The Greek that is often translated in English as “truly, truly, I tell you” or similar is translated in the Russian BTI translation (publ. 2015) as Поверьте Мне (Pover’te Mne) or “trust me.” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Peter’s house. This is where Jesus wanted to come with the disciples to eat. As they approached the house they saw a crowd of people. They did not get to eat in the house. Jesus’ mother, brothers and sisters also came there. They said that Jesus had gone crazy, so they decided to take Jesus home. Also the teachers of the Law from Jerusalem came to that place. They began to say to the people:
— Behold you marvel that Jesus casts demons out of people. But in fact the most important demon sits in him, and he gives orders to small demons, and they obey him.
Jesus heard this and turned to the teachers of the Law:
— I will tell you a parable. You say that one demon orders another demon to come out of a man. But is such a thing possible? The first example. There is a kingdom, and in it people fight with each other. Do you think such a kingdom can stand? No, this kingdom will collapse. The second example. If a husband and wife hate each other in a family, will such a family be strong? No, that family will fall apart. Third example. If demons cast each other out, then Satan’s kingdom would have been destroyed long ago. Do you think demons can cast each other out? No, they can’t!
If a very strong man lives in a certain house, and a burglar comes to the house. Would the robber be able to take things from that house? Of course not, because the strong master will drive the robber away. If only the robber succeeds in tying up the master, only then can he rob the house.
People are sinful, they do evil deeds, but God forgives their bad deeds. The spirit of God is in me, it works miracles, heals, casts out demons, but you slander that it is a demon — God will never forgive such lies.
Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):
Дом Петра. Сюда Иисус хотел прийти с учениками, чтобы поесть там. Когда они подходили к дому, они увидели толпу народа. Им не удалось поесть в доме. Также туда пришли мать, братья и сестры Иисуса. Они говорили, что Иисус сошел с ума, и они решили забрать Иисуса домой. Также в то место пришли учителя Закона из Иерусалима. Они начала говорить народу:
— Вот вы восхищаетесь, что Иисус изгоняет бесов из людей. А на самом деле в нем самый главный бес сидит, и он отдает приказы мелким бесам, и те его слушаются.
Иисус услышал это и обратился к учителям Закона:
— Я расскажу вам притчу. Вот вы говорите, что один бес приказывает другому выйти из человека. Но разве такое возможно? Первый пример. Царство, а в нем люди враждуют друг с другом. Как вы думаете, устоит такое царство? Нет, это царство разрушится. Второй пример. Если в семье муж и жена ненавидят друг друга, такая семья будет крепкой? Нет, эта семья распадется. Третий пример. Если бесы изгоняют друг друга, тогда бы царство Сатаны давно бы разрушилось. Как вы думаете, могут ли бесы друг друга изгонять? Нет, такого не бывает!
Если в некотором доме живет очень сильный человек, и пришел в этот дом грабитель. Разве грабитель сможет спокойно забирать себе вещи из этого дома? Конечно, нет, потому что сильный хозяин, прогонит грабителя. Если только грабителю удастся связать хозяина, только тогда он сможет ограбить дом.
Люди грешны, делают злые дела, но Бог прощает им плохие дела. Во мне дух Божий, он творит чудеса, дает исцеление, изгоняет бесов, а вы клевещете, что это бес — вот такой лжи Бог никогда не простит.
Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “cover over” (a figure of speech which is also employed in Hebrew, but which in many languages is not acceptable, because it implies “hiding” or “concealment”)
Warao: “not being concerned with him clean your obonja.” Obonja is a term that “includes the concepts of consciousness, will, attitude, attention and a few other miscellaneous notions” (source: Henry Osborn in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 74ff. See other occurrences of Obojona in the Warao New Testament.)
Martu Wangka: “throw out badness” (source: Carl Gross)
Koonzime: “remove the bad deed-counters” (“The Koonzime lay out the deeds symbolically — usually strips of banana leaf — and rehearse their grievances with the person addressed.”) (Source: Keith and Mary Beavon in Notes on Translation 3/1996, p. 16)
Ngbaka: ele: “forgive and forget” (Margaret Hill [in Holzhausen & Ridere 2010, p. 8f.] recalls that originally there were two different words used in Ngbaka, one for God (ɛlɛ) and one for people (mbɔkɔ — excuse something) since it was felt that people might well forgive but, unlike God, can’t forget. See also this lectionary in The Christian Century.
