Mark 14:53 - 65 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 14:53-65 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)

Los soldados llevaron a Jesús y entraron la casa del sumo sacerdote y subieron.

Afuera en la plaza los hombres que vigilaban el templo estaban sentados alrededor del fuego. Pedro fue a sentarse y calientarse las manos al fuego.

Al mismo tiempo Jesús estaba frente al sumo sacerdote y se juntaron otros líderes de los sacerdotes y los ancianos y maestros de la ley alrededor de él y querían castigar a Jesús a morir.

Dijeron: “¿Quién es testigo en contra de Jesús?” Una persona vino a contar y criticar y lo inventó todo, y otra persona vino y contó mentiras, y vinieron uno por uno y dijeron diferentes cosas y fue un desórden.

Los sacerdotes miraraon de uno a otro: ‘No hay personas que dicen lo mismo, es difícil escoger testigos.’

Algunas otras personas se levantaron y caminaron (al frente) y hablaron una mentira:

“Oímos a Jesús diciendo que el templo de Jerusalén, que fue construido por hombres, en el futuro él, Jesús, lo quitará y lo destruyerá y en tres días reconstruyerá nuevo templo. Dice que no necesita ayuda de la gente.”

Ellos dijeron diferentes cosas y el sumo sacerdote se paró y caminó (hacia Jesús) y dijo: “Jesús, ellos (están hablando) en contra de ti y tú dices nada, ¿sabes de qué están hablando?”

Jesús estaba silencioso, callado y el sacerdote otra vez le preguntó: “¿Eres el Cristo, el hijo del Dios santo?”

Jesús (dijo): “Sí, lo soy y les advierto: en el futuro uds todos verán a Dios, el poderoso, sentado con el hijo del hombre a su lado.

Luego en el futuro uds verán con sus propios ojos que el hijo del hombre venga con las nubes, este mismo soy yo.”

El sumo sacerdote lo vio y arrancó su mantó, rompiendolo, y dijo: “Uds ven y oyen que Jesús está hablando algo fuerte e irrespetuoso contra Dios, no necesitamos más testigos.

¿Uds qué piensan?, diganme.” Los sacerdotes y los maestros de la ley y los ancianos (dijeron): “Jesús es malo, es necesario y mejor castigarlo con la muerte.”

Algunos fueron uno por uno y lo escupieron en la cara y le ataron ua venda y lo golpieron en la cara.

Dijeron: “Tú eres una profeta, ¿quién de nosotros te golpeó? Vamos, dinos.” Y lo golpearon más, y otros hombres que vigiliaban el templo fueron y lo bofetearon en la cara.


The soldiers took Jesus and they entered the house of the high priest and went up.

Outside in the square the men that kept watch over the temple were sitting around the fire. Peter went over to sit down and warm his hands by the fire.

At the same time Jesus was standing in front of the high priest and other leaders of the priests and the elders and teachers of the law gathered around him and they wanted to punish Jesus to death.

They said: “Who will be a witness against Jesus?” One person came up to tell things and criticize, making it all up, and another person came and told lies, and they came one by one and told different things, and it was a chaos.

The priests looked from one to the other: ‘There are no persons who say the same thing, it is difficult to choose witnesses.’

Some other people got up and walked (to the front) and told a lie:

˜We heard Jesus say that the temple in Jerusalem, that was built by men, in the future he, Jesus, will destroy it and in three days he will rebuild a new temple. He says he does not need help from the people.”

They said different things and the high priest got up and walked over (to Jesus) and said: “Jesus, they (are talking) against you, and you say nothing, do you know what they are talking about?”

Jesus was silent and kept quiet, and the priest asked him again: “Are you the Christ, the son of the holy God?”

Jesus (said): “Yes, I am and I tell you: in the future you will all see God, the almighty, sitting with the son of man next to him.

“Then in the future you will see with your own eyes that the Son of Man is coming on the clouds, and I am he.”

The high priest saw it and he tore his mantle open and said: “You see and hear that Jesus is saying something strong and disrespectful against God, we do not need more witnesses.

“What do you think? Tell me.” The priests and the teachers of the law and the elders (said): “Jesus is bad, it is necessary and better to punish him with death.”

Some went up one by one and they spit him in the face and they blindfolded him and hit him in the face.

They said: “You are a prophet, who of us beat you? Come on, tell us.” And they beat him some more, and other men who kept watch over the temple, went up and struck him in the face.

