wash their hands

The Greek that is translated as “wash their hands” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with mit der Faust gründlich die Hände schrubben or scrub your hands thoroughly with your fist.”

tradition

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The Greek that is translated as “tradition” in English is translated in these ways:

  • Kekchí: “the old root-trunk” (in which the life of a people is likened to a tree)
  • Central Tarahumara: “to live as the ancients did”
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun: “sayings passed down from long-ago times”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “what their fathers of old told them to follow”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “the ordinance maintained by the forefathers”
  • Tzeltal: “the word that has been kept from the ancients” (source for this and all above Bratcher / Nida)
  • Gumuz: “the life of your fathers” (source: Loren Bliese)
  • Obolo: “the deeds of the ground” (orọmijọn̄) (source: Enene Enene)
  • Mairiasi: “the old things that are being held-onto” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “handed-down customs” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)

elder (of the community)

The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated as “elders” in English is translated in the Danish Bibelen 2020 as folkets ledere or “leaders of the people.”

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators, explains: “The term ‘elder’ turned out to pose a particularly thorny problem. In traditional bibles, you can find elders all of over the place and they never pose a problem for a translator, they are just always elders. But how to find a contemporary term for this semi-official, complex position? This may have been our longest-standing problem. A couple of times we thought we had the solution, and then implemented it throughout the texts, only to find out that it didn’t work. Like when we used city council or village council, depending on the context. In the end we felt that the texts didn’t work with such official terms, and throughout the years in the desert, these terms didn’t make much sense. Other suggestions were ‘the eldest and wisest’, ‘the respected citizens’, ‘the Israelites with a certain position in society’, ‘the elder council’ –- and let me point out that these terms sound better in Danish than in English (‘de fremtrædende borgere,’ ‘de mest fremtrædende israelitter,’ ‘alle israelitter med en vis position,’ ‘de ældste og de klogeste,’ ‘ældsterådet’). In the end we just said ‘leaders of the people.’ After a lot of hand-wringing, it turned out that we actually found a term that worked well. So, we had to give up conveying the fact that they were old, but the most important point is that they were community leaders.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

The German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022) translates likewise as “leader of the people” (Anführer des Volkes).

Mark 7:3 - 4 in Mexican Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 7:3-4 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)

Otro ejemplo: si han ido al mercado y regresan, no pueden tomar algo para comer, primero se bañan y cuando están limpios pueden comer.

Otro ejemplo: Vasos, jarras, ollas etc. que están sucios los lavan y cuando ya está listo, están limpios, los enjuagan otra vez en agua para estar completamente limpios.

Hay muchas leyes diferentes que han inventado y las personas obedecen las costumbres.


“Another example: when they go off to the market and return afterwards they cannot take something to eat, they first bathe and when they are clean they can eat.

“Another example: glasses, jars, pots etc. that are dirty are washed and when that is done and they are clean they rinse them again in water so that they are completely clean.

“There are many different laws that they have invented and the people obey the customs.”

Source: La Biblia en LSM / La Palabra de Dios

<< Mark 7:1-2 and 5-17a in Mexican Sign Language
Mark 7:17b-24a in Mexican Sign Language >>

Mark 7:1-23 in Russian Sign Language

Following is the translation of Mark 7:1-23 into Russian Sign Language with a back-translation underneath:


Source: Russian Bible Society / Российское Библейское Общество

The people of Judea strictly followed the demands of tradition. Before eating, they were to wash their hands thoroughly up to the elbows. After going to the store and the market, they had to wash their hands thoroughly. Also they had to be thorough with kitchen utensils: cauldrons, plates.

And so the Pharisees and teachers of the law came from Jerusalem. They were indignant when they saw that Jesus’ disciples were not fulfilling the demands of tradition.

In indignation they turned to Jesus:

— Behold, your disciples are not fulfilling the demands of tradition! They had not washed their hands and were eating bread. What is this?

Jesus answered them:

— You Pharisees are hypocrites. In ancient times there lived a prophet named Isaiah. He was talking about the people of his time, but they were just like the Pharisees. The prophet said that these people thought they were very pious, very proud of it, but in fact, inwardly they were empty, far from God. They thought they were pious and outwardly honored God — but it was all false. They began to invent their own rules and laws and pass them off as God’s law, as God’s commandments. That’s what you are doing now, Pharisees. You disregard God’s commandments and make up your own. You have rejected God’s law, but you demand that people obey your rules.

In ancient times Moses gave Ten Commandments. There is this commandment: “Honor your father and mother.” If a son offends his parents, according to the law he should be punished by death.

And it happens like this: old parents who have no money to feed themselves, but the son has money. But you say to such a person:

— You should not give money to old parents, you should bring it as a gift to the Temple.

That is, you encourage people not to take care of their parents. Thus, your rules and statutes abrogate the Law of God.

Jesus called the people together and said to them:

— Listen and ponder! Do you think that man is defiled by food? No! Food is outward. But evil thoughts in the heart are what defile a man and spoil him.

Jesus walked away from the crowd and went into the house. Jesus’ disciples followed him. There the disciples began to question Jesus:

— We did not understand the meaning of what you were telling.

