complete verse (Mark 7:12)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 7:12:

  • Uma: “Yet you [emphatic] teach like this: we no longer have to honor our mother and father, as long as we say to them like this; ‘What is appropriate I give you, parents, I have already made an offering to God.’ A person who says like that, you release him from the obligation [lit., burden-on-the-back] to help his mother and father.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “na, if a person speaks like that,’ said Isa, ‘you don’t do anything to cause him to help his parents.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then you no longer permit him to help his father and mother.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And if that is what he says, you forbid forever his using-it-to-help his father and his mother.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “you no longer permit him still to care for his parents.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

formal pronoun: Jesus addressing religious leaders

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 religious leaders with the formal pronoun, showing respect. Compare that with the typical address with the informal pronoun of the religious leaders.

The only two exceptions to this are Luke 7:40/43 and 10:26 where Jesus uses the informal pronoun as a response to the sycophantic use of the formal pronoun by the religious leaders (see formal pronoun: religious leaders addressing Jesus).

In most Dutch translations, the same distinctions are made, with the exception of Luke 10:26 where Jesus is using the formal pronoun. In Afrikaans and Western Frisian the informal pronoun is used throughout.

Translation commentary on Mark 7:12 – 7:13

Exegesis:

aphiete (cf. 2.5) ‘you allow,’ ‘you permit.’

akurountes ton logon tou theou ‘annulling the word of God’: the participle expresses manner: ‘in this way you annul….’

akuroō (only here in Mark) ‘make void,’ ‘annul,’ ‘invalidate.’

ho logos tou theou (only here in Mark) ‘the Word of God’: cf. the absolute use of logos ‘Word’ in ch. 4 (vv. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 33).

tē paradosei humōn hē paredōkate ‘by means of your tradition which you have handed down.’ In saying ‘you have handed down,’ Jesus refers to the Jews as a whole, not to the particular individuals whom he was addressing then.

paradosis (cf. v. 3) ‘tradition.’

paradidōmi (cf. 1.14) ‘hand over,’ ‘deliver’: when used of tradition as here, ‘hand down.’

paromoia (only here in the N.T.) ‘similar,’ ‘like.’

Translation:

If, as in some languages, the involved nature of verse 11 (see above) makes the condition quite obscure, one may translate these two verses, as in Southern Bobo Madaré, ‘a man may tell his father or his mother…. Then if he does that you do not permit….’ The result is essentially the same, but the construction may be more readily understood.

To do anything for may be translated as ‘to help’ or ‘to provide for.’

Thus making void introduces still another clause to an already complex sentence. It may be broken off from what precedes, and still integrally related to it, by translating ‘in this way you make void.’

Making void may be translated as ‘make without anything’ (Southern Subanen), ‘cause to be lost’ (Sayula Popoluca), ‘refuse to consider important’ (San Blas Kuna), ‘make powerless’ (Javanese), ‘break’ (Batak Toba), ‘annul’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), or ‘take away its power.’

The word of God should not be confused here with the Bible. This is ‘what God has said.’

Your tradition which you hand on implies ‘customs which have been handed on to you and which in turn you hand on to others,’ since these particular persons were part of the Jewish cultural tradition responsible for adherence to these man-made rules. On the other hand, Jesus is, of course, speaking to the larger group of Jewish people and is not assigning the entire responsibility to these particular persons (see above, under Exegesis). This meaning can be indicated by saying ‘which you as Jews have handed on.’

Hand on is rendered in some languages as ‘to speak to others about’ or ‘to say that your children should do.’

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 .