The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “bed” in English is translated in Noongar as maya-ngwoorndiny or “bark sleeping” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
See also mat, bed.
complete verse (Mark 7:4)
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 7:4:
- Uma: “When they return from their walk in the village, they bathe first according to custom before they handle food. And they follow strictly many other customs that they have received from their elders, such as customs of washing cups, puts and stuff made of bronze.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “When they arrive from the market, they do not eat if they have not first washed like that. And they follow many more other teachings like washing cups, pots and kettles.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when they come home from the market, they first sprinkle water on their bodies, and then they eat. There are many other doctrines that they are accustomed to, like washing drinking vessels, cooking pots, and brass plates.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “If moreover they have-come-from the market, they do not eat unless they have first sprinkled their bodies/themselves with water. There are many other customs that they inherited from their ancestors such as the way they wash cups, kettles and copper pots.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “Also they don’t just go ahead and eat when coming from the traders without first washing their hands like that, for maybe they had happened to touch/brush-against what would cause them to be regarded as disgusting in the sight of God. And there were many more customs which they had inherited which also had to be obeyed, like how to wash cups, jugs and pots.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
baptism, baptize
About the translation of the Greek term that is usually transliterated with the terms “baptism” or “baptize” in English (for other English translations see below), Bratcher / Nida (1961) say this (click or tap for details):
“[It] has given rise not only to an immense amount of discussion in terms of its meaning within the Judaeo-Christian historical context, but also continues to introduce serious problems for translators today. In many instances the recommendation has been to transliterate, i.e. employing some indigenous equivalent of the sounds of the word in some more prestigious language spoken in the region, e.g. English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese. Though this solution tends to remove some theological controversies, it does not completely satisfy everyone, for not only does it avoid the problem of the mode of baptism, but it leaves the Scriptures with a zero word. Unfortunately, many of the controversies over the indigenous equivalent of baptism arise because of a false evaluation of a word’s so-called etymology. For example, in Yucateco the word for baptism means literally ‘to enter the water’, but this term is used freely by both Presbyterians and Roman Catholics, even though it might appear to be strictly ‘Baptist nomenclature.’ Similarly, in Kekchí, an even ‘stronger’ term ‘to put under the water’ is employed by Nazarenes and Roman Catholics. Obviously the meanings of these Yucateco and Kekchí words are not derivable from their literal significance but from the fact that they now designate a particular kind of Christian rite. To insist on changing such a well-established usage (and one to which immersionists could certainly not object) would seem quite unwarranted. The situation may, on the other hand, be reversed. There are instances in which immersionists are quite happy to use a term which though it means literally ‘to put water on the head’ [see below for the translation in Northern Emberá] has actually lost this etymological value and refers simply to the rite itself, regardless of the way in which it is performed. A translator should not, however, employ an already existing expression or construct a new phrase which will in its evident meaning rule out any major Christian constituency.
“There are, of course, a number of instances in which traditional terms for ‘baptism’ need modification. In some situations the word may mean only ‘to give a new name to’ (one aspect of christening) or ‘to be one who lights’ (referring to a custom in some traditions of lighting a candle at the time of baptism). However, in order to reproduce the core of significant meaning of the original Biblical term, it is important to explore the entire range of indigenous usage in order that whatever term is chosen may have at least some measure of cultural relevance. In Navajo, for example, there were four principal possibilities of choice: (1) borrowing some transliterated form of the English word, (2) constructing a phrase meaning ‘to touch with water’ (an expression which would have been acceptable with some groups in the field, but not with others), (3) using a phrase meaning ‘ceremonial washing’ (but this expression seemed to be too closely related to indigenous practices in healing ceremonies), and (4) devising an expression meaning ‘to dedicate (or consecrate) by water’, without specifying the amount of water employed. This last alternative was chosen as the most meaningful and the best basis for metaphorical extension and teaching.
“On the other hand, it would be wrong to think that the meaning of ‘washing’ must be rejected in all languages. For example, it is quite appropriate in Kpelle culture, since it ties in with male puberty rites, and in the San Blas Kuna society, since washing is a very important aspect of female puberty ceremonies, in some translations ‘water’ is introduced into the expression for baptism, but the quantity and means of administrating it are left quite ambiguous, e.g. ‘to get (take, receive) water’ (Tzeltal). Toraja-Sa’dan, Pamona and Batak Toba render the verb ‘to pour water over, give a bath’.” (Source: Bratcher / Nida)
Other examples of translation include:
- Javanese, Indonesian: transliterated forms of the Greek “baptizo”
- Pamona, Wejewa: “to bathe, wash with water”
- Sundanese: “to apply water to”
- Padoe: “to make one wet with water”
- Batak Simalungun: “to wash with a little bit of water” (“used in speaking of a ceremony in which very small children are ceremonially cleansed”)
- Kambera: “to dip into”
- Balinese: ngelukat (a Balinese initiation ceremony in which persons were sprinkled with consecrated water) (source for this and above: Biblical Terms in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 225ff.
