oneself (go-jishin) (Japanese honorifics)

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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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God or a person or persons to be honored, the honorific prefix go- (御 or ご) can be used, as in go-jishin (ご自身), a combination of “onseself” (jishin) and the honorific prefix go-. This can also be used for other reflexive pronouns (myself, himself, yourself etc.)

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

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God (“send”)

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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, oku-rare-ru (送られる) or “send” is used.

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

Sung version of Mark 16

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®).

For more information, see here .

Translation commentary on Mark 16:8

Exegesis:

exelthousai ‘going out (of the tomb).’

eichen gar autas tromos kai ekstasis ‘for trembling and astonishment had taken hold of them.’

tromos (only here in Mark) ‘trembling,’ ‘quivering.’

ekstasis (cf. 5.42) ‘confusion,’ ‘astonishment,’ ‘terror.’

ephobounto gar ‘for they were afraid’: for phobeō cf. 4.41. C. F. D. Moule suggests their fear kept them from saying anything to any person they might have encountered, as they hurried straight to the disciples with the message.

Translation:

The rendering of from the tomb may need to be related more closely to ‘went out,’ since some languages require an indication of what was ‘gone out of,’ e.g. ‘went out of the tomb and fled away.’

Trembling and astonishment had come upon them is a form of expression which cannot be easily translated literally in many languages. In the first place trembling and astonishment are normally rendered by verbs, ‘they were trembling and were astonished’ (or ‘amazed’). Had come upon them really means in many languages ‘began to….’ Hence, this clause may be translated as ‘they began to tremble and to be astonished’ (or ‘terrified’). For astonish see 1.22, 27.

______________

Here ends the Gospel of Mark, as it has been transmitted to us by the most reliable manuscripts. What is conventionally printed as vv. 9-20 of chapter 16 is a “Longer Ending” which early was appended to manuscripts and versions of the Gospel (cf. the Additional Note in the Appendix for reasons for not accepting this ending as Marcan); there exists also a “Shorter Ending,” appended to other manuscripts and versions of the Gospel. By most scholars it is held that the Gospel is not complete, and various solutions to the problem are proposed: the ending was never written; the ending was lost; the ending, for some reason, was suppressed. The position which raises the least formidable counter arguments is that, for some reason or other, the Gospel was never completed. Some, however, hold that the author did in fact purposely end his Gospel with v. 8.

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 16:8

Paragraph 16:8

In this paragraph, the women were completely unprepared to meet this young man and hear his message to them. They left the tomb too afraid to say anything to anyone else.

16:8a

So the women left the tomb and ran away, trembling and bewildered: Some versions change the order of the Greek text in this verse. For example:

Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb (New International Version, 2011 edition)

Use a natural order in your language.

left the tomb and ran away: The women were not hurrying to do what the young man told them to do. Instead, they were running away because they were afraid and did not want to stay there.

trembling and bewildered: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as trembling and bewildered is literally “trembling and bewilderment had them.” This is a figure of speech. It indicates that the women were so afraid that they were shaking, and they were confused. They had gone to the tomb expecting to find the body of Jesus. Instead, Jesus’ body was gone and the young man told them that he was alive. This caused them to feel afraid, and they were not able to think clearly.

In some languages it may be more natural to change the order of trembling and bewildered. For example:

The women were confused and shaking from fear.

16:8b

And in their fear they did not say a word to anyone: The reason that the women did not say a word to anyone is because of their fear. (Some commentators say that 16:8b indicates that they went straight to the disciples to tell them the message, without saying anything to anyone along the way. Other commentators say that the women were too afraid even to take the message to the disciples at first. Most English versions translate 16:8b without reflecting either of these interpretations, and you should do the same.) The other Gospels indicate that the women did give the disciples the message, but at first they may have been too frightened to do so.

You may want to include this information in a footnote. For example:

We know from Matthew 28:9–10 that Jesus appeared to these women a short time later, probably so that they would not be afraid to tell his disciples the angel’s message. We also know from Luke 24:9–11 that the women told Jesus’ disciples the angel’s message after they got back from the tomb, but no one believed them.

General Comment on 16:8b

It may be more natural in some languages to reverse the order of these two clauses. For example, the Contemporary English Version says:

They were too afraid to tell anyone what had happened.

[[Mark 16:9–20 Jesus appeared to his disciples and was lifted up to heaven (The Longer Ending of Mark)]]

The rest of chapter 16, verses 9–20, is often referred to as “The Longer Ending of Mark.” There is a textual issue concerning this section:

(1) Most Greek manuscripts include 16:9–20. Every major English version includes these verses. However, many versions place them inside brackets, or separate them in some other way, indicating that they were probably not part of the original text. For example, the Good News Bible gives these verses the heading:

An Old Ending to the Gospel

(2) Some important early Greek manuscripts do not include 16:9–20. (The UBS4 (pages 190–192) gives this reading an A rating, indicating that it is likely that the original text of Mark did not include these verses.)

Most Bible scholars do not believe that 16:9–20 was part of the story as Mark first wrote it. Some believe that Mark wrote more after 16:8b, but that we do not have the end of the story as he wrote it. Others believe that he stopped writing at 16:8b and that 16:9–20 was added later by a different person.

It is therefore recommended that you follow option (1) and put these verses in brackets, or separate them from the main text in some other way, to indicate that they were probably not part of Mark’s original text. You may also want to add a note such as the following:

Although the two oldest Greek manuscripts do not have verses 9–20, most major Greek manuscripts include them. Most Bible scholars think these verses were written by someone other than Mark, (TRT note 168 on page 227.) but they are still considered to be a valuable ancient witness to what happened after Jesus rose from the dead. There are similarities in 16:9–20 to Matthew 28:9–10, 16–20, Luke 24:13–49, John 20:10–23, and Acts 1:6–8.

There is also a second ending to Mark, often referred to as “The Shorter Ending of Mark.” It will be discussed later in a separate section after the notes on Mark 16:9–20. The Berean Standard Bible includes the longer ending of Mark in the main text. There is a footnote in the Berean Standard Bible that mentions the shorter ending.

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