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

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Mark 14:53-65 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 14:53-65 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

The chief priests, the elders, the teachers of the law gathered in the house of the high priest. There they waited for Jesus to be brought. When Jesus had been seized earlier, a disciple named Peter had secretly followed Jesus. When the crowd that had seized Jesus entered the courtyard of the high priest’s house, Peter secretly followed them and began to warm himself by the fire that was there in the courtyard. The servants of the high priest were around. Peter was secretly watching.

The high priest and the judges began to question the people. They needed proof that Jesus had committed a crime in order to condemn him to death. Many liars began to slander Jesus. But the judges understood that these accusations were not enough to condemn Jesus to death. Some liars began to testify against Jesus:

“He said that I will destroy the Temple, which was built in the distant past, but then in three days I will build it again, but it will not require the efforts of human hands.

The judges decided that these charges were not enough to condemn Jesus to death. They continued to deliberate and question the people.

Then the high priest stood up and came to Jesus and said:

— These people are accusing you. Why don’t you defend yourself?

Jesus said nothing, but remained silent. The high priest asked:

— Are you the Christ? Are you the Son of God?

Jesus answered:

— I am. You will yet see how the Son of Man will sit next to God the Father, to his right. You will see how I descend on a cloud to the earth.

The high priest became furious. He tore his clothes and shouted:

— What other evidence is needed? He blasphemes God! What will you decide, judges?

The judges decided that Jesus was guilty and should be executed. Then the crowd attacked Jesus, people began to spit at him. Then they put a bag over his head, beat him on the head and said:

— Now tell me, prophet, who hit you?

Then the guards began to beat him.

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

Первосвященники, старейшины, учителя закона собрались в доме первосвященника. Там они ждали, пока приведут Иисуса. Когда до этого Иисуса схватили, ученик по имени Петр тайно последовал за Иисусом. Когда толпа, схватившая Иисуса, вошла во двор дома первосвященника, Петр тайком пошел за ней и стал греться возле костра, который был там, во дворе. Вокруг были слуги первосвященника. Петр тайно следил.

Первосвященник и судьи стали расспрашивать народ. Им нужны были доказательства, что Иисус совершил преступление, чтобы осудить его на смерть. Многие лжецы стали наговаривать на Иисуса. Но судьи понимали, что этих обвинений недостаточно, чтобы осудить Иисуса на смерть. Какие-то лжецы стали свидетельствовать против Иисуса:

— Он говорил, что вот этот Храм, который был построен в далеком прошлом, я разрушу, но потом через три дня построю его вновь, но не потребуются усилия человеческих рук.

Судьи решили, что и этих обвинений недостаточно для осуждения Иисуса на смерть. Они продолжали совещаться и расспрашивать народ.

Тогда встал первосвященник, подошел к Иисусу и сказал:

— Вот эти люди обвиняют тебя. Почему ты не защищаешься?

Иисус ничего не сказал, но продолжал молчать. Первосвященник спросил:

— Ты Христос? Ты Сын Бога?

Иисус ответил:

— Я есть. Вы еще увидите, как Сын человеческий, воссядет рядом с Богом отцом, справа от него. Вы увидите, как я спускаюсь на облаке на землю.

Первосвященник пришел в ярость. Он разодрал на себе одежду и закричал:

— Какие еще нужны доказательства? Он хулит Бога! Что вы решите, судьи?

Судьи решили, что Иисус виновен и должен быть казнен. Тогда толпа набросилась на Иисуса, люди стали плевать в него. Потом надели на голову мешок, били по голове и говорили:

— Вот теперь скажи, пророк, кто тебя ударил?

Потом стражники стали бить его.

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

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Mark 14:66-72 in Russian Sign Language >>

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Mark 14:58)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding the high priest).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

synagogue, temple (inner), temple (outer)

In many English translations the Greek terms “hieron” (the whole “temple” in Jerusalem or specifically the outer courts open to worshippers) and “naos” (the inner “shrine” or “sanctuary”) are translated with only one word: “temple” (see also for instance “Tempel” in German [for exception see below] and “tempel” in Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans).

