hungry

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated in English as “hungry” is translated in Noongar as koborl-wirt or “without stomach” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang) and in the Kölsch translation (publ. 2017) it is often translated as nix zo Käue han or “have nothing to chew on” (note that zo Käue han or “something to chew on” is also used for “eat” — see Mark 6:37). (Source: Jost Zetzsche)

See also famished.

complete verse (Mark 8:3)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 8:3:

  • Uma: “Yet if I order them to go home still hungry, maybe they will faint on the road. For there are some of them from far away.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “If I send them home without them having eaten, they will faint on the way. And-what’s-more some of them have a long way to go home.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And if I send them away without having eaten, they might become weak on the trail for some of them are far from home.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “If I send-them -home and they haven’t yet eaten, some will become-faint-from-hunger on the way, because some, it is far to where-they -go-home.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Today/now, if I send them home hungry, maybe they won’t make it. Some of them have come from far.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Mark 8:3

Text:

apo ‘from’ is omitted by Textus Receptus, but included in all modern editions of the Greek text.

Instead of eisin ‘they are’ read by Nestle, Westcott and Hort, Kilpatrick, and Lagrange, hēkasin ‘they have come’ is preferred by Tischendorf, Soden, Souter, Merk, and Taylor; Textus Receptus and Vogels have hēkousi ‘they are come.’

Exegesis:

apolusō (cf. 6.36) ‘I should send away,’ ‘I should dismiss.’

nēsteis (only here in Mark) ‘hungry,’ ‘unfed,’ ‘without eating.’

eis oikon autōn (cf. 2.11; 5.19; 7.30) ‘to their homes.’

ekluthēsontai (only here in Mark) ‘they shall become weary,’ ‘they shall faint,’ ‘they shall give out.’

en tē hodō ‘in the road’: i.e. ‘on the way,’ ‘as they go (home).’

apo makrothen (cf. 5.6) ‘from afar,’ ‘from a distance.’

(If hēkasin ‘they have come’ is read – see above – it occurs only here in Mark, and means ‘be present,’ ‘have come’).

Translation:

Send them away hungry to their homes may require some realignment of constituent parts, e.g. ‘send them to their homes without their having eaten anything’ or ‘send them to their homes while they are still hungry.’

Faint on the way may be ‘collapse along the trail.’

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 .