Exegesis:
epseudomarturoun (cf. 10.19) ‘they gave false testimony,’ ‘they bore false witness.’
isai (14.59) ‘equal,’ ‘alike’: the adjective is in the feminine nominative plural form, agreeing with hai marturiai ‘the testimonies.’ In the context the adjective means ‘consistent,’ ‘coherent’: the accusations brought against Jesus by the witnesses were not consistent one with the other.
Translation:
Bore false witness against may be rendered as ‘spoke against him but they were lying’ or ‘they told lies about him’ (Highland Puebla Nahuatl).
Their witness did not agree might be quite simply translated as ‘they did not say the same thing’ (Huehuetla Tepehua) or idiomatically as ‘they did not mate their words’ (Tzeltal).
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 .
