In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines the signs for “tell-a-story” and “compare.” (Source: Anna Smith)
“Parable” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as analogy because “the Greek word has the sense of tossing down something alongside something else. Hence an analogy.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 4:10:
Uma: “After that, when Yesus was alone, his twelve disciples and other disciples came to ask him: ‘What is the meaning of that parable earlier?'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “So-then after the crowds had left and only his twelve disciples and the other disciples of his were there with him, they asked him as to what the meaning was of the parable he had taught.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “When they didn’t have so many companions because they were only the twelve disciples of Jesus and a few other people, they asked Jesus what he meant by the parables.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When the many-people went-away, then the twelve disciples of Jesus and others who were going-with them approached Jesus and inquired of him concerning the meaning of the parables.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When the crowd had gone, only a few people were left with the disciples. They came up to Jesus to question him about the illustrations he had given.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff.) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal ta (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential ta (祂) is used.”
In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff) explains in the following way: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff.)
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible, but most translations, especially those published in the 21st century, do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
See also this chapter in the World Atlas of Language Structures on different approaches to personal pronouns.
kata monas (only here and Lk. 9.18 in N.T.) ‘alone’: no place is specified in the text; it is simply indicated that Jesus withdrew from the crowd.
ērōtōn (7.26; 8.5) ‘they asked,’ ‘they asked a question’ (in this passage and in 8.5); in late Greek it came to mean ‘request,’ ‘ask for’ (as in 7.26).
hoi peri auton ‘those about him,’ i.e. ‘his followers’ (cf. Lk. 22.49, Acts 13.13). Compare par’ autou, 3.21.
sun tois dōdeka ‘with the Twelve’: a title, not simply a number (cf. 3.16).
Translation:
The clause when he was alone can, in a literal rendering, introduce a very confusing contradiction. People often ask, “How could he be alone, and still be in the presence of those who could ask him questions?” Obviously, the expression was alone must not be taken in the absolute sense, or it cannot be harmonized with the following clause. In some languages the only way to treat this expression satisfactorily is to render it ‘when he was no longer with the crowd’ or ‘when the crowd was no longer there,’ for this is the meaning of the expression in the Greek text.
Those who were about him with the twelve poses a problem in some languages: “Who asked the question? Those who were about him, not including the twelve apostles, or should the twelve be included in the group of interrogators?” The English form of this expression might lead one to think that those who asked the question were the ones around Jesus and the twelve. The Greek text, however, makes it clear that Jesus was questioned by the twelve and those who clustered around, namely, his somewhat larger band of followers. In many languages this relationship must be made more explicit, e.g. ‘when the twelve and those who were also around Jesus…’ (Yaka), ‘those who were around Jesus and also the twelve…’ in which it is quite clear that the preposition ‘around’ goes only with Jesus and not with the twelve (Highland Oaxaca Chontal).
As noted in 3.14, it is often necessary to add some classifier to the expression ‘the twelve.’
For parables see 3.23.
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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