The Greek that is translated in English as “pay attention” or “take heed” is translated in Q’anjob’al with “hear dying.” Newberry and Kittie Cox (in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. ) explain: “The use of the word ‘dying’ makes any action important and serious, that is to say, somewhat similar to he English phrase ‘a matter of life and death,’ when it refers to the seriousness of the occasion.”
complete verse (Mark 4:24)
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 4:24:
- Uma: “Yesus said further: ‘Really pay attention to what you are hearing here. For the more of God’s Word that you share/divide with others, the more also God will explain to you–or even more than that.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Isa said also, ‘Pay very good attention to whatever you hear. For if your paying-attention is good, what you get/receive will also be good and you will receive/get more.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus spoke again, ‘Carefully listen to my teaching, for according to how you carefully listen, God will give you understanding, however, he will cause you to understand much more.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Then Jesus continued, saying, ‘Be-diligent then in listening to what I am saying, because if you do that, you will also understand much, and there will be moreover that which God will add to your understanding.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “Jesus added on, saying, ‘It’s necessary that you try-to-understand well this teaching of mine which you are hearing. For whatever your judgment/decision is, to follow/obey well or just to disregard it, that’s what God will use to judge you, or much more.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Tsafiki: “… If you give a little bit of hearing you will get a little bit of knowledge. If you give good hearing, you will get lots of knowledge. God will cause those who listen well to learn even more.”
- Ocotlán Zapotec: “… If you hear well, you will benefit well, and God will cause you to hear more.” (Source for this and one above: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people
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 his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
Translation commentary on Mark 4:24 – 4:25
Exegesis:
blepete ti akouete ‘see what you hear,’ i.e. ‘pay attention to what you are listening to!’
en hō metrō metreite metrēthēsetai ‘in the (same) measure you measure (for others) it will be measured out (to you).’
metron (only here in Mark) ‘measure’: a measure of capacity.
metreō (only here in Mark) ‘measure out,’ ‘give out,’ ‘apportion,’ ‘deal out’ something to someone.
prostethēsetai (only here in Mark) ‘more shall be given,’ ‘shall be added,’ ‘shall be given in addition.’ The two passives metrēthēsetai humin kai prostethēsetai humin ‘shall be measured out to you and more shall be added to you’ are to be referred to God, as the subject.
dothēsetai … arthēsetai ‘shall (more) be given … shall be taken away’: these two passives also, as in the previous verse, are to be referred to God as the subject.
hos ouk echei, kai ho echei ‘he who has not, even what he has’: the meaning, naturally, is ‘he who has very little, even the little that he has will be taken away’ – it would, of course, be impossible to take away from someone something he actually does not have.
Translation:
Take heed what you hear is translated in two different ways: (1) ‘pay attention to what you hear’ (the preferred rendering) and (2) ‘discriminate carefully between the things which you might hear,’ e.g. ‘select the right things to listen to.’ This latter rendering does not seem to fit this type of context, especially after verse 23.
Take heed is translated in Conob as ‘to hear dying.’ The word ‘dying’ added to the admonition ‘to hear’ indicates the importance of listening, a kind of “life or death matter.”
In some languages the order of constituents in the expression the measure … you get must be changed so that the persons participating are the active subject, rather than the measure, e.g. ‘you will receive the same kind of measure that you measure out to others.’ In other languages the measure is treated in somewhat more generic terms, ‘what you have given to others will be what you get’ in which the meanings ‘to give’ and ‘to measure out to’ are rendered by the same word (Southern Subanen).
The last clause in verse 24 must in some instances be shifted so that the grammatical subject is the personal participant, even as in the previous clauses, e.g. ‘and you will receive even more’ (Shipibo-Conibo). If Textus Receptus is followed, there maybe even greater need of a shift in subject expression, e.g. ‘you who hear will receive more’ (Copainalá Zoque, Eastern Otomí).
The passive expression in the first clause of verse 25 may be shifted to active, e.g. ‘the one who has some will receive even more’ (or in the passive form, ‘will be given even more’). Where, however, the logical subject of the process of giving must be introduced, one may translate as ‘God will give even more to the one who has some.’
The hyperbole about taking away from a man what he does not have can often be rendered as ‘even if a man does not have anything, even the little that he does have will be taken away,’ thus preserving some measure of the extreme statement.
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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