Translation commentary on Mark 8:25

Text:

Instead of dieblepsen ‘he looked intently’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has epoiēsen auton anablepsai ‘he made him see again.’

Instead of the neutral plural hapanta ‘all things’ of all modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus has the masculine plural hapantas ‘all men.’

Exegesis:

For epethēken tas cheiras ‘he laid his hands upon’ cf. 5.23; for ophthalmous ‘eyes’ cf. 8.18.

kai dieblepsen kai apekatestē ‘and he looked intently and was restored,’ ‘and he saw clearly and was restored.’

diablepō (only here in Mark) ‘look intently’ (Revised Standard Version) or ‘see clearly,’ ‘see properly’ (Translator’s New Testament); others translate the word here ‘look hard,’ ‘look steadily,’ ‘stare straight ahead.’

apokathistamai (cf. 3.5) ‘be restored,’ ‘be made sound.’

kai eneblepen tēlaugōs hapanta ‘and he saw everything clearly.’

emblepō (10.21, 27; 14.67) ‘see.’

tēlaugōs (only here in the N.T.) ‘plainly,’ ‘clearly’; Moulton & Milligan define it ‘clearly from afar’ (cf. Taylor, Translator’s New Testament).

Translation:

In many languages, the first occurrence of he must be rendered as ‘Jesus,’ since the immediately preceding third person singular subject is the blind man. However, the second he must be changed to ‘the man,’ for this marks a change in subject. Of course, the reader can, with some care, determine these shifts from the context, but if in the receptor language it would be normal to mark such changes overtly, they should be so treated in the translation. This procedure is nothing more nor less than having the translation conform to the syntactic requirements of the language into which one is translating.

Restored may be ‘regained his sight,’ ‘his eyes were healed,’ or ‘finally he could see.’

Saw everything clearly is rendered in Tzeltal as ‘everything far off appeared clear,’ a normal way of talking about complete vision; cf. Toraja-Sa’dan ‘he gained certainty concerning everything when he saw 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 8:25

8:25a

Once again Jesus placed His hands on the man’s eyes: Jesus repeated what he did in 8:23d. The man probably closed his eyes as Jesus laid his hands on the man’s eyes. Your translation should not suggest that Jesus left his hands over the man’s eyes.

8:25b–d

See the General Comment on 8:25b–d after 8:25d for a discussion of how these verse parts relate to each other.

8:25b

and: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and introduces an event that happened immediately after the events in 8:25a. Connect 8:25b to 8:25a in a way that is natural in your language. Consider whether or not it is natural to begin a new sentence here.

he opened them:

There is a textual issue here. (1) Some Greek manuscripts have the expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates as
he opened them. For example, the Good News Bible says: “the man looked intently.” (2) Other Greek manuscripts have the phrase that the King James Version translates as “he made him look up.” For example the King James Version says: “and made him look up” (King James Version). It is recommended that you follow option (1) as the majority of English versions do.) There are two main ways to interpret the Greek expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates as he opened them:

(1) It means that he looked intently. For example, the New Living Translation, 1996 edition says:

the man stared intently

(Good News Bible, Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New American Standard Bible, New Living Translation, 1996 edition, Contemporary English Version)

(2) It means that he saw clearly. For example, the God’s Word says:

the man saw clearly

(New Jerusalem Bible, God’s Word)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). The majority of English versions follow this interpretation. It also seems to fit more easily with the other two similar verbs in 8:25c and 8:25d. See the note on 8:25b–d for further discussion.

8:25c

his sight was restored: The phrase his sight was restored indicates that the man’s eyes were healed and he was able to see again. It implies that the man could see at an earlier time in his life, but then became blind in some way.

8:25d

and he could see everything clearly:

There is a textual issue here. (1) Some Greek texts have the meaning
everything. For example, the New Living Translation says: “everything” (Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, NET Bible, New Century Version, God’s Word, New American Standard Bible, Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible, Good News Bible, English Standard Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English). (2) Other Greek texts have the meaning everyone. For example the King James Version says: “every man” (King James Version). It is recommended that you follow option (1) as the majority of English versions do.) After the man was cured in 8:25c, he could see everything well.

General Comment on 8:25b–d

Each part of 8:25b–d contains an expression that describes an aspect of the man becoming able to see again. These three verse parts express the climax of the story. Express it in an exciting and natural way in your language. Be sure that your translation describes the sequence of events in a natural way. The New Century Version has one way to describe the sequence in English:

25bthe man opened his eyes wide 25cand they were healed, 25dand he was able to see everything clearly

The clauses his sight was restored and he could see everything clearly (8:25c) both indicate that the blind man was completely healed. These clauses emphasize this amazing miracle. Express this emphasis in a natural way in your language. For example, here is another way to translate 8:25b–d:

He looked intently and was able to see everything with perfect clarity!

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