beg, implore

The Greek that is translated as “implore” or “beg” is translated into Tzotzil as “he asked with his heart coming out” in this verse (“indicating the heart-felt nature of the entreaty”).

He gave freedom to those in bondage of evil (image)

“In Thai society, those who are possessed by evil spirits are usually the weak or mentally unstable. This man is shown as freed from his spiritual and physical chains. Even though he is naked Jesus is not ashamed to be close to him.”

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.

complete verse (Mark 5:10)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 5:10:

  • Uma: “Those demons kept asking Yesus that he not send them out of that village.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “And the demons really begged Isa, that they would not be sent away from that place.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The demon begged Jesus not to drive them away to a far land.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Then he begged again-and-again to Jesus that he not make-them -leave that town/country.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And then the evil spirit kept on begging-for-pity from Jesus that they wouldn’t be driven out of that place.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 5:10

Exegesis:

kai parekalei auton polla ‘and he entreated him strongly’: the subject could be ‘the unclean spirits’ (with which auta ‘them’ would be in agreement) as Moffatt, Taylor, Manson and Goodspeed interpret it (cf. the parallel Lk. 8.31 ‘and they begged him’); it is probable, however (with American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, Translator’s New Testament, The Modern Speech New Testament, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada, Lagrange and others), that the subject is ‘he’ (the man himself), as it is in the identical form parekalei ‘he begged’ in v. 18 (and notice the plural of the verb parekalesan ‘they (the spirits) begged’ in v. 12).

polla (cf. 1.45; 3.12) is adverbial ‘insistently,’ ‘strongly,’ ‘urgently.’

hina mē auta aposteilē ‘that he did not send them off’: the clause begun with hina ‘that’ denotes the content of the request – it is not a purpose clause (cf. 3.9, 12).

apostellō (cf. 1.2) ‘send away,’ ‘send.’

exō tēs chōras ‘outside the region’ (i.e. of the Gerasenes, v. 1): for chōra ‘region’ see 1.5.

Translation:

Begged him eagerly indicates the heart-felt nature of the entreaty, expressed in Tzotzil as ‘he asked with his heart coming out.’

In many languages the object of the entreaty must be in the form of direct discourse, e.g. ‘the man asked Jesus strongly, Do not send the unclean spirits away from this place.’ This type of expression need not imply any fond attachment which the man had for the demons which possessed him, but he uttered this request as the spokesman of the demons.

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 .