complete verse (Mark 8:18)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 8:18:

  • Uma: “But Yesus knew what he disciples were saying, so he said to them: ‘Why do you keep talking about the fact that you don’t have any bread? Do you still not understand? Are your hearts still not clear, [even though] you have often heard my teaching, often have seen my power? You have-eyes and have-ears, yet do you still not understand what you see and hear? Don’t you remember,” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “You have eyes but it is as if you can’t see. You have ears but it is as if you can’t hear. Do you not remember what I did that day?” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “You have eyes, but it seems as if you cannot see. You have ears but it seems as if you cannot hear. Have you forgotten what I did?” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “You have eyes, but you can-not -see. You also have ears, but you can-not -hear. Have you forgotten” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Don’t you have eyes? Don’t you have ears? Have you already forgotten?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

formal pronoun: Jesus addressing his disciples and common people

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 his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.

In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.

Translation commentary on Mark 8:18

Punctuation:

The last three words of v. 18 kai ou mnēmoneuete ‘and do you not remember’ are joined directly to v. 19 (instead of being punctuated as a separate question, as done by Revised Standard Version) by the Greek texts of Tischendorf, Westcott and Hort, Nestle, Merk, Taylor, and Lagrange; by the Vulgate; and by the following modern translations: Goodspeed, Moffatt, Berkeley, Williams, Zürcher Bibel, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada.

Exegesis:

The first part of the verse reflects such O.T. passages as Jer. 5.21, Ezek. 12.2; there is probably a backward glance at 4.12 where Isa. 6.9, 10 is quoted as applying to those “outside,” as if to suggest that the verdict there pronounced on them is here being applied to the disciples who, apparently, could not see and could not hear. ‘You have eyes, have you not? Can you not see? You have ears, have you not? Can you not hear?’

ophthalmous (8.25; 9.47; 12.11; 14.40) ‘eyes.’

ōta (cf. 4.9) ‘ears.’

echontes ‘having’: the participle is concessive, ‘though you have eyes … though you have ears….’

mnēmoneuete (only here in Mark) ‘you remember,’ ‘recall,’ ‘recollect.’

Translation:

Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear may be adapted in some languages to a positive-negative contrast, e.g. ‘you have eyes, but do you not see; you have ears, but do you not hear?’ The answer to the question implies a ‘yes,’ but it is contextually conditioned in a rather subtle way, implying that they should, but they actually do not.

The separation of the last clause from the following verse 19, may result in a simpler syntactic arrangement, but the relationship seems considerably less meaningful.

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 .