Mark 2:16

Translating the Bible into Toba...

Scribes and Pharisees. The Scriptures contain a number of religious words relating to certain objects and professions, for example the “scribes” and “Pharisees”. How do we translate these into Toba...?

Mark 2:16

In Toba we wanted to follow the modern translations, but it’s not so easy to get an exact translation. We could say “teachers of laws”, but the question would then be “whose laws?”. So we have to make explicit that they’re God’s laws. And we have to avoid making a phrase that would be too long to use every time the Bible says “scribes”. So in the end we opted for “ones who teach God’s laws”, and this is what Osvaldo’s translation of Mark 2:16 says:

Ca'li yauata da'me dojo' jogaa'me jo'ne paĝaguenataĝanaĝayaqa daa'me Dios lamaĝajoĝonaĝaco, jo'ne fariseopi, queda'me Jesus neuanaĝa'u jogaa'me, qama'le yena't jogaa'me Jesus lapaĝaguenataqa:

—¿Jach'e ga'me eeta da'me dojo'? ¿Toqoch'e neuanaĝa'u jogaa'me loeco lo'ol, choqogaa'me lo'ol da'me nejetenaguec ga'me Roma, jenjo' adejaliaĝanequi?

Which means: When those who are teachers of God’s laws, who are Pharisees, see that they are eating companions of Jesus, then they ask Jesus’ disciples: “What does this mean? Why are his eating companions sinners and ones in charge of payments to Rome, this one who’s your lord?”