Let anyone with ears to hear listen

The Greek that is translated as “Let anyone with ears to hear listen” or similar in English was translated in Costa Rican Sign Language as “If you want to understand, understand!”

Elsa Tamez (in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 59ff.) explains: “A literal translation of this verse: ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’ (Luke 8:8) is not appropriate for the Deaf community; it is difficult to understand and it can easily be misunderstood. Deaf people have ‘ears to hear’ but they cannot hear.”

In Tzotzil it is translated as “You all who with one heart want to learn, think about what I said,” in San Mateo Del Mar Huave as “Every one of you have heard this story. Now put it in your hearts,” and in Gwichʼin as “He that will hear me, let him pay attention to me.” (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)

Willy Wiedmann rendered this phrase artistically in the following way:

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Image taken from the Wiedmann Bible. For more information about the images and ways to adopt them, see here .

For other images of Willy Wiedmann paintings in TIPs, see here.

complete verse (Mark 4:23)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 4:23:

  • Uma: “Whoever of you has ears, listen well!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Amey-amey (strong injunction) listen if something is said to you.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “You must understand this which you have heard.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “You who are listening, think-about what you heard.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Therefore since what ears are for is to listen with, it’s necessary that you (pl.) listen well to this which is being said.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 4:22 – 4:23

Text:

ti ‘anything’ in v. 22 is omitted by Westcott and Hort, Lagrange, and Taylor, but retained by Textus Receptus and the great majority of modern editions of the Greek text.

Exegesis:

The two parallel clauses, in Semitic style, both state the same truth: ‘if something is hidden, it is in order that it (eventually) be manifested; if something is covered up, it is in order that it (eventually) be brought out into the open.’

krupton (only here in Mark) ‘hidden.’

phanerōthē (16.12, 14) ‘that it be revealed,’ ‘that it be manifested.’

apokruphon (only here in Mark) ‘covered up,’ ‘secret.’

elthē eis phaneron (cf. 3.12) ‘that it come into the open,’ ‘that it become known.’

For v. 23 see 4.9.

Translation:

It is often quite difficult to treat the double negatives in verse 22, literally ‘nothing … if not.’ In some languages such a construction must be rendered by positives (e.g. Cashibo-Cacataibo and Guerrero Amuzgo) ‘everything that is hidden is that way in order that it may be made to be seen.’

In the word ‘hid’ there is no implication that such objects were purposely hidden. The Greek does not imply in this first instance any process, only a state of being. On the other hand, in the second form of essentially this same concept (typical of Hebrew parallelism) the Greek verb egeneto may imply that something ‘has become hidden,’ e.g. ‘if there is anything that has become hidden, it is that way in order that it will be put out in the light’ or ‘everything that has become hidden….’ On the other hand, egeneto may be only a stylistic variant of the previous estin.

For verse 23, see 4.9.

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 .