SIL Translator’s Notes on Acts 20:10

20:10a–b

threw himself on the young man, and embraced him: Here the phrase threw himself refers to Paul hurriedly placing himself on top of the body of Eutychus.

The Greek words indicate that the purpose of Paul throwing himself was to put his arms around the body. But it is implied that Paul actually did put his arms around the body. So the Berean Standard Bible translates the second clause as actually happening at this time.

Other ways to translate these Greek words are:

hurriedly lay down on the young man to put his arms around him. ⌊He put his arms around him and
-or-
hurriedly placed himself down on the young man and put his arms around him
-or-
lay-prostrate embracing the young man

20:10c

Do not be alarmed: The Greek grammar probably indicates that the people were already alarmed. It probably implies that they were already grieving. For example:

Stop being alarmed

But many English versions translate this command as “do not…”

alarmed: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as alarmed refers to being troubled or distressed. Other ways to translate this word are:

distressed (NET Bible)
-or-
sorrowful

he said: The Berean Standard Bible placed the phrase he said in the middle of the spoken words. Place it where it would be most natural in your language.

He is still alive: This clause in Greek is literally “for his life is in him.” The context implies that God enabled Paul to cause Eutychus to live again. It does not imply that Paul thought that Eutychus remained alive after he fell. In some languages a literal translation would not imply the correct information. If that is true in your language, you may want to indicate the correct meaning in your translation. For example:

He is alive now (New Century Version)
-or-
because he has come back to life
-or-
because he has become alive again

© 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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