complete verse (Mark 15:21)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 15:21:

  • Uma: “On the way, they met a person who had just arrived at the village, they right away forced him to carry [on the shoulder] Yesus’ cross. His name [was] Simon the Kirene person, the father of Aleksander and Rufus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So-then a man passed-by, his name was Simon, a person from the place Kirene. He came from up-inland returning to the town. This Simon is/was the father of Iskandal and Rupus. The soldiers forced him commanding him to carry-on-shoulder the post that Isa would soon be nailed onto.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “On the way they met a person from Cyrene called Simon, father of Alexander and Rufus. This Simon was coming from the fields into the city. They forced him to carry the cross that Jesus was carrying.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “While they were still on the way (lit. path), they met a man who was going to the city from the barrios, and they forced him to carry-on-the-shoulder Jesus’ cross. This man, it was Simon from-Cirene who was the father of Alexander and Rufus.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “As the soldiers to-whom-Jesus -had-been-committed were going out of that city, they came across a man going to the city who was called Simon who was a taga Cirene, the father of Alejandro and Rufo. They forced him to shoulder the cross on which they would nail Jesus.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Kâte: “While they were going, they met a man on the street, by the name of Simon, from the settlement of Cyrene, the father of both Alexander and Rufus. It was he, coming from the field, whom they met, and they forced him, so he carried the cross of Jesus, and they led him on.” (Source: Renck, p. 96)
  • Yagaria (Move dialect; oral translation): “While they went on the street, a man by the name of Simon, a man from the settlement of Cyrene, the father of both Alexander and Rufus, as he came from the field, they met him and urged him, and (as) he carried the cross of Jesus, they went on.”
  • Yagaria (Move dialect): “While they went on the street, a man by the name of Simon, a man from the settlement of Cyrene, the father of both Alexander and Rufus, as he came from the field, they met him and urged him, and (as) he carried the cross of Jesus, they went on.”
  • Yagaria (Kami-Kuluka dialect): “While they go, leading Jesus in order that they kill him, a man is coming, and they meet him. The man they meet, a man from the place of Cyrene, the father of both Alexander and Rufus, by the name of Simon, he comes. As he comes, the men which lead Jesus and come, the soldiers, tell him strongly: you turn back, and take the timber on which we will kill Jesus, carry it and go! After they say that, he carries it and goes.” (Source for this and above: Lourens de Vries in The Bible Translator 2000, p. 101ff. )

Translation commentary on Mark 15:21

Exegesis:

aggareuousin (only here in Mark) ‘they impressed (into service),’ ‘they forced’: the verb is a Persian loanword, and refers to the right enjoyed by the occupation troops of impressing people into service for the purpose of carrying loads or performing other services.

paragonta tina Simōna Kurēnaion ‘a passerby, a certain Simon of Cyrene’ (cf. Goodspeed, The Modern Speech New Testament, Manson).

paragō (cf. 1.16) ‘to pass by,’ ‘to go along.’

Simōna Kurēnaion ‘Simon Cyrenean’: the name indicates the man was a Jew, from Cyrene, the capital city of the North African district of Cyrenaica.

erchomenon ap’ agrou (cf. 5.14) ‘coming in from the country,’ and not ‘coming in from the field.’

hina arē ton stauron autou ‘that he should carry his cross’: hina indicates the content of the command implied in the verb aggareuō.

airō (cf. 8.34) ‘carry,’ ‘lift up and carry along’: a man condemned to die by crucifixion was forced to carry the cross-piece (the patibulum) to the place of execution.

Translation:

This verse, despite its clear meaning in English, contains a number of syntactic problems when translated into some languages. In the first place, between the object a passerby and the verb expression with which it goes, namely, to carry his cross, it is often quite impossible to interpose so much which is explanatory: (1) an appositive construction consisting of a man’s name; (2) a description of what he is doing; and (3) his relationship to Alexander and Rufus, men who were evidently well known to the Christian community to which this gospel was being addressed. Because of the syntactic difficulties imposed by this type of arrangement, some languages require considerable recasting of the word order, e.g. ‘Simon, a man from Cyrene country, was passing along as he came in from the fields. He was the father of Alexander and Rufus. The soldiers forced Simon to carry Jesus’ cross.’ In Navajo the verb compel must be translated by an explicit description of what happened, e.g. ‘they said, Carry this cross; and they pushed him to it.’

