This study traces how “jaegye(재계)” and “geumshik(금식)” developed in the history of Korean Bible translation. It compares biblical usage across Chinese, Japanese, and Korean contexts, showing that the Korean Bible’s use of ‘jaegye’ was distinctive. The paper also explains the traditional meaning of “jaegye” in the Chinese-character cultural sphere and argues that reading certain passages currently translated as ‘geumshik’ with this background in mind greatly aids interpretation. A concise English abstract based on your text is below.
NKRV(1998), the Korean Bible renders passages containing the Hebrew tsom (צוֹם) and the Greek nesteuo (νηστεύω) as “geumshik.” In earlier Korean Bible translations, however, these terms were rendered as “jaegye” (齋戒), and only later were some of them revised to “geumshik.” This study traces how “jaegye” and “geumshik” developed in the history of Korean Bible translation.
In the earliest Bible translation in the Sinographic cultural sphere, Shengjing zhijie (1636), “jaegye” was used to translate nesteuo. When the Bible was translated into Korean in the eighteenth century, it was likewise rendered as jaegye. John Ross’s version (1887) also used jaegye exclusively. It was not until Korean Version (1911) that all passages containing ṣôm and nēsteuō were changed to “geumshik” while passages based on the Hebrew phrase ‘anâ naphesh' were translated as jaegye. From KRV (1938) onward, ‘anâ naphesh' was rendered more literally as “to afflict oneself,” and jaegye disappeared from the Korean Bible.
The term “geumshik” was adopted into Korean only in the twentieth century, whereas jaegye and “geumshik” were originally treated as synonymous. This is supported by bilingual dictionaries and early Bible translations.
While “geumshik” easily evokes only “abstaining from food”, “jaegye” carries a broader meaning: it denotes the purification of body and mind in preparation for sacrificial rites. In the Chinese-character cultural sphere, undergoing a period of “jaegye” was indispensable when preparing for sacrifices. During “jaegye”, one changed clothes, altered one’s dwelling, exercised caution regarding food, and avoided unnecessary outings or social encounters. One bathed to cleanse the body, suspended ordinary work, and concentrated one’s thoughts solely on the object of the sacrifice. These practices associated with “jaegye” correspond closely to the meaning of biblical passages translated with the term “geumshik”, sharing the same underlying logic of “self-restraint in order to encounter the divine.”
Although jaegye can no longer be restored as a biblical translation term, recalling its association with “geumshik” and “afflicting oneself” may help Korean Christians better understand the Bible.