SIL Translator’s Notes on Acts 5:6

5:6a

Then: The Greek word is often translated “and.” The events of 5:6 occur after the events of 5:5. Here are some other ways to translate this:

And (King James Version)
-or-
The young men…

the young men: This refers to men under 24 years of age. These young men have not been mentioned before in this story. In some languages it would be more natural not to use the word the here. For example:

some young men (New Living Translation (2004))

stepped forward: The Greek is more literally “having arisen.” There are several ways to interpret the Greek word:

(1) It refers to arising from a sitting position. For example:

rose

(Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, King James Version, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version, New Living Translation (2004), God’s Word, Revised English Bible)

(2) It refers to being in the room already and coming before Peter as their leader. This is the interpretation of the Berean Standard Bible and the New International Version. Peter then probably acknowledged them for the task of taking care of the dead body.

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version)

(3) It refers to being somewhere and coming. For example:

came

(New Revised Standard Version, NET Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition)

(4) It refers to being outside the room and coming into it. For example:

came in

(Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because “having arisen” probably implies that these men were nearby. Interpretation (2) is also a sense of the Greek word, so is possible too.

wrapped up his body: This phrase probably indicates that the young men wrapped a large piece of cloth around his body to prepare it for burying it. Here are some other ways to translate this:

wrapped him in a shroud (TLV)
-or-
wrapped his body in a sheet (God’s Word)

5:6b

carried him out: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as carried…out refers to carrying something out of a building or out of an area. Here it refers to carrying the body of Ananias, wrapped in a large cloth, out of the building where Peter was.

In some languages it is more natural to refer to the body here. For example:

carried out his body

buried him: According to Jewish custom, people would put a body in a hole dug in the ground or in a tomb carved out of the bedrock. The hole with the body in it would be filled again with dirt or the entrance to the tomb would be closed with a large stone.

In some languages it is more natural to refer to the body here. For example:

buried it

© 2001, 2021 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

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