A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark
Overview
What if you were responsible for translating God's Word into a language that never had a Bible before? Can you imagine the burden you would feel to do a good job?
God takes His Word pretty seriously, and you would certainly do everything in your power to make sure that you were not putting words into God's mouth, but that you were providing a text that clearly communicated God's Word as closely to the original as possible.
This challenge to understand the heart of the original Scriptures, in order to put the original text into a new language, was the impetus for the United Bible Societies to create handbooks for Bible translators working on this very thing. The United Bible Societies' Handbook Series is a comprehensive verse-by-verse guide to understanding exactly what is being communicated by the author in the original Scriptures.
Key Features
- Exegetical, historical, cultural, and linguistic information on the original text
- Verse-by-verse guides
- An essential tool for Bible translators
Top Highlights
“In relating the constituents ‘good news’ and ‘Jesus Christ’ one should be sure that this is the ‘good news about Jesus Christ,’ not the ‘good news that Jesus Christ announced.’ This of course, does not deny the fact that Jesus announced good news, but the viewpoint of the Gospel writers was that Jesus Christ was in himself the good news, hence this must be a so-called objective, rather than subjective construction.” (Page 4)
“In the light of all this it seems reasonably clear that Mark does not say that the Spirit came upon Jesus at his baptism as the Spirit of God came upon the Old Testament leaders: rather he says that the Spirit entered into and possessed Jesus, who henceforth acts with the authority and power of God, as God’s Spirit-filled and Spirit-led Son.” (Page 29)
“Rather, the meaning is ‘cast out my unbelief’ (Marathi), ‘help me that I believe’ (Villa Alta Zapotec), ‘help me where I lack in belief’ (Ilocano), ‘help me because I have a need of faith’ (Subanen), ‘in my not believing, help me’ (Shipibo), ‘help my unbelieving heart’ (Cashibo), ‘help me when I don’t believe’ (Tzeltal), and ‘help me in that which is lacking in this faith’ (Toba Batak).” (Page 288)
“The sense in a passage such as this is not simply that of building or repairing the road, but that of making all necessary arrangements to insure a fitting welcome and reception for the heralded king or conqueror.” (Page 6)
“Of the three alternatives the context favors the first one: Jesus would be more likely to question his disciples than the scribes (or the crowd).” (Page 283)
Product Details
- Title: A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark
- Authors: E. A. Nida, R. G. Bratcher
- Series: The United Bible Societies' Handbook Series (UBSHS)
- Publisher: United Bible Societies
- Pages: 522