Mark 9:40 Fun

It is too bad that translators don’t even try to capture Jesus’s humor. Word play is often hard to duplicate in translation, but sometimes it can be done because so many similar expressions appear in different languages. I once read a book on Hispanic slang and there was probably a 50% overlap with English (but, of course, much more with Italian).

A good example in Greek is in Mark 9:40, but we wouldn’t guess it from the English translations:

KJV: For he that is not against us is on our part.
NIV: for whoever is not against us is for us.

“Against” and “for” is a nice contrast. The primary meanings of these words, however, are different type of opposites: “down” and “over/up.” Can you capture those ideas in English to see the fun Jesus was having?