Paragraph 2:5–13

2:5a–b

there were dwelling in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven: At that time Jews lived in many countries. They grew up speaking the languages of those countries. Some of them had moved to Jerusalem, which was a very important place to religious Jews. Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven lived in Jerusalem
-or-

⌊Some of the⌋ God-fearing Jews who were born in every nation under heaven now lived in Jerusalem

2:5a

Now: Here the word Now introduces information that was true during that time in history. The description of 2:5a was not true only on that day.

Some languages introduce all events that occurred in the sequence of the story but do not introduce events that occurred generally at that time. Consider how to introduce this general information in a way that is natural in your language. For example:

At that time there were devout Jews…living in Jerusalem. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Devout Jewish men…were living in Jerusalem. (God’s Word)

dwelling: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as dwelling refers to living somewhere. It does not refer to visiting. For example:

living (Good News Translation)

God-fearing Jews: The Greek is literally “Jews, God-fearing men.” The Greek word that is often translated as “men” usually refers to men but can refer to anyone. For example:

Jews, devout men (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
Jews…religious people (Good News Translation)

God-fearing: This compound word indicates that these Jews followed the Jewish religion earnestly. Here are some other ways to translate this word:

devout (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
pious
-or-
very religious

2:5b

from every nation: The phrase every nation is an intentional exaggeration. It indicates a large number of countries. In some languages it would not have that meaning. If that is true in your language, you may want to:

• Translate indicating a large number. For example:

from many nations

You may then want to indicate the literal phrase and explain it in a footnote. Here is an example footnote:

Literally “every nation.”

• Translate literally and explain the phrase in a footnote. Here is an example footnote:

These words exaggerate to emphasize a large number of nations/countries.

under heaven: The phrase under heaven refers to the whole earth. For example:

in the world (Good News Translation)

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