Amahuaca: “erase” / “smooth over” (“It was an expression the people used for smoothing over dirt when marks or drawings had been made in it. It meant wiping off dust in which marks had been made, or wiping off writing on the blackboard. To wipe off the slate, to erase, to take completely away — it has a very wide meaning and applies very well to God’s wiping away sins, removing them from the record, taking them away.”) (Source: Robert Russel, quoted in Walls / Bennett 1959, p. 193)
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 3:28:
Uma: “‘Indeed I say to you: all of man’s sins and their words of rejecting can be forgiven.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “‘Truly I say to you,’ said Isa, ‘God will forgive all sin of people and whatever bad/evil he speaks of God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Remember this,’ says Jesus, ‘that God will forgive people of any sin and anything they say in rejection against him, however,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “‘This that I tell you is true that any (lit. even what) sin of a person is able to be forgiven and anything he says to speak-evil-of another.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “What I will say to you really is true, that people will indeed be forgiven for whatever kind of sin and insult if they repent and drop/give-up it.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Mamaindé: (includes verses 29 and 30) “God will forgive their wickedness, he will forgive people, their wickedness, their slanders – he will forgive all of them. But the one who slanders, the one who slanders the Holy Spirit, that person he will never forgive as he is a person who slanders the Holy Spirit, he will never forgive. God will never forgive as he is a person who slanders the Holy Spirit, he will never forgive his badnesse, not disappearing, he will always be ashamed. He will always be ashamed. He said, Jesus said. Why did Jesus speak a speech like this? Jesus, why did he speak? Beforehand, the scribes as they had spoken a lying speech: – – “A devil must be his master”– as they spoke, Jesus, replying, spoke a speech like this.” (Source: Peter K. E. Kingston in Notes on Translation 1973, p. 13ff.)
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff.), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, Jesus is addressing religious leaders with the formal pronoun, showing respect. Compare that with the typical address with the informal pronoun of the religious leaders.
The only two exceptions to this are Luke 7:40/43 and 10:26 where Jesus uses the informal pronoun as a response to the sycophantic use of the formal pronoun by the religious leaders (see formal pronoun: religious leaders addressing Jesus).
In most Dutch translations, the same distinctions are made, with the exception of Luke 10:26 where Jesus is using the formal pronoun. In Afrikaans and Western Frisian the informal pronoun is used throughout.
As Nestle, Textus Receptus, Tischendorf, Kilpatrick, Merk, and Souter are punctuated, with no comma after anthrōpōn ‘men,’ the word panta ‘all’ modifies ta hamartēmata ‘sins,’ i.e. ‘all sins’ (so King James Version, American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, Translator’s New Testament, Moffatt, The Modern Speech New Testament); if, however, a comma be placed after anthrōpōn ‘men’ as is done by Westcott and Hort, Lagrange, Taylor, panta ‘all’ is used absolutely as the subject of aphethēsetai ‘will be forgiven,’ i.e. ‘all (things) will be forgiven,’ while ta hamartēmata kai hai blasphēmiai ‘the sins and the blasphemies’ stand in apposition to ‘all,’ further explaining it (so Manson, Goodspeed, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada).
Exegesis:
amēn (13 times in Mark) ‘truly,’ ‘verily,’ ‘solemnly’: the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew ʾamen from the verb ʾaman ‘to be firm.’ This Hebrew adverb is used to emphasize the importance of the statement that follows.
aphethēsetai (cf. 2.5) ‘will be forgiven’: the statement is not to be understood absolutely as if Jesus were saying that all sins will assuredly be forgiven by God, whether or not men change or repent. As the context makes clear, he is saying that there is forgiveness for all sins, all sins are capable of being forgiven, except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which cannot be forgiven.
tois huiois tōn anthrōpōn ‘to the sons of men’: the Semitic way of saying ‘men’ in a general way.
ta hamartēmata (here and next verse) ‘sins’: in Mark the distinction between hamartēma as ‘specific act of sin’ and hamartia as ‘sin in general,’ ‘the sinful principle,’ is not observed (cf. 1.5).
hai blasphēmiai hosa ean blasphēmēsōsin ‘and whatever blasphemies they may utter.’
hai blasphēmiai (7.22; 14.64) ‘blasphemies,’ i.e. impious or irreverent speech against God.
hosa (cf. 3.8) ‘as many … as’: though the neuter form of the word does not agree with the feminine hai blasphēmiai ‘the blasphemies’ the sense is quite clear: ‘as many times as they may blaspheme,’ ‘however often they utter blasphemies.’
blasphēmeō (cf. 2.7) ‘blaspheme’: “defiant hostility to God … in speech which defies His power and majesty” (Vincent Taylor).
Translation:
Truly qualifies the certainty of the statement all sins will be …. In many languages this type of qualifier must be more closely associated with the verb expression which it modifies, e.g. ‘I tell you, All sins will certainly be forgiven….’
For sins see 1.4; for forgiveness see 1.4; and for blasphemies see 2.7. In this context, however, an expression such as ‘bad words’ or ‘harmful sayings’ (often used as an equivalent of blasphemy, at least in certain contexts) is often inadequate. At the same time, one cannot use ‘to make oneself equal with God’ (as a rendering of blaspheme), for this is too specific. The better rendering would be more or less equivalent to ‘speaking against God’ or ‘talking God down.’
Sons of men, if translated literally into some languages, would mean nothing more than ‘children’ (San Mateo del Mar Huave, Shilluk). Of course, God is usually regarded as being quite forgiving toward children, and hence the reader is likely to miss completely the significance of this passage, in which the real meaning is simply ‘will be forgiven people.’ Toraja-Sa’dan uses the expression ‘the offspring of Adam.’
Since there are two subjects of will be forgiven, namely, all sins and whatever blasphemies … (see above, under Punctuation of the Text for the alternative), it is necessary in many languages to change the order so that both of the subject expressions are in a parallel relationship to the verb, whether preceding or following, e.g. ‘all sins and whatever blasphemies … will be forgiven.’
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 .
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