thorns

The Greek that is translated as “thorns” in English is translated in Low German with Dießeln or “thistles” which are familiar to speakers of Low German (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006).

The Parable of the Sower (image)

The parable of The Parable of the Sower is illustrated for use in Bible translations in West Africa by Wycliffe Cameroon like this:

Illustration 1999 Mbaji Bawe Ernest, © Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc. Used with permission.

complete verse (Mark 4:7)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 4:7:

  • Uma: “There were also some that fell in the midst of thorns. The thorns grew and crowded-out those seedlings, with the result that they did not fruit, but rather died.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Other seeds fell into thorn-infested (ground) (sampinit). The thorns grew fast and choked what had been planted, so it didn’t bear-fruit.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There was also that planted which fell on ground where the weeds were thorny. These weeds grew long and choked the plants and they were not able to bear fruit.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Others also, they fell in a thorny-area, but whereupon thorns grew-along-with and choked-out the plants, so they did not bear-fruit.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Newly-sprouted-all-over-with-weeds is where others got scattered. That’s why when those weeds grew-big, the cultivated-plants drowned (fig.). They couldn’t bear fruit.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 4:7

Exegesis:

eis tas akanthas ‘among the thorns’: in clearing the ground for planting, the roots of these thorns and weeds had not been removed, and in time they sprang up and choked the tender plants (cf. Rawlinson).

akanthai (4.8) ‘thorns,’ ‘thistles,’ ‘weeds.’

eis ‘among.’

anebēsan (cf. 1.10) ‘came up’: here as a synonym of exanatellō (v. 5) ‘spring up,’ ‘sprout.’

kai sunepnixan auto ‘and they choked it,’ i.e. the plant sprouting from the seed which had been sown, not (clearly) the seed itself in the ground.

sumpnigō (4.19) ‘crowd together,’ ‘choke off.’

karpon ouk edōken ‘it yielded no fruit’: referring to grain, “yielded no grain” (Goodspeed, Revised Standard Version), “bore no crop” (cf. Translator’s New Testament).

karpos (4.8, 29; 11.14; 12.2) ‘fruit.’

Translation:

Other seed (which is collective) may be rendered as ‘other seeds’ or ‘other grains.’ In Highland Oaxaca Chontal one may say ‘two and three seeds,’ for this is the idiomatic way of saying ‘some.’ In Tzeltal the equivalent expression is ‘another hand-full of seeds.’

These seeds did not actually fall among thorns, in the sense of growing plants, but where thorns had been growing or where there were roots of thorn plants, for note that the effect upon the seed is not seen until the “thorns grew up.” In some languages, therefore, one may translate ‘where thorn plants had been’ or ‘where thorn-plant roots were.’

Choked is a good idiom in English and Greek, but not acceptable in many languages. In Kekchí one must say, ‘the thorns grew up and made a shadow’ (thus preventing the growth of the grain). In Tzeltal one may say ‘the plants made it to stop growing’; in Central Tarahumara and Southern Subanen ‘made them unable to grow’; in San Mateo del Mar Huave ‘shaded them under’; in Tabasco Chontal ‘took them under’; in Toraja-Sa’dan and Javanese ‘they held it under’ and in Pamona ‘they overshadowed it.’

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 .