Other languages make a distinction: (Click or tap here to see more)

  • Navajo (Dinė): “house in which worship is carried out” (for naos)
  • Balinese: “inner part of the Great Temple” (“the term ‘inner part’ denoting the hindmost and holiest of the two or three courts that temples on Bali usually possess”) vs. “Great Temple”
  • Telugu: “womb (i.e. interior)-of-the-abode” vs. “abode”
  • Thai: a term denoting the main audience hall of a Buddhist temple compound vs. “environs-of-the-main-audience-hall”
  • Kituba: “place of holiness of house-God Lord” vs. “house-God Lord”
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “deep in God’s house” vs. “God’s house” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “inner court of the temple” (Tempelinnenhof) vs. “temple”

Languages that, like English, German, Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans, don’t make that distinction include:

  • Mandarin Chinese: “聖殿 Shèng diàn” (“holy palace”)
  • Loma: “the holy place”
  • Pular: “the sacred house” (source for this and the one above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Zarma: “God’s compound”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “big church of the Jews”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “big house on top (i.e. most important)”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “house that is looked upon as holy, that is sacred, that is taboo and where one may not set foot” (lit. “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” — because taboo is violated — using a term that is also applied to a Muslim mosque) (source for this and the three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Mairasi: Janav Enggwarjer Weso: “Great Above One’s (God’s) House” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Noongar: Maya-maya-Kooranyi: “Sacred House” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “the big church of the Israelites”
  • Aguaruna: “the house for talking to God” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Guhu-Samane: “festival longhouse of God” (“The biiri, ‘festival longhouse’, being the religious and social center of the community, is a possible term for ‘temple’. It is not the ‘poro house’ as such. That would be too closely identified with the cult of poro. The physical features of the building, huge and sub-divided, lend it further favor for this consideration. By qualifying it as ‘God’s biiri’ the term has become meaningful and appropriate in the context of the Scriptures.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
  • Enga: “God’s restricted access house” (source: Adam Boyd on his blog )

Another distinction that tends to be overlooked in translations is that between hieron (“temple” in English) and sunagógé (“synagogue” in English). Euan Fry (in The Bible Translator 1987, p. 213ff. ) reports on this:

“Many older translations have simply used transliterations of ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ rather than trying to find equivalent terms or meaningful expressions in their own languages. This approach does keep the two terms separate; but it makes the readers depend on explanations given by pastors or teachers for their understanding of the text.

“Translators who have tried to find meaningful equivalents, for the two terms ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ have usually made a distinction between them in one of two ways (which focus on the contrasting components of meaning). One way takes the size and importance of the Temple to make a contrast, so that expressions such as ‘sacred meeting/ worship house of the Jews’ and ‘big sacred meeting/worship house of the Jews’ are used. The other way focuses on the different nature of the religious activity at each of the places, so that expressions such as ‘meeting/worship house of the Jews’ and ‘sacrifice/ceremony place of the Jews’ are used.

“It is not my purpose in this article to discuss how to arrive at the most precise equivalent to cover all the components of meaning of ‘temple’. That is something that each translator really has to work through for himself in the light of the present usage and possibilities in his own language. My chief concern here is that the basic term or terms chosen for ‘temple’ should give the reader of a translation a clear and correct picture of the location referred to in each passage. And I am afraid that in many cases where an equivalent like ‘house of God’ or ‘worship house’ has been chosen, the readers have quite the wrong picture of what going to the Temple or being in the Temple means. (This may be the case for the word ‘temple’ in English too, for many readers.)”

Here are some examples:

  • Bambara: “house of God” (or: “big house of worship”) vs. “worship house” (or: “small houses of worship”)
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” (see above) vs. “meeting house for discussing matters concerning religious customs” (and “church” is “house where one meets on Sunday”)
  • Navajo (Dinė): “house in which worship is carried out” vs. “house of gathering” (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida)

    • Bangandu: “the great house of God” vs. “house of prayer” (Source: Ervais Fotso Noumsi in Le Sycomore, 16/1, 2022 )

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Herod’s temple (source: Bible Lands 2012)

Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing synagogues in New Testament times (source: Bible Lands 2012)

See also this devotion on YouVersion .

complete verse (Mark 14:58)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 14:58:

  • Uma: “‘This person, we (excl.) heard him say like this: ‘I will destroy the House of God built by man, and in three days I will build another, that man has not built.’ ‘” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “They said, ‘We (excl.) heard this man say that he would break down the temple ko’, which is made by humans, and in three days he would erect ko’ a different one, but it wouldn’t be people making/building it.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “they said, ‘We heard that person say, ‘I will tear down this church, the House of God, made by people, and within three days I will raise up a new one not made by people,’ ‘ they said.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “‘We (excl.) heard this one’s saying that he would reportedly destroy this Temple made by people so that he would reportedly erect another Temple in three days that would not be erected by people.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “‘What we (excl.) heard him say was, ‘I will destroy this Templo which people persevered/exerted-much-effort in building. However within three days, I will cause a different Templo to be built which will not be built by man.”” (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

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.