- Mairasi: fat jaenggom; “water washing” (“baptize with the Holy Spirit”: “wash with the Holy Spirit”) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- Kwara’ae: “holy wash” (traditional church term for baptism) (source: Carl Gross)
- Shipibo-Conibo: “to wash” (Catholic: “to name;” Seventh Day Adventists: “to bathe”) (source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 56ff. )
- Northern Emberá: “head-poured” (source: Loewen 1980, p. 107)
- Muna: kadiu sarani “Christian bathing” (source: René von den Berg)
- Halh Mongolian: argon ochial (“holy washing”) (“The people in Mongolia are strictly religious and understand the meaning very well. They are familiar with the idea of water being used as a symbol of a new life and having received ‘holy washing’ means to have entered into a new sphere of life.”) (Source: A. Marthinson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 74ff. ) (Note: In more recent Mongolian translations a transliteration of baptizo is used instead)
- Yatzachi Zapotec: (Spanish loan word and transliteration of the Greek term) bautizar (Source: Otis M. Leal in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 164ff.
- Uab Meto: antam oe (“to enter into the water”) (Source: P. Middelkoop in The Bible Translator 1952 p. 165ff. )
- Chinese: Catholic: 洗 xǐ (“washing”); non-Baptist Protestant 聖洗 shèngxǐ (“holy washing”); Baptist: 浸洗 jìnxǐ (“immerse and wash”) (In the history of Chinese Bible translation the translation of the Greek baptizo was a point of great contention, so much so that in the 19th Century Baptists had a completely different set of Bible translations and even today are using different editions with the different term of the same versions that other Protestants use.) (Source: Zetzsche 2008)
- Many Germanic languages use a term that originally means “dip” or “make deep”: German: Taufe, Danish: dåb Swedish: dop, Norwegian: dåp, Dutch: doop, Faroese: dópur; and so do Creole languages with a strong Dutch influence, such as Saramaccan, Sranan Tongo, or Eastern Maroon Creole: dopu
- The German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022) uses a variety of translations, including “immersed (in water)” (eintauchen or untertauchen) but also the traditional German term for “baptism (Taufe)” or in the combination “immersed in baptism”
For more about this see here.
“The Yatzachi Zapotec know the practice of baptism and have a word to express it. There would thus seem to be no problem involved. Unfortunately, however, the word for ‘baptize’ is a compound, one part being a word nowhere else used and the other part being the word for ‘water.’ Perhaps ‘water-baptize’ is the closest equivalent in English. For most contexts this presents no problem, but if the word is used in Mark 1:8, it would say, ‘He will water-baptize you with the Holy Ghost.’ In Zapotec the idea is unintelligible. To meet the problem, the Spanish word ‘bautizar’ was introduced at this point though the Zapotec word is ordinarily used. The disadvantages of this substitution are obvious, but no better solution was found.”
For more about this see here.
Formerly in Uab Meto the word used for ’baptism” was ‘nasrami’ which actually came by way of Arabic from ‘Nazarene.’ Its meaning was ‘to make a Christian’ and the idea was that the one who baptized actually made Christians. Such an expression was obviously inadequate. We have used for ‘baptize’ the phrase in ‘antam oe’ which means ‘to enter into the water.’ This phrase can be used for sprinkling, for water is used as a symbol of the new life, and being baptized means for the Uab Meto to enter into a new sphere of life. Baptism is so frequently spoken of in connection with the giving of the Holy Spirit that the proper associations have arisen in the thinking of the people.”
The disagreement about whether the translation of the Greek baptizo needed to include “immersion” not only caused conflict in China, it also led to splits — and different translations — in English-speaking countries: “The influential British and Foreign Bible Society had been a major supporter of the [Baptist] Serampore mission, but it finally severed its support in 1836 because of the Baptist interpretation of the Bible translations produced there. This led to the formation of the separate Baptist Bible Translation Society in Great Britain in 1840. Almost concurrently, in 1837, the American and Foreign Bible Society was founded in the United States as an offspring of the American Bible Society, over a controversy about a Baptist Bengali Bible translation. The American and Foreign Bible Society itself experienced another split in 1850, when a sub-group rejected the transliteration of baptizo in the English Bible and formed the American Bible Union, which published its own English New Testament in 1862/63 that used the term “immerse” instead of baptize (see here ). (Source: Zetzsche 2008)
Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing how baptisms were done in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Translation commentary on Mark 7:4
Text:
Instead of rantisōntai ‘they may sprinkle,’ read by Nestle, Westcott and Hort, Vogels, Merk, Lagrange, and Taylor, baptisōntai ‘they may bathe (themselves)’ is read by Textus Receptus, Tischendorf, Soden, Souter, and Kilpatrick. The manuscript evidence is fairly evenly divided: rantizō ‘sprinkle’ should be considered the “harder” reading.
