.M.) on Friday afternoon.

prosabbaton (only here in the N.T.) ‘before the sabbath.’

Translation:

Evening had come is probably best translated as ‘late in the afternoon’ or ‘becoming dusk.’

Day of preparation may be ‘day of preparing,’ but if the verb ‘preparing’ is only transitive, one may need to add ‘the feast,’ i.e. ‘day for preparing the feast.’

For sabbath see 1.21.

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 .