spit and touched

The Greek that is translated as “(then he) spit and touched” is translated in Quetzaltepec Mixe in (linguistically required) greater detail as “Jesus spit on his own fingers and then put his fingers on the eyes of the blind man (or: the tongue of the mute man).”

village

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “village” or “town” in English is translated in Noongar as karlamaya or “fire (used for “home“) + houses” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

He gave sight to the physically and spiritually blind (image)

“In the religious cultures of Asia, it is often believed that people are blind because of their past karma. The blind often resort to begging in order to survive. Here the blind man stretches out his arms in a polite way to receive a donation but instead he connects with a healing touch. The onlookers are shocked to see Jesus making physical connection with a lowly beggar with bad karma.”

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 8:23)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 8:23:

  • Uma: “Yesus held his hand and lead him outside the village. He spit on his eyes and touched them. After that, he asked him: ‘Do you see anything?'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then Isa took the hand of the blind person and he led him (by the hand) taking him outside of that group-of-houses. When they were there, Isa spit on the eyes of the person and placed his hands on the eyes of the person. And then he asked the person, ‘Do you see anything?'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus led that blind person outside the village, and then Jesus spit on the eyes of the blind man and placed his hands on him, and he asked him if he could see anything.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When that was so, Jesus took-the blind-one’s -hand and led-him to the edge of the town. He spit on his eyes, then he laid-his-hands-on-(them) and said, ‘Do you (sing.) see anything?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Jesus led-by-hand that blind person, taking him outside the town. Jesus applied his saliva to the eyes and then touched/put-his-hand-on them. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘can you see anything?'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 8:23

Exegesis:

epilabomenos (only here in Mark) ‘taking hold of,’ ‘grasping’: like the verb krateō ‘grasp,’ ‘seize’ (cf. 1.31) this verb takes the object in the genitive case tēs cheiros tou tuphlou ‘the hand of the blind man.’

exēnegken (only here in Mark) ‘he took out,’ ‘he led out.’

ommata (only here in Mark) ‘eyes’: this word is commonly found in poetry (cf. Moulton & Milligan). Cf. 8.18 for ophthalmoi ‘eyes.’

ei ti blepeis: ‘(if) you see anything?’: ei ‘if’ is used as an interrogative particle with direct questions, such as this one. Cf. Acts 1.6; 7.1.

The other words have already been dealt with: exō (3.31) ‘outside of’; kōmē (6.6) ‘village’; ptuō (7.33) ‘spit’; epitithenai tas cheiras (5.23) ‘to lay hand upon’; epērōtaō (5.9) ‘ask,’ ‘inquire.’

Translation:

Out of may be ‘away from’ in some languages, since one may go ‘out of a house,’ but only ‘away from a village.’

Spit on his eyes may also be rendered ‘spit into his eyes’ (cf. the Greek preposition eis ‘into’ or ‘on’). In some languages one must specify whether the eyelids are closed or not, since different words exist for the eyes closed or open.

Laid his hands upon him may not be sufficiently specific in reference in some languages, since the place on the body where Jesus touched the man is required. In some instances, one may speak of placing the hands on the ‘head’ or ‘face,’ but it is best to introduce ‘eyes’ (compare verse 25), ‘again he laid his hands upon his eyes’; cf. Toraja-Sa’dan ‘put His hands on his eyes.’

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 .