Jesus said:

— Have you not understood? Food is external. What you eat, it will not contaminate you, because it will be digested in the stomach and come out again, it does not give you bad thoughts in your heart. But if you have bad thoughts in your heart, it contaminates you. You think bad thoughts, you start doing bad things: cunning, malice, stealing, murder, cheating, greed, malice, deceit, rudeness, slander, insult, pride, stupidity — where does it all come from? It all comes from within, from the thoughts. If thoughts are dirty, then a person is unclean.

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

Жители Иудеи строго выполняли требования традиции. Перед едой они должны были тщательно вымыть руки до локтей. После магазина и рынка должны обязательно чисто-чисто вымыть руки. Также должны были тщательно быть кухонную посуду: котлы, тарелки.

И вот фарисеи и учителя закона пришли из Иерусалима. Они возмутились, когда увидели, что ученики Иисуса не исполняли требований традиции.

В негодовании они обратились к Иисусу:

— Вот, твои ученики не исполняют требований традиции! Они не вымыли руки и стали есть хлеб. Что это такое?

Иисус им ответил:

— Вы фарисеи — лицемеры. В древности жил пророк по имени Исайя. Он говорил о людях своего времени, но они были таким же, как фарисеи. Пророк говорил, что эти люди считали себя очень набожными, очень гордились этим, но на самом деле, внутренне они пусты, далеки от Бога. Они считали себя набожными и внешне почитали Бога — но это все фальшь. Они стали придумывать свои собственные правила и законы и выдавать их за Божий закон, за Божьи заповеди. Так же и вы сейчас поступаете, фарисеи. Вы заповедями Божьими пренебрегаете, и придумываете свои собственные. Божий закон вы отвергли, а требуете, чтобы люди исполняли ваши правила.

В древности Моисей дал 10 заповедей. Есть такая заповедь: «Почитай отца и мать». Если сын оскорбляет своих родителей, по закону он должен быть наказан смертью.

А бывает так: старые родители, у которых нет денег пропитание, а у сына деньги есть. Но вы же говорите такому человеку:

— Не нужно давать денег старым родителям, нужно их принести в дар в Храм.

То есть вы побуждаете людей не заботиться о родителях. Таким образом, ваши правила и уставы отменяют Закон Божий.

Иисус созвал людей и сказал им:

— Слушайте и поразмыслите! Вы думаете, человек оскверняется пищей? Нет! Еда — это внешнее. Но злые мысли в сердце — вот, что оскверняет человека и портят его.

Иисус ушел от толпы и вошел в дом. Ученики Иисуса последовали за ним. Там ученики стали спрашивать Иисуса:

— Мы не поняли смысл того, что ты рассказывал.

Иисус сказал:

— Вы не поняли? Пища — это внешнее. То, что вы едите, это вас не испачкает, потому что это переварится в желудке и снова выйдет наружу, от этого в сердце не появляются плохие мысли. Но если в вашем сердце плохие мысли — это вас пачкает. Вы думаете плохие мысли, начинаете делать плохие дела: хитрость, злоба, воровство, убийство, измены, жадность, злоба, лукавство, грубость, клевета, оскорбление, гордость, глупость — это все откуда? Это все исходит изнутри, из мыслей. Если мысли грязные, то и человек нечист.

Back-translation by Luka Manevich

<< Mark 6:53-56 in Russian Sign Language
Mark 7:24-30 in Russian Sign Language >>

complete verse (Mark 7:3)

Following are a number of back-translations of Mark 7:3:

  • Uma: “For all the Yahudi people are very strict in following the customs of their elders, especially those who follow the teaching of the Parisi people. They don’t eat until they have washed their hands according to custom.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “The custom of the Pariseo and all the Yahudi is that they do not eat if they have not first been able to wash their hands following the teaching of their forefathers.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For the Jews, especially the Pharisees, they do not eat if they cannot wash their hands for that was the custom handed down by he old folks long ago.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because the Pharisees and likewise also the other Jews, they follow the custom inherited from their ancestors that they do not eat if they haven’t washed their hands correctly first.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For as for the Judio, especially the Pariseo, they wouldn’t eat if they hadn’t washed their hands according to their customs handed-down from their ancestors.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Pharisee

The Greek that is a transliteration of the Hebrew Pərūšīm and is typically transliterated into English as “Pharisee” is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as Fǎlìsài (法利賽 / 法利赛) (Protestant) or Fǎlìsāi (法利塞) (Catholic). In Chinese, transliterations can typically be done with a great number of different and identical-sounding characters. Often the meaning of the characters are not relevant, unless they are chosen carefully as in these cases. The Protestant Fǎlìsài can mean something like “Competition for the profit of the law” and the Catholic Fǎlìsāi “Stuffed by/with the profit of the law.” (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 51)

In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “prayer shawl”. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Pharisee” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts “pointing out the law.” (Source: Anna Smith)


“Pharisee” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

In French Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts the box of the phylacteries attached to the forehead:


“Pharisees” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as Observant. He explains (p. 302): “Pharisee has become a public, universal pejorative term for a hypocrite. Pharisees were observant of the interpretation of the Covenant Code called the ‘tradition of the elders.’ They conformed their behaviors to the interpretation. Among the various groups of Jews at the time of Jesus, they were perhaps closest to Jesus in their overall concern to make a radical commitment to the will of God (as they understood it).”

See also Nicodemus.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Pharisees .