15:15a
The words of the prophets agree with this: The word words refers to various sayings of the prophets in the Old Testament. These various prophecies confirm what God did among the Gentiles, starting with Cornelius.
In some languages words must use a different verb phrase than agree with this. For example:
The sayings of the prophets confirm this
-or-
Various prophecies ⌊in scripture⌋ verify this
prophets: A “prophet” is a person who receives messages from God. The message from God (often called a “prophecy”) may be in words or visions. It may reveal something about a past, present, or future event, or it may reveal someone’s thoughts, motives, or attitudes. It is not like a sermon, prepared by the preacher’s study of the Bible, but God may inspire a preacher with a prophecy during a sermon. The person speaks the prophecy to the people or writes it down for their use. Other ways to translate the word prophets are:
spokespersons for God
-or-
people who speak/bring God’s message/words
-or-
God’s message-speakers
It is good to use a general term that does not focus only on foretelling the future.
When choosing a term for “prophet,” consider how you will distinguish “prophet” from other words such as “angel,” “apostle,” “evangelist,” and “preacher.”
See how you translated this word in 2:16 or 13:40.
this: Here this word refers to what happened in 15:14. In some languages, “that” is more natural.
15:15b
as it is written: This phrase introduces examples of prophecies from the Old Testament about God including some of the Gentiles among his people. Other ways to translate this are:
since the scriptures say: (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
for example, they wrote this ⌊in the scriptures⌋:
-or-
This agrees with what the prophets wrote, (Contemporary English Version)
it is written: This clause is passive. Some languages must use an active clause. The prophets wrote what God told them. For example:
what the prophets wrote (Contemporary English Version)
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