Mark 1:29-39 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 1:29-39 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

House of Prayer. Jesus came out of there. He had two disciples with him, James and John. They came to the house of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was there. She had a fever. She was sick and lying down. Jesus went into the house. And heard that his mother-in-law was lying sick. And Jesus went in and saw her lying there. He took her by the hand and began to lift her up. The mother-in-law got up and suddenly found that there was no fever! She was healthy! She was very happy. And she began cheerfully to prepare food and distribute it.

There were many people gathered in the city of Capernaum. They were all waiting for the sun to set. There were many sick people there who were possessed by demons. Many people were brought to Simon’s house. The sick were being put together and they took up all the space around Simon’s house. They waited for Jesus to come out. Jesus came out and treated the sick: He healed one, cured another, cast out a demon from a demon possessed man. The demons inside the possessed wanted to talk about Jesus, but he forbade them! Jesus healed one, another, and a third. He cast out demons from one man and another. And all this was until late at night.

Early in the morning, when the sun had just risen, Jesus quietly went out of Simon’s house and looked for a deserted place. Jesus began to pray earnestly to God. And Simon and the men began to look for Jesus everywhere, and they searched and searched and searched, and finally they found him. And they said:

— There are people there, they are all waiting for you. Let’s go!

Jesus answered them:

— No. I came here, why? I need to tell everyone about God. You follow me.

There are many different villages in Galilee. Jesus came to these villages – one, another, another, another — went into the house of prayer of the Jews, taught there, cast out demons from people who were possessed by demons. So he came to many villages.

Original Russian back-translation (click or tap here):

Дом молитвы. Иисус вышел оттуда. С ним были два ученика Иаков и Иоанн. Они пришли к дому Симона и Андрея. Там была теща Симона. У нее повысилась температура. Она заболела и лежала. Иисус зашел в дом. И услышал, что теща лежит больная. Ииусу зашел и видит, что она лежит. Он взял ее за руку и стал поднимать. Теща поднялась и вдруг обнаружила, что температуры нет! Она здоровая! Она очень обрадовалась. И она начала бодро готовить еду и раздавать ее.

В городе Капернауме собралось много людей. Они все ждали, когда солнце зайдет. Там было очень много больных, одержимых бесами. Многих людей приносили к дому Симона. Больных складывали, они заняли все место вокруг дома Симона. Они ждали, когда Иисус выйдет. Иисус вышел и лечил больных: одного исцелил, другого исцелил, из одержимого бесом изгнал беса. Бесы внутри одержимых хотели говорить об Иисусе, но Он запрещал им! Исцелял Иисус одного, другого, третьего. Бесов изгонял из одного, другого человека. И все это было до глубокой ночи.

Рано утром, когда только солнце взошло, Иисус тихонько вышел из дома Симона и искал пустынное место. Иисус начал усердно молиться Богу. А Симон и его люди стали искать Иисуса повсюду, искали-искали и, наконец, нашли. И сказали:

— Там люди, они все ждут тебя. Пойдем!

Иисус им ответил:

— Нет. Я пришел сюда, зачем? Мне нужно всем рассказать о Боге. Вы идите за мной.

В Галилее есть много разных селений. Иисус приходил в эти селения — в одно, другое, третье — заходил в дом молитвы евреев, учил там, изгонял бесов из людей, одержимых бесами. Так он приходил во многие селения.

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

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Mark 1:40-45 in Russian Sign Language >>

Mark 1:35-39 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 1:35-39 into Mexican Sign Language with back-translations into Spanish and English underneath:


© La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

Retrotraducciones en español (haga clic o pulse aquí)

Jesús dormió en la misma casa y en la mañana cuando estaba aún oscuro Jesús se despertó y se levantó y salió y fue caminando a un lugar solitario y Jesús oraba sólo.

Simón y otras personas acompañandolo vieron que había desaparecido y salieron a buscarlo y cuando descubrieron a Jesús dijeron: “Todas las personas aún te buscan, ¿qué pasa?”

Jesus dijo:”Yo he venido para esto; necesito irme y predicar, vamonos a un pueblo cercano”, y fueron juntos.

En el mismo lugar, en Galilea, iban a diferentes templos donde Jesús predicaba y de personas que tenían demonios adentro Jesús expulsaba los demonios.


Jesus slept in the same house and in the morning when it was still dark Jesus woke up, got up and went out and walked over to a lonely place and Jesus prayed alone.

Simon and some people accompanying him saw that he had disappeared and went out to look for him and when they discovered Jesus they said: “All the people are still searching for you, what’s this?”

Jesus said: “I have come for this; I need to go out and preach, let’s go to a nearby village,” and they went together.

In the same place, in Galilee, they went to different religious places where Jesus preached and threw out demons from people that had demons inside.

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

<< Mark 1:29-34 in Mexican Sign Language
Mark 1:40-45 in Mexican Sign Language >>

formal pronoun: disciples addressing Jesus

Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.

As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.

Here, individual or several disciples address Jesus with the formal pronoun, expressing respect. Compare this to how that address changes after the resurrection.

In most Dutch as well as in Western Frisian and Afrikaans translations, the disciples address Jesus before and after the resurrection with the formal pronoun.

