[B-Greek] Translation of Mark 1:31
Glendon Gross
gross at clones.net
Mon Oct 24 23:53:33 EDT 2005
Hello Dan Gleason,
I find it very hard to believe that Mark intended any such implication
regarding the "method of healing" as you have inferred in your
translation of this verse. Regrettably I think you have allowed your
theological beliefs about the method of healing to color your
representation of the text.
I would go further and suggest that it is rare in any language for the
grammar of a sentence to have some kind of ontological or purposeful
significance as you have claimed for this verse. I think you are reading
the meaning into the text, rather than exegeting what the text actually
says. This obscures the simplicity and historical value of the source
text by forcing it to say something that is not really there.
As Ludwig Wittgenstein said in his Tractatus Logico Philisophicus, we need
to "throw away the ladder after we have climbed up it." To fail to throw
away the ladder of Greek Grammar is to imprison yourself within the world
of the structure of the Greek language when you write English prose. This
defeats the purpose of translation and creates an unecessary obstacle for
the reader, in my opinion.
I would further suggest that the rules of the grammar of the source
language are not always applicable to the target language, even when the
languages are linguistically closer than Koine Greek and English are.
Regards,
Glendon Gross
Amateur Greek Student.
On Mon, 24 Oct 2005, Dan Gleason wrote:
> Mark 1:31
> KAI PROSELQWN HGEIREN AUTHN KRATHSAS THS CEIROS ...
> KAI AFHKEN AUTHN hO PURETOS ...
> KAI DIHKONEI AUTOIS.
>
> I wrote ... This was my tentative translation of Mk 1:31 and I know it is
> very literal and wooden ... but that's the way the author wrote it:
> And having-come-near, he-raised her ... taking of-the hand ...
> and the fever left her ...
> and she-was-serving them.
>
> My translation deduced the method of healing ...
> "coming near her" and/or "taking her hand" raised her from lying down
> and "taking the hand" caused the fever to leave her.
>
> Dr Conrad wrote: Do you mean "that's the way you, as author of the
> translation, wrote it?"
> I'd say it's a structural imitation of the Greek, not really a translation
> into idiomatic English.
> (Thank you for your detailed answer copied below my following response)
>
> To answer, I admit, my translation was as "literal" as I could make it.
> I purposely opted for a "wooden" rather than an idiomatic translation.
> I structurally parsed the verse according to the three kai's.
> This was a very early miracle, and the way I see it, the author only hinted
> at the "method of healing."
> Future miracle healings offered more and more details - a standard literary
> technique.
>
> My tentative translation took into account subsequent healings such as when
> the woman with a 12 yr flow of blood touched his garment and was cured and
> Jesus immediately felt "power going out from him." (Mk 5:25-30)
> Other times the method of healing came out of the mouth of Jesus
> - all he had to do was say a command.
>
> Another example was the method Jesus used to cure the blind man of Bethsaida
> (Mk 8:22-23)
> and they-come into Bethsaida
> and they-bring to-him a Blind-man ...
> and they-beg him that he-might touch him.
> and having-grasped-on the Hand of-the Blind-man, he-took him outside the
> Village ...
> and he-had-spit into his Eyes when-he-put the Hands on him ...
> then again he-placed the Hands on his Eyes
> and he-opened-his-eyes and he was restored ...
>
> In conclusion re mk 1:31, I thought the author of the gospel purposely
> constructed an amphibology (a sentence or phrase that can be interpreted in
> more than one way).
> The method of healing was incorporated in the sparse narrative of the
> healing.
> The method of healing foreshadowed future methods of healing.
>
> Dan Gleason
>
> _____________________________________________________________
>> From: "Dan Gleason" <dan-bgreek at hotmail.com>
>> To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
>> Subject: [B-Greek] Translation of Mark 1:31
>> Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 19:35:38 -0500
>>
>> Thank you Dr Conrad and Andrew for your initial response.
>>
>> Here is the Greek text of Mark 1:31:
>> KAI PROSELQWN HGEIREN AUTHN KRATHSAS THS CEIROS; KAI AFHKEN AUTHN hO
>> PURETOS, KAI DIHKONEI AUTOIS.
>>
>> This was my tentative translation of Mk 1:31 and I know it is very literal
>> and wooden ... but that's the way the author wrote it:
>> And having-come-near, he-raised her ... taking of-the hand, and the fever
>> left her ... and she-was-serving them.
>>
>> My NAB translates this verse as:
>> He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. Then the fever left her
>> and she waited on them.
>>
>> I question the NAB translation because it seems to be paraphrasing too
>> much.
>> I had three questions which I will now reword a little by taking a
>> position.
>>
>> 1) The previous verse tells us the woman was lying down because she had a
>> hot-fever. Verse 31 tells us that Jesus did two things ... he raised the
>> woman up from her prone position and then took away her fever. He was able
>> to do this because of the supernatural power he possessed. Does the text
>> allow me to say that Jesus raised the woman (she got up by herself) by just
>> coming near her. The woman was now able to get up but she still had her
>> fever.
>>
>> 2) Regarding the hand of Jesus causing the fever to leave the woman:
>> The text (KRATHSAS THS CEIROS) says "taking of-the hand" followed by (KAI
>> AFHKEN AUTHN hO PURETOS) and the fiery-fever left her. The way I read this
>> is that the woman was now standing and then she "took the hand" meaning
>> Jesus put his hand on her (perhaps on her head, or shoulder, or her hand,
>> or
>> anywhere on her body). It was the laying on of his hand and the power in
>> his
>> hand that took away the fever.
>>
>> 3) Is the Greek text ambiguous enough to support my translation?
>>
>> Dan Gleason
>>
>> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
>> B-Greek mailing list
>> B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
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>
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