The Greek that is translated into English as “crucify” is translated in various ways:
Naro: xgàu or “to stretch” (as is done with a skin after slaughtering in order to dry it. The word is also widely accepted in the churches.) (Source: Gerrit van Steenbergen)
Yatzachi Zapotec: “fasten him to the cross” (source for this and two above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125)
Noongar: “kill on a tree” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Apali: “nail to a tree piece put cross-wise, lift up to stand upright (for the crucified person) to die (and in some contexts: “to die and rise again”)” (source: Martha Wade)
In British Sign Language it is signed with a sign that signifies “nails hammered into hands” and “arms stretched out.” (Source: Anna Smith)
“Crucify” or “crucifixion” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Following is a painting by Wang Suda 王肅達 (1910-1963):
Housed by Société des Auxiliaires des Missions Collection – Whitworth University
(click image to enlarge)
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.
Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing how crucifixion was done in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Uma: “But they just continued-more to make-noise, they said: ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But they shouted saying, ‘Nail him onto the post. Nail him onto the post.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “however, they began all the more to shout, saying, ‘Nail him to the cross! Nail him to the cross!'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “but they repeatedly-shouted, ‘Nail him! Nail him to the cross!'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But the crowd were now shouting out, saying, ‘Nail him to a cross! Nail him to a cross!'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
God transcends gender, but most languages are limited to grammatical gender expressed in pronouns. In the case of English, this is traditionally confined to “he” (or in the forms “his,” “him,” and “himself”), “she” (and “her,” “hers,” and “herself”), and “it” (and “its” and “itself”).
Modern Mandarin Chinese, however, offers another possibility. Here, the third-person singular pronoun is always pronounced the same (tā), but it is written differently according to its gender (他 is “he,” 她 is “she,” and 它/牠 is “it” and their respective derivative forms). In each of these characters, the first (or upper) part defines the gender (man, woman, or thing/animal), while the second element gives the clue to its pronunciation.
In 1930, after a full century with dozens of Chinese translations, Bible translator Wang Yuande (王元德) coined a new “godly” pronoun: 祂. Chinese readers immediately knew how to pronounce it: tā. But they also recognized that the first part of that character, signifying something spiritual, clarified that each person of the Trinity has no gender aside from being God.
While the most important Protestant and Catholic Chinese versions respectively have opted not to use 祂, some Bible translations do and it is widely used in hymnals and other Christian materials. Among the translations that use 祂 to refer to “God” were early versions of Lü Zhenzhong’s (呂振中) version (New Testament: 1946, complete Bible: 1970). R.P. Kramers (in The Bible Translator 1956, p. 152ff. ) explains why later versions of Lü’s translation did not continue with this practice: “This new way of writing ‘He,’ however, has created a minor problem of its own: must this polite form be used whenever Jesus is referred to? Lü follows the rule that, wherever Jesus is referred to as a human being, the normal tā (他) is written; where he is referred to as divine, especially after the ascension, the reverential tā (祂) is used.”
In that system one kind of pronoun is used for humans (male and female alike) and one for natural elements, non-liquid masses, and some spiritual entities (one other is used for large animals and another one for miscellaneous items). While in these languages the pronoun for spiritual entities used to be employed when referring to God, this has changed into the use of the human pronoun.
Lynell Zogbo (in The Bible Translator 1989, p. 401ff. ) explains in the following way: “From informal discussions with young Christians especially, it would appear that, at least for some people, the experience and/or concepts of Christianity are affecting the choice of pronoun for God. Some people explain that God is no longer ‘far away,’ but is somehow tangible and personal. For these speakers God has shifted over into the human category.”
In Kouya, God (the Father) and Jesus are referred to with the human pronoun ɔ, whereas the Holy Spirit is referred to with a non-human pronoun. (Northern Grebo and Western Krahn make a similar distinction.)
Eddie Arthur, a former Kouya Bible translation consultant, says the following: “We tried to insist that this shouldn’t happen, but the Kouya team members were insistent that the human pronoun for the Spirit would not work.”
In Burmese, the pronoun ko taw (ကိုယ်တော်) is used either as 2nd person (you) or 3rd person (he, him, his) reference. “This term clearly has its root in the religious language in Burmese. No ordinary persons are addressed or known by this pronoun because it is reserved for Buddhist monks, famous religious teachers, and in the case of Christianity, the Trinity.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae in The Bible Translator 2002, p. 202ff. )
In Thai, the pronoun phra`ong (พระองค์) is used, a gender-neutral pronoun which must refer to a previously introduced royal or divine being. Similarly, in Northern Khmer, which is spoken in Thailand, “an honorific divine pronoun” is used for the pronoun referring to the persons of the Trinity (source: David Thomas in The Bible Translator 1993, p. 445 ). In Urak Lawoi’, another language spoken in Thailand, the translation often uses tuhat (ตูฮัด) — “God” — ”as a divine pronoun where Thai has phra’ong even though it’s actually a noun.” (Source for Thai and Urak Lawoi’: Stephen Pattemore)
The English “Contemporary Torah” addresses the question of God and gendered pronouns by mostly avoiding pronouns in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament (unless God is referred to as “lord,” “father,” “king,” or “warrior”). It does that by either using passive constructs (“He gave us” vs. “we were given”), by using the adjective “divine” or by using “God” rather than a pronoun.
Some Protestant and Orthodox English Bibles use a referential capitalized spelling when referring to the persons of the Trinity with “He,” “His,” “Him,” or “Himself.” This includes for instance the New American Standard Bible or The Orthodox New Testament, but most translations do not. Two other languages where this is also done (in most Bible translations) are the closely related Indonesian and Malay. In both languages this follows the language usage according to the Qur’an, which in turn predicts that usage (see Soesilo in The Bible Translator 1991, p. 442ff. and The Bible Translator 1997, p. 433ff. ).
Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Luke 23:13-25:
Pilate called together the chief priests,
the religious authorities, and all their cohorts.
Then he said:
“You brought Jesus into my court,
accusing him of being a troublemaker.
But you’re witnesses that I’ve found him innocent,
and so has Herod, who sent him back to me.
This man doesn’t deserve the death penalty.
I’ll have him beaten, then released.”
“Kill him! Set Barabbas free!” shouted the angry mob.
Now Barabbas had been in prison,
charged with terrorism and murder.
Pilate wanted to set Jesus free,
so he repeated himself to the mob.
But they shouted even louder,
“Nail him to a cross! Nail him to a cross!”
“What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate once again.
“I’ve found him guilty of nothing deserving death.
I’ll have him beaten and released.”
“Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!”
came the incessant cry of the crowd.
Finally, Pilate gave in to the demands of the frenzied mob.
He freed Barabbas, the terrorist and murderer,
then handed Jesus over to face certain death.
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
hoi de epephōnoun legontes ‘but they shouted out.’ The imperfect tense is durative.
epiphōneō ‘to shout out,’ ‘to cry out.’
staurou, staurou auton ‘crucify, crucify him,’ emphatic repetition of the imperative.
stauroō ‘to nail to the cross,’ ‘to crucify.’
Translation:
They shouted out, or because of what precedes, “they shouted back” (Good News Translation).
Crucify, crucify him. The verb is usually rendered by an expression built on, or derived from the term for “cross” (for which see on 9.23), cf. e.g. ‘to the cross he must go’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘stretch him’ (Balinese, Toraja-Sa’dan), ‘hang him on a crossbeam’ (Sundanese).
Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.
but: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as but introduces a statement by the people that directly and strongly contrasts with what Pilate had hoped and wanted in 23:20. Instead of releasing Jesus, the people wanted Pilate to have Jesus crucified.
they kept shouting: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as they kept shouting indicates that the people continued to shout for some time. They yelled the same words many times. They were shouting these words back to Pilate as their answer to him. Some other ways to translate this are:
they repeatedly shouted -or-
they just continued to yell/call again and again -or-
they ⌊answered⌋ ⌊him⌋, shouting over and over
23:21b
Crucify Him! Crucify Him!: The phrase Crucify Him! is repeated for emphasis. The people were urgently demanding that Pilate crucify Jesus. In some languages it may be more natural to say it only once and emphasize it in a different way. This is especially true if the term for Crucify has several words.
Here the crowd did not expect Pilate to crucify Jesus himself. He would order his soldiers to do it. In some languages it may be necessary to make this clear. For example:
Cause him to be killed/executed on a cross! -or-
⌊Order (sing)your soldiers to⌋ nail/fasten him to a cross to kill him!
Crucify Him: The word Crucify (and “crucifixion”) refers to a method that Romans used to execute criminals. They nailed or tied the living criminal to a stake or to two large beams of wood that were joined in the form of a cross (+). They set the cross upright in the ground. Then they left the criminal on the cross until he died. Crucifixion was a slow and painful death.
Some ways to translate Crucify Him are:
Kill him on a cross! -or-
Nail him to the cross/post so that he dies!
In some languages the term for Crucify will need to include a word for “cross.” Some ways to translate the word “cross” are:
plank/wood of death -or-
crossed-beam(s) of death -or-
a tree for killing people -or-
a stake/post to which they fasten/nail someone ⌊to kill him⌋
You may want to include a footnote to explain more about crucifixion. For example:
One Roman method to execute a criminal was to crucify him. They crossed two large pieces of wood and joined them together. Then soldiers nailed or tied the criminal’s arms to one piece of wood and his feet to the other. They set the cross upright and allowed him to die a slow and painful death on it.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.