Who are my mother and brothers?

The Greek that is translated as “Who are my mother and brothers?”§ or similar in English is translated in Chichicapan Zapotec as “Who are my mother and brothers before God?” and in Jalapa De Díaz Mazatec as “It is true, you know who is my mother and who are my brothers. But there are other people whom I love like my mother and my brothers.” (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)

Mark 3:31-35 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 3:31-35 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

Jesus was teaching the people. The people sat and listened to him. Jesus’ mother, brothers and sisters came there. There were a lot of people. The mother, brothers and sisters could not come near. Then they asked the people to tell Jesus:

— We have come. Come to us!

The people told Jesus:

— Your mother, brothers and sister have come. Come to them.

Jesus replied:

— Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?

Then Jesus pointed to the people who were listening to him and said:

— Here is my mother! Here are my brothers! Whoever listens to God and does his will is my mother, brother and sister!

Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):

Иисус учил народ. Люди сидели и слушали его. Туда пришли мать, братья и сестры Иисуса. Было много народа. Мать, братья и сестры не могли подойти. Тогда они попросили людей передать Иисусу:

— Мы пришли. Подойди к нам!

Люди передали Иисусу:

— Твоя мать, братья и сестра пришли. Подойди к ним.

Иисус ответил:

— А кто моя мать? Кто мои братья?

Потом Иисус показал на людей, которые его слушали, и сказал:

— Вот моя мать! Вот мои братья! Кто слушает Бога и исполняет Его волю, тот мне мать, брат и сестра!

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

<< Mark 3:20-30 in Russian Sign Language

complete verse (Mark 3:33)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 3:33:

  • Uma: “Yesus gazed at the people who were around him and he said: ‘As for my mother and relatives, it is these people here.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Isa answered, he said, ‘Who is my mother and who are my brothers?'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus answered them, ‘But there are those yet that I will show you who are my mother and my siblings.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Jesus said, ‘Yes granted of-course, but there are also others that I count as my mother and my brothers.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When Jesus heard, he said, ‘Yes, in a while.’ And then he spoke saying, ‘Try-to-understand this, who is my mother and who are my siblings?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 3:33 – 3:35

Text:

In v. 33 instead of kai ‘and’ of all other modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus and Soden have ē ‘or.’

In v. 34 the order of words in Textus Receptus is changed so as to make kuklō ‘in a circle’ modify periblepsamenos ‘looking,’ i.e. ‘looking around’; all modern editions of the Greek text follow the same word order as Nestle’s whereby kuklō modifies tous kathēmenous, i.e. ‘those seated in a circle.’

Exegesis:

apokritheis … legei ‘answering … he says’: there are some 15 instances of this construction throughout the gospel of Mark. A translation in English need only give the sense ‘he answered’ without reproducing both verbs in a literal form (cf. 1.7 and 1.24 for similar constructions).

periblepsamenos (cf. 3.5) ‘looking around (him).’

tous peri auton kuklō kathēmenous ‘those seated in a circle about him.’

kuklō (6.6, 36) is adverbial ‘round about,’ ‘around.’

ide (cf. 1.2) ‘see!’ ‘here.’

hos an poiēsē ‘he who does’: the subjunctive mode of the verb is required by the construction of the sentence; there is no idea, however, of doubt or futurity. The meaning is ‘whoever does,’ ‘he who does.’

thelēma (only here in Mark) ‘will.’

Translation:

The form of the question Who are my mother … is ambiguous from the standpoint of some languages which must distinguish between identificational questions and qualificational ones, i.e. ‘who are these…’ and ‘what sort of person are….’ Note, however, in languages which must translate this sentence as qualificational, one does not question the characteristics of Jesus’ mother and brothers, but asks what sort of characteristics of people make it possible for them to be recognized as ‘mother and brothers.’ The equivalent would be ‘Who are the sort of people who are my mother and my brothers?.’

The adverb here may be translated by a gesture-like word or phrase ‘these here’ or ‘right here.’

Does the will of God is often translated as ‘does what God wants him to do.’ In Huichol this is ‘follow Gods’ heart.’

In a number of languages brothers and sisters of the same mother are grouped under a single term, meaning siblings of the same maternal line. In such languages, e.g. Highland Totonac, Barrow Eskimo, Navajo, and Highland Puebla Nahuatl , it would be quite wrong to try to use two words just because Greek has two words, when a single word is the more accurate and satisfactory term. This same word can be employed for ‘brothers’ throughout this passage, beginning with verse 31.

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 .