See also this devotion on YouVersion .

complete verse (Mark 1:37)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 13:7:

  • Uma: “You will hear news of wars from far off, you will also hear the sound of wars that are close. But don’t be afraid, for all that must happen first, but those happenings don’t mean that the end of the world has already come.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “And when you hear about fighting in the land, or stories/reports about fighting in far-off lands, don’t be afraid. All this has to happen but this is not yet the day of the-end-of-the-world (kiyamat).” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when you hear near you the tumult of war and you hear also the reports about war in a far country, don’t be afraid. For things like this have to take place before this time comes to an end.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “You will also hear the racket of war that comes-close to you and news of war in other countries, but don’t be afraid. These-things must happen, but the end of the world is not yet.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And if/when you hear news of troubles and wars, don’t let it disturb your mind/thinking. Because these really will happen but it won’t yet be the end of the world.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

pronoun for "God"

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 Kouya, Godié, Northern Grebo, Eastern Krahn, Western Krahn, and Guiberoua Béte, all languages of the Kru family in Western Africa, a different kind of systems of pronouns is used (click or tap here to read more):

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. ).

See also first person pronoun referring to God.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Gender of God .

Translation: Chinese

在现代汉语中，第三人称单数代词的读音都是一样的（tā），但是写法并不一样，取决于性别以及是否有生命，即男性为“他”，女性为“她”，动物、植物和无生命事物为“它”（在香港和台湾的汉语使用，动物则为“牠”）。这些字的部首偏旁表明了性别（男人、女人、动物、无生命事物），而另一偏旁通常旁提示发音。

到1930年为止，基督教新教《圣经》经过整整一百年的翻译已经拥有了十几个译本，当时的一位圣经翻译者王元德新造了一个“神圣的”代词“祂”，偏旁“礻”表示神明。一般汉语读者会立即知道这字的发音是tā，而这个偏旁表示属灵的事物，因此他们明白这个字指出，三位一体的所有位格都没有性别之分，而单单是上帝。

然而，最重要的新教圣经译本（1919年的《和合本》）和天主教圣经译本（1968年的《思高圣经》）都没有采用“祂”；虽然如此，许多其他的圣经译本采用了这个字，另外还广泛出现在赞美诗和其他基督信仰的书刊中。（资料来源：Zetzsche）

《吕振中译本》的几个早期版本也使用“祂”来指称“上帝”；这个译本的《新约》于1946年译成，整部《圣经》于1970年完成。克拉默斯（Kramers）指出：“‘他’的这种新写法（即‘祂’）产生了一个小问题，就是在指称耶稣的时候，是否一律使用这个敬语代词？《吕振中译本》遵循的原则是，在称呼耶稣这个人的时候，用一般的‘他’，而在称呼耶稣神性的时候，特别是升天之后的耶稣，则用尊称‘祂’。”

Translator: Simon Wong

Scriptures Plain & Simple (Mark 1:29-39)

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 Mark 1:29-39:

At the conclusion of the synagogue service,
Jesus left with James and John
       for the home of the brothers Peter and Andrew.
When Jesus arrived, he learned
       Peter’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a fever.

As soon as Jesus helped her up by her hand, the fever left,
       and she prepared a meal for her guests.

That evening after sunset,
everyone sick or demon-possessed was brought to Jesus,
       until the front door was swamped with people.

Jesus healed all kinds of horrible diseases
and forced out many demons —
       they recognized him, but he refused to let them speak.

Very early the next morning, Jesus slipped away
       to a place where he could be alone.
But Peter and the others kept looking
until at last they found him and said,
       “Everyone’s looking for you!”

“Let’s go to the nearby towns,” replied Jesus.
       “That’s why I’ve come.”

So they traveled to every synagogue in Galilee,
       with Jesus teaching and forcing out demons.

Translation commentary on Mark 1:36 – 1:37

Exegesis:

katediōxen (only here in N.T.) ‘he followed’: the verb literally means ‘to track down,’ ‘hunt down,’ and has a hostile sense in such passages as Gen. 31.36; it may also have a good sense as in Ps. 23.6. More is indicated by the verb than the Revised Standard Version ‘followed’ there is an intentness, a determination, not present in the word ‘follow.’ Cf. Manson “tracked him down”; Swete “tracked him to his retreat”; O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada ‘searched diligently.’

Simōn kai hoi met’ autou ‘Simon and those with him,’ i.e. the other three mentioned in v. 29.

hōti ‘that’: here recitative, introducing direct speech, and thus correctly omitted in translation.

pantes ‘all’: notice the same use of this word in 1.5, 32, and similar expressions in 1.28, 33.

Translation:

Simon and those who were with him means ‘Simon and those who were with Simon,’ presumably, Andrew, James, and John, but it may have included others. However, the word him in this phrase does not refer to Jesus, but to Simon.

Followed is a misleading word, especially when translated literally in some languages, for it might imply that the disciples got up immediately after Jesus did and followed him (keeping him in view all the time) as he went out of the town. This of course is not the case. Evidently, the disciples awoke to find that Jesus had already left, and then they went looking for him. Accordingly, Mezquital Otomi has simply ‘went looking’ and Shipibo-Conibo ‘went to seek him.’ Other languages use expressions which imply that the disciple followed his tracks. The important thing is that the translation realistically reflect what happened.

Many languages have two words corresponding to English found: (1) a word which implies that something was discovered which people were not at the time trying to find and (2) a term which indicates that the object found is the result of a planned search. The latter expression is, of course, the one desired here.

The Greek verb zēteō, translated in the Revised Standard Version as “searching,” could perhaps be better translated as “looking for you.” It may also imply that the people were ‘asking about,’ ‘inquiring for,’ etc.

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 .