Jesus calming the sea in Shor throat singing

The following is a representation of the story of Jesus calming the sea in Shor with traditional throat singing. The singers are Lubov Arbachakova (with no instrument) and Irena Kiskurova:

A translation of the Russian subtitles into English:

0:11 Once Jesus was at the sea with his disciples.
0:24 A multitude of people gathered, and he began to teach them.
0:36 When evening came, He said to His disciples:
0:45 “Let’s move to the other side.”
0:48 The disciples asked the people to leave,
0:56 they were all in the boat together in Jesus and set out on the other side of the sea.
1:22 Suddenly there was a strong storm.
1:30 The waves beat the boat so that it was filled with water.
1:42 And Jesus at this time slept in the stern of the boat, laying his head on the steersman’s seat.
1:58 The disciples woke him up and said:
2:08 “Teacher! Do you really care that we are dying?”
2:11 Jesus stood up, calmed the wind, and said to the sea:
2:20 «Hush, shut up!»
2:23 The wind died down, and there was a complete calm on the sea.
2:35 And Jesus rebuked the disciples:
2:46 “Why are you so timid? Do you have absolutely no faith?”
2:52 They continued sailing, and the disciples spoke to each other with fear:
3:11 “Who is He, that even the wind and the sea listen to Him?”

Video provided by Bronwen Cleaver.

See also examples of Southern Altai throat singing.

asleep

The Greek that is translated in English as “asleep” or similar is translated in Burmese as “royally asleep.” In the widely-used translation by Judson an honorific particle is added to every verb that describes an action of Jesus, so here he is “royally asleep.” (source: S.V. Vincent in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 196f. )

See also sound asleep.

When they were afraid he calmed their stormy hearts (image)

“Fishermen relied upon their folk knowledge in order to survive. It is strange that they did not know what to do in the midst of a storm but Jesus did.”

Drawing by Sawai Chinnawong who employs northern and central Thailand’s popular distinctive artistic style originally used to depict Buddhist moral principles and other religious themes; explanation by Paul DeNeui. From That Man Who Came to Save Us by Sawai Chinnawong and Paul H. DeNeui, William Carey Library, 2010.

For more images by Sawai Chinnatong in TIPs see here.

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Mark 4:38 / Luke 8:24)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse (“we are perishing” in English translations), Yagua translators selected the inclusive form, including Jesus (the Sierra Totonac and the Tok Pisin translators did as well). The Yagua translators justify this by saying, “Did the disciples think of their Lord as about to perish with them, or were they selfishly only thinking of their own safety, or did they feel He at least would not perish? We translated this one with the inclusive, giving the disciples the benefit of the doubt, since they had waited so long to waken Him, they couldn’t have been too selfish in their thinking.” (Source: Paul Powlison in Notes on Translation with Drills, p. 165ff.)

Different versions of the Bible in Marathi have chosen different solutions for this. The versions by Pandita Ramabai (NT publ. 1912) chose the exclusive form and B. N. Athavle the inclusive form in his translation (publ. 1931). The Bible Society’s version (initially the British, later the Indian BS) in their revision of the 1950s also chose the exclusive form, despite strong protests of the revision committee’s chair H.G. Howard who interpreted Jesus’ strong rebuke of the disciples in succeeding verses due to the fact that the disciples had included him in their worries, which would necessitate the inclusive form. (Source: H.G. Howard in The Bible Translator 1925, p. 25ff. )

formal pronoun: disciples addressing Jesus

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, individual or several disciples address Jesus with the formal pronoun, expressing respect. Compare this to how that address changes after the resurrection.

In most Dutch as well as in Western Frisian and Afrikaans translations, the disciples address Jesus before and after the resurrection with the formal pronoun.

See also this devotion on YouVersion .

complete verse (Mark 4:38)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 4:38:

  • Uma: “Yesus was asleep on a pillow in the end of the boat. His disciples went to wake him, they said to him: ‘Teacher! Why are you (sing.) letting us sink?'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Isa was there in the back of the boat sleeping. He was-using-a-cushion. His disciples woke him up. They said, ‘Sir, are you not concerned/worried even if we (incl.) die?'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus was sleeping in the rear part of the boat, comfortably cushioned. His disciples shook him and they said, ‘We are about to sink! Don’t you care that we are going to die?'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But (new-development particle) Jesus was sleeping using-a-pillow at the back of the boat. His disciples woke him saying, ‘Sir teacher, don’t you (sing.) care if we die?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But as for Jesus, he was asleep in the stern, with his head on a pillow. He was woken up by his disciples. They said, ‘Master, why are you sleeping since we (incl.) are going to be sunk?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)