The Seventh Commandment (image)

Painting by Wang Suda 王肅達 (1910-1963),
Copyright by the Catholic University Peking, China

Text under painting translated from Literary Chinese into English:
The Seventh Commandment
The holy woman washes the Lord, a wicked disciple chastises her

Image taken from Chinese Christian Posters . For more information on the “Ars Sacra Pekinensis” school of art, see this article , for other artworks of that school in TIPs, see here.

John as a first-person evangelist (John 12:6)

In the Yatzachi Zapotec translation of the Gospel of John, any reference to the evangelist and presumed narrator is done in the first person.

The translator Inez Butler explains (in: Notes on Translation, September 1967, pp. 10ff.):

“In revising the Gospel of John in Yatzachi Zapotec we realized from the start that the third person references of Jesus to himself as Son of Man had to be converted into first person references, but only more recently have we decided that similar change is necessary in John’s references to himself as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’ As I worked on those changes and questioned the informant about his understanding of other passages in the Gospel, I discovered that the reader misses the whole focus of the book as an eyewitness account unless every reference to the disciples indicates the writer’s membership in the group. In view of that we went back through the entire book looking for ways to cue in the reader to the fact that John was an eyewitness and a participant in a many of the events, as well as the historian.

“When the disciples were participants in events along with Jesus, it was necessary to make explicit the fact that they accompanied him, although in the source language that is left implicit, since otherwise our rendering would imply that they were not present.”

In this verse, the Yatzachi Zapotec says: “Judas thought that not because he pitied the poor people, but rather because he was a thief. He carried the money all of us used, and he secretly took money from it.”

complete verse (John 12:6)

Following are a number of back-translations of John 12:6:

  • Uma: “Really, it wasn’t that Yudas cared about the poor. Rather it was his being a thief! Because he was the one who stored their money, and sometimes he took [some] secretly.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “It was not that Judas felt pity for the poor that he said this, but because he was a thief. He was hep entrusted to hold/have-authority over the container of their money and he often took some.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The reason he said this was not because of his pity for the poor but rather because he was a thief. He was the one that Jesus and company had keep their money, and he stole some of it.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “He said that not because he was concerned-for (lit. hurt-for) the poor but because he was a thief. Because it was he who was in-charge-of theirs and Jesus’ money, and it was his custom to repeatedly-remove-a-little.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “As for that which Judas said, it wasn’t as if he truly felt pity for the poor, but on the contrary because he was a thief. He was the one who had their fund in his keeping. Sometimes he snitched-some-on-the-quiet.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “But Judas didn’t speak like this because he was concerned about helping the poor people. Rather he said it because he was a thief. Since he was in charge of the money box, he stole the money from it.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on John 12:6

This verse is introduced with the same particle (de) as verse 4.

The verb cared about is the same one used in 10.13, which speaks of the hired man who does not care for the sheep.

Only in this verse in the Gospels is Judas described as a thief.

In languages in which it is necessary to place the positive before the negative clause, the first part of verse 6 may be altered to read “He said this because he was a thief; he didn’t say it because he cared for the poor” or “… he said this, not because he cared for the poor.”

The word translated money bag (“purse” in many translations) was originally used of a box used to carry mouthpieces of flutes. Later it was used of boxes in general, but more specifically with the meaning “money box” (so some translations). The word is used again in 13.29.

A literal translation of he carried the money bag may suggest that Judas was a low-ranking disciple who had the burden of carrying the money for the others. The implication, however, is simply that he was treasurer of the group. This meaning may be expressed in some languages as “he had charge of the money that belonged to all of them” or “he was the man responsible for keeping the money.”

Would help himself from it indicates customary or repeated action. The translation should not imply that Judas took everything that was placed in the money bag. The meaning is that Judas had the habit of helping himself from the contributions given to the disciples to be dispersed to the poor. Jerusalem Bible, though rather high level, conveys this meaning: “he was in charge of the common fund and used to help himself to the contributions.” One may also say “he took money for himself from time to time” or “from time to time he took some of the money and used it for himself.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .