Translation commentary on Mark 11:8

Text:

Instead of kopsantes ek tōn agrōn ‘(which) they cut from the fields’ of most modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus and Kilpatrick have ekopton ek tōn dendrōn, kai estrōnnuon eis tēn hodon ‘they were cutting from the trees and spreading on the road.’

Exegesis:

estrōsan (14.15) ‘they spread.’

alloi de stibadas ‘and others (spread) leafy branches’: the verb is supplied from the preceding clause.

stibas (only here in the N.T.) is specifically a litter or a kind of mattress made of straw, leaves, and so forth: here it obviously means ‘leaves,’ ‘leafy branches’ (Goodspeed ‘straw,’ Translator’s New Testament ‘foliage’), probably branches from olive trees. (It should be noticed that the ‘palm leaves’ are from John 12.13.)

kopsantes (only here in Mark; cf. katakoptō 5.5) ‘having cut.’

agrōn (cf. 5.14) ‘fields.’

Translation:

Spread their garments on the road must not be translated so as to imply that the folks completely undressed and put their clothes in the road. The meaning is, of course, that they put their outer cloaks down on the road in front of the donkey on which Jesus rode.

Leafy branches are ‘branches of trees with leaves,’ not dead sticks.

Cut from the fields may require expansion as ‘cut from the trees in the fields,’ for in some languages one cannot ‘cut from fields,’ but only ‘cut from trees.’

The type of action described here, in which the crowd tried to honor Jesus by casting their garments and branches in his path, is regarded by some peoples as utterly incomprehensible. For example, in most of Africa the arrival of a government official or local chief is prepared for by scrupulous cleaning of all paths leading into the village or town. Anyone who casts any object in the way of the arriving dignitary is guilty of the worst sort of disrespect. However, it is impossible and unwarranted to rewrite the Gospel narrative. What may be required, on the other hand, is a brief note of explanation indicating that this was designed to show honor to Jesus.

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Mark 11:8

Paragraph 11:8–10

This paragraph continues the story about Jesus coming to Jerusalem, riding on a young donkey. You may need to make it explicit in your translation of 11:8–10 that he was riding the young donkey.

The people honored Jesus and shouted out words of joy and praise. See the General Comment on 11:9–10 at the end of 11:10b for advice about how to translate what the people were shouting.

11:8a

Many in the crowd spread their cloaks on the road: The people placed their cloaks on the road in front of Jesus for the donkey to walk on. This was a way to show Jesus honor. If people in your language group do not know this custom, you should make the meaning explicit. For example:

people spread their cloaks on the road in front of Jesus in order to show him honor

Or you may want to include a footnote to explain the meaning of what they were doing. For example, you could say:

Jews in Jesus’ time used to spread their cloaks on the road in front of important people to honor them.

cloaks: Use the same word for cloaks here that you used in 11:7b.

11:8b

while others spread branches they had cut from the fields: All the people mentioned in 11:8 were honoring Jesus. Some honored him by spreading their garments on the road (11:8a), and others honored him by spreading branches in the road (11:8b). Make sure that it is clear in your translation that all these people were honoring Jesus.

You may need to rearrange the order of the clauses here in 11:8b. First, they cut branches in the fields, then they placed or spread the branches in the road to honor Jesus. For example:

while others cut branches in the fields and placed/spread them on the road

branches they had cut from the fields: Some Greek manuscripts have “branches they had cut from the trees” (see the King James Version), rather than branches they had cut in the fields. Most English versions follow the Greek manuscripts that say…cut in the fields. It is recommended that you follow the majority of English versions. However, it is implied that the branches were cut from trees in the field. So if it is necessary to be specific in your language, you could translate this expression as follows:

branches that they had cut from trees in the fields

branches: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as branches is a general word. In the parallel passage in John 12:13 the text specifies that these were palm fronds. This “greenery” (as in the New Jerusalem Bible) would lie flat on the road and would not cause the donkey to stumble. The people spread this greenery and their cloaks to form a carpet on the road. This was a sign of welcome and honor for an important person.

In some languages a word like “branches” may imply large parts of a tree. Use an appropriate word in your language to describe the palm fronds that the people were using to form a carpet for Jesus.

from the fields: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as fields can refer to either cultivated land or to the countryside. Here it probably refers to the area near the sides of the road. In some languages this may need to be made explicit. In some languages it may be more natural to leave the phrase from the fields implicit. For example:

branches they had cut from trees near the road

© 2008 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.