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 15:21

Section 15:21–32

The soldiers nailed Jesus to a cross

In this section, Jesus was crucified. This is the climax of the book of Mark. Three times Jesus had predicted these events (8:31, 9:31, and 10:33–34). Now they really happened. Mark has presented Jesus as the Messiah and King who the prophets in the Old Testament predicted would come. By dying on the cross, Jesus did what the Messiah had to do to save his people.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

The soldiers fastened Jesus to a cross to kill him
-or-
Jesus was executed on a cross
-or-
The crucifixion of Jesus

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 27:32–44, Luke 23:26–43, and John 19:17–27.

Paragraph 15:21–24

15:21

This verse introduces a new character in the story (Simon). It gives some details about him and tells what he did. See the General Comment on 15:21a–b at the end of 15:21b for suggestions on how to change the order of the information in this verse.

15:21a

Verse 15:21a introduces Simon and gives several details about him. Some English versions (for example, the Good News Bible) place some of these details in parentheses to show that they are background information. Translate this information in a way and in an order that is natural in your language.

Now Simon of Cyrene: This is the first (and only) mention of this Simon in Mark. Consider how you would naturally introduce a new person into the story in your language.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

There was a certain man. His name was Simon. He came from the town of Cyrene.
-or-
There was a certain man from Cyrene named Simon.
-or-
At that moment a man named Simon was passing by. He was from Cyrene.

of Cyrene: Cyrene is the name of a city. It was on the coast of north Africa in what is present-day Libya. Simon was of Cyrene in the sense that it was his home town.

the father of Alexander and Rufus: Mark mentioned that Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus. He probably included this information because he expected his readers to know these men.

was passing by: The verb was passing by indicates that Simon was by chance walking by. He was walking by at the time when the soldiers were looking for someone to carry Jesus’ cross. He was not part of the group that went out with Jesus toward the place where Jesus was crucified.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

Simon…happened to be coming in (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Simon…was coming in from the country just then. (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)
-or-
Simon…was on his way in from the country and was there by chance/accident.

on his way in from the country: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as on his way in from the country is literally “coming from (the) field/countryside.” Here it means that Simon was coming into the city from the rural area outside of it. Try to use a general expression that indicates that he was coming from an area that was not a “town” or “city.”

In some languages, you may want to say that he was coming “into the city.” If you do, it may not be necessary to explicitly translate the phrase from the country.

15:21b

and the soldiers forced him to carry the cross of Jesus: It was the custom for Roman soldiers to force a criminal to carry his own cross. Jesus started to carry his cross (see John 19:17), but it is implied that he became too tired to carry it any further. You may want to explain this in a footnote. For example:

Jesus carried the cross first (see John 19:17). When he could not carry it any further, the soldiers forced Simon to carry it. Roman soldiers had a legal right to command anyone to carry something for them.

forced him to carry: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as forced refers to the authority that soldiers could use to force someone to carry something for them. Some English versions translate this word with a specific military term. For example:

drafted (NET Bible)
-or-
enlisted (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
pressed into service (New American Standard Bible)

Here are some other ways to translate the phrase forced him to carry:

ordered him to carry
-or-
forced/caused him to carry against his will

In some languages it may be natural to translate the idea of forced him to carry as direct speech. For example:

…and they ordered him, “You, take this cross and carry it for this man.”

the cross: A cross refers to two large wooden boards or beams that were attached to each other. Roman soldiers used crosses to kill criminals. They nailed or tied a criminal to these wooden beams, then set them upright. They did this in order to cause the criminal to die slowly and painfully.

The word cross comes from the fact that the beams were crossed and attached. This made the shape of a or (or sometimes a ).

In many languages there may be no word for cross. If that is true in your language, you may need to use a descriptive phrase. For example:

board/wood of death
-or-
crossed-beam(s) of death
-or-
a tree for killing people
-or-
a stake/plank to which they fasten/nail someone to kill him

See how you translated cross at 8:34d.

General Comment on 15:21a–b

This verse contains (a) some background information about Simon and (b) a main event in the story. The Berean Standard Bible gives the background information first. In other languages it may be more natural to state what happened first and then to give the background information.

Here are some examples of ways to order the information in this verse:

And they compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
They ordered a man named Simon to carry the cross for Jesus. This Simon was from Cyrene and was the father of Alexander and Rufus. He was just coming into town from the rural area at that moment.
-or-
On the way they met a man named Simon, who was coming into the city from the country, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was from Cyrene and was the father of Alexander and Rufus.) (Good News Bible)

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