At the end of the verse kai klinōn ‘and of beds’ is added by Textus Receptus, Soden, Vogels and Kilpatrick; the majority of modern editions of the Greek text, however, reject it.
Exegesis:
As Revised Standard Version indicates, vv. 3-4 are parenthetical. Unlike Revised Standard Version, however, v. 2 in Greek is the beginning of a sentence which is left incomplete: instead of v. 5 taking up the sentence and completing it, the incomplete sentence of v. 2 is left hanging, and v. 5 begins another (complete) sentence. It is not necessary in a translation, however, literally to reproduce the Greek grammatical constructions, especially if awkwardness is the result.
kai ap’ agoras ean mē rantisōntai ‘and from the market-place if they don’t sprinkle’: there are two main ways in which this admittedly obscure statement may be understood: (1) ‘when they come back from the market-place they do not eat unless they wash themselves’; thus American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, Manson, Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada (Zürcher Bibel adds, in brackets, die Hände); (2) ‘anything from the market-place they do not eat unless they sprinkle (or, ‘wash,’ depending on the text preferred) it.’ This is the translation preferred by Goodspeed, Moffatt, Williams: Lagrange, who argues for it, points out that vv. 3-4 thus refer to the ceremonial purification of the person, of the food, and of the dishes. While dogmatic finality is impossible, especially in light of the textual uncertainty of the main verb, it would appear that Lagrange’s arguments offer a reasonable explanation of the text, together with Black’s exposition of the Aramaic form underlying the Greek phrase.
It should be noticed that Translator’s New Testament offers another translation, one which lies between the two discussed above: ‘and they do not eat anything from the market place unless they wash themselves’ (understanding ap’ agoras as ‘something (brought) from the market-place’ and translating baptisōntai ‘wash themselves’).
ha parelabon kratein ‘which they received to hold on to’: a reference to other traditions, similar to the ones mentioned.
paralambanō (cf. 4.36) ‘receive’: here as the complement of paradidōmi ‘hand over’ of a tradition which is handed over by one generation and received by another.
krateō (cf. 1.31) ‘hold on to,’ ‘keep,’ ‘observe.’
baptismous potērion kai xestōn kai chalkiōn ‘washings of cups and pots and copper vessels.’
baptismos (only here in Mark) ‘washing’ (of dishes).
potērion (9.41; 10.38, 39; 14.23, 36) ‘cup,’ ‘drinking vessel.’
xestēs (only here in the N.T.) from the Latin sextarius ‘the sixth part of a modius’; in a general sense, as here, ‘pitcher,’ ‘pot,’ ‘jug,’ without any reference to size.
chalkiōn (only here in the N.T.) ‘copper vessel,’ or ‘kettle.’
Translation:
The market place is usually not difficult to translate, but in some instances certain local adaptations may be required, e.g. ‘the trading post,’ ‘the place of buying and selling,’ or ‘the place where provisions are bought.’
They should refer specifically to the Pharisees (and all the Jews), not to the elders.
Do not eat unless becomes in some languages ‘do not eat if they do not,’ ‘do not eat until they,’ or ‘eat only when they have.’
Purify themselves seems somewhat preferable as a base for translating ‘wash themselves,’ since whatever water was used – whether in sprinkling or bathing – had as a primary function the ceremonial purification of the person. Purification is described in various ways, e.g. ‘to become really clean’ (Huautla Mazatec), ‘to become not mixed,’ in the sense of contaminated (Mezquital Otomi), ‘to take away pollution’ (Loma (Liberia)).
Many other traditions which they observe may be rendered as ‘they keep doing many other things which their ancestors told them to do’ or ‘they follow their fathers in keeping many other customs.’
The washing of cups … is an appositional expression, identifying the content of the traditions. One must frequently reproduce this as a verb expression, especially in languages in which traditions may be translated as a verb phrase, e.g. ‘they wash cups and pots and bronze vessels.’
Where the people are unacquainted with bronze it has been customary to use a word ‘metal vessels’ or ‘metal containers.’
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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