The Greek in Mark 3:20 that is translated as “could not even eat” or similar in English had to be translated more specifically in Tsafiki as “they could not eat because there was no time” and likewise in Serias “they did not have time even to eat.” (Source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
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Mark 3:20-35 in Mexican Sign Language
Following is the translation of Mark 3:20-35 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 y los discípulos fueron juntos a una casa, y una multitud personas también fue a la casa y la entró y la casa estaba llena de personas y Jesús y sus discípulos no comían nada.
Personas chismearon y contaron la familia de Jesús: “Las multitudes van a él y Jesús no come nada.”
La familia (dijo): “Ay Jesús está loco, ahorita lo traigamos, vamonos”. Y fueron (por él).
En la misma casa había algunos maestros de la ley de Jerusalén que lo vieron y dijeron: “Jesús tiene adentro de él el rey de los demonios, que se llama Beelzebú. Jesús y él tienen una conspiración y el demonio ayuda a Jesús, así que puede expulsar demonios.”
Jesús dijo: “¿El demonio me ayuda? Es absurdo. Les doy un ejemplo: Si yo soy un demonio y quiero expulsar a un demonio, ¿lo puedo? No puedo, es imposible, yo también soy demonio.
Por ejemplo, primero: Si diferentes gobiernos se pelean ellos fracasarán.
Segundo: Si en una familia ellos se pelean, se separarán.
Tercero: Si dos demonios se pelean no ganan nada, los dos se eliminarán.
Otro ejemplo: Una persona entra en una casa y toma cosas, y un hombre fuerte y poderoso lo ve. Le tiene miedo (al hombre fuerte) porque lo vio.
Primero debe agarrarlo (al hombre fuerte) y atarlo hasta que esté impotente en el piso y esto hecho puede libremente recoger las cosas.
Este ejemplo del (hombre) fuerte y poderoso es como el rey de los demonios, ¿entienden?
Les advierto y digo la verdad; si una persona hace pecados diferentes y es irrespetuoso contra Dios y después pide perdón, Dios lo perdonará y borrará sus pecados.
Pero hay una excepción: Si uds insultan contra el espíritu santo y lo apodan demonio, huy, no serán perdonados jamás, habrá un castigo fuerte para siempre.”
Allá vino la familia de Jesús y tocaban alguién: “Por favor, que Jesús venga” y el hombre dijo a Jesús: “Tu mamá y tus hermanos te llaman, por allá.”
Jesús miró a sus familiares y a la multitud, a todas las personas que estaban sentadas alrededor, y Jesús dijo: “Les pregunto: ¿Quiénes son mi mamá y mis hermanos?
Uds mismos son mi familia, porque uds obedecen sólo a Dios, por eso uds son mi mamá y mis hermanos.”
Jesus and the disciples went together to a house and a multitude of people also went to the house and entered it and the house was full of people, and Jesus and his disciples did not eat anything.
Some people gossiped and told Jesus’ family: “The multitudes go to him and Jesus does not eat anything.”
The family (said): “Ah, Jesus has gone mad, we will bring him back now, let’s go.” And they went (for him).
In the same house there were some teachers of the law from Jerusalem, and they watched him and said: “Jesus has inside him the king of demons, which is called Beelzebub. Jesus and he are conspiring together and the demon is helping Jesus so that he can throw out demons.”
Jesus said: “So the demon is helping me? That’s absurd. Let me give you an example: If I am a demon and I want to throw out a demon, can I? No I cannot, it’s impossible, I am a demon myself.
“For example, firstly: If different governments fight with each other they will all go down.
“Secondly: If the people in a family fight together they will be separated.
“Thirdly: If two demons fight together, they do not gain anything, both will be eliminated.
“Another example: A person enters a house and takes things away and a strong, powerful man sees him, he gets frightened because he’s been seen.
“First he has to take hold (of the strong man) tie him up so that he lies wriggling on the floor and when that is done he can freely collect the things.
“This example of the strong and powerful (man) is like the king of demons, do you understand?
“I warn you, and I say the truth; if a person does different sins and is disrespectful towards God and afterwards asks forgiveness, God will forgive him and delete his sins.
“But there is one exception: If you insult the Holy Spirit and nickname him a demon, wow, you will never be forgiven, there will be a strong punishment forever.”
Over there the family of Jesus came and they touched someone: “Please, let Jesus come” and the man went and told Jesus: “Your mother and brothers call you, over there.”
Jesus looked at his family and at the multitude, at all the people seated around him, and Jesus said: “I ask you, who are my mother and my brothers?
“You yourselves are my family, because you obey only God, that’s why you are my mother and my brothers.”
Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios
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Mark 4:1-9 in Mexican Sign Language >>
complete verse (Mark 3:20)
Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 3:20:
- Uma: “After that, Yesus returned to the house. But many people came again and surrounded him with the result that Yesus and his disciples did not have-a-chance-to-eat.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “So-then Isa and his disciples went home. But the crowds of people again gathered going there, therefore Isa and company had not even time to eat.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then Jesus and company, they had no time even to eat because many people gathered together to him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
- Kankanaey: “Then they went-home. Whereupon the many-people gathered again and plural Jesus had no chance to eat.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
- Tagbanwa: “When Jesus and company had returned to the house, many people again gathered around. That’s why Jesus and his disciples weren’t even able to eat.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Honorary "rare" construct denoting God (“return”)
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, modo-rare-ru (戻られる) or “return” is used.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Sung version of Mark 3
Translation commentary on Mark 3:20
Exegesis:
kai sunerchetai palin ochlos ‘and the crowd gathers again.’
sunerchomai (14.53) ‘assemble,’ ‘gather,’ ‘come together.’
palin ‘again’: looks back at 3.7. It would not be correct to say ‘the same crowd’: it is simply the gathering together again of a crowd about Jesus.
hōste mē dunasthai autous (cf. 1.27 for this construction) ‘so that they were unable,’ ‘so that they could not.’
autous ‘they’: the reference is most likely to Jesus and his disciples.
mēde arton phagein ‘not even to eat bread,’ i.e. eat, “take food” (Translator’s New Testament).
Translation:
In order to avoid the impression that this was identically the same crowd following Jesus (though admittedly made up of many of the same people), one may say, ‘And again a crowd gathered together there….’ The occurrence of the article in Greek does not require one to translate as ‘the crowd,’ identifying these people with the group in 3.9.
They is likely to be badly misunderstood unless the reference is made more specific, for in many languages the only antecedent would be the ‘crowd.’ Accordingly in some languages the subject is made explicit as ‘Jesus and his disciples’ (San Mateo del Mar Huave, Amganad Ifugao).
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 3:20
Section 3:20–30
Jesus proved that he did not use Satan’s power
It is good to translate this section before you decide on a heading for it.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
Jesus is stronger than Satan
-or-
Jesus sends evil spirits away by defeating Satan
-or-
Do not insult the Holy Spirit
There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 12:22–32 and Luke 11:14–23; 12:10.
Paragraph 3:20–21
3:20a
Then Jesus went home: English versions differ as to the verse in which the clause Then Jesus went home should be included:
(1) Most translations and the UBS Handbook Greek text place this clause at the beginning of 3:20. For example, the New International Version says:
19…and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
20Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.
(New International Version, Berean Standard Bible, Good News Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation, Contemporary English Version, New American Standard Bible, NET Bible, God’s Word)
(2) Some translations place this clause at the end of 3:19. For example, the Revised Standard Version says:
19…and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Then he went home; 20and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat.
(Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, King James Version)
It is recommended that you follow option (1), because this clause provides the setting for the next story (3:20–30).
Then: This verse is the beginning of a new story. The events in this story happened sometime after the events in the preceding section. The Berean Standard Bible introduces this story with the word Then. The Greek text does not indicate how much time passed between these two stories.
It may be natural in your language to begin a story with a time word or phrase. If that is true, use an expression that is not too specific. For example:
After that
In some languages, a time word or phrase is not necessary. Introduce this story in a natural way in your language.
home: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as home is literally “house.” Scholars differ as to which house this was:
(1) This was the house in Capernaum in which Jesus and his disciples usually stayed. This house could be considered Jesus’ home. For example:
Then Jesus went home. (Good News Bible)
-or-
Jesus returned to the house where he was staying (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)
(Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version, New American Standard Bible, NET Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation, 1996 edition, New Century Version)
(2) This was no specific house. For example, the Revised English Bible says:
He entered a house (Revised English Bible)
(New International Version, Revised English Bible, King James Version)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). The majority of English versions understand it to refer to the house where Jesus normally lived when he was in Capernaum. See also 2:1b, where the same house is probably mentioned.
3:20b
once again: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as once again can also be translated as “once more.” This was not the first time that a crowd had gathered together to see Jesus.
Here is another way to translate this:
Another crowd gathered (God’s Word)
a crowd gathered: The clause a crowd gathered means that “many people came” to the house.
3:20c
so that: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as so that introduces the result of the crowd coming to the house. So many people came to the house that Jesus was not able to eat.
Here are some others ways to translate this:
such a large crowd gathered that there was no chance even to eat (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Because of the crowd, Jesus and his disciples were not able to eat.
-or-
A crowd gathered again. That is why Jesus and his disciples did not have time to eat.
He and His disciples: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as He and His disciples is literally “they” (as in the Revised Standard Version). Most scholars believe that the “they” refers to Jesus and his disciples.
could not even eat: Jesus and his disciples were not able to eat because they were so busy teaching and helping all the people who had come.
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