SIL Translator’s Notes on Acts 25:16

25:16a

it is not the Roman custom: The word custom here refers to the way that the Romans did things in their legal system. The proper Roman procedure for someone accused of a crime was to have a chance to face their accuser and defend themselves. Other ways to translate this clause are:

Romans are not in the habit of (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
It is not the manner of the Romans (King James Version)
-or-
That’s not the Roman way of doing things. (God’s Word)
-or-
it was not Roman practice (Revised English Bible)

25:16b

hand a man over: This phrase in Greek is literally “give any man (to someone) as a favor.” The Greek verb used here is the same as in 25:11. See how you translated the verb (“to hand me over”) there.

a man: Here the word man refers generally to people. For example:

anyone (English Standard Version)

25:16c

before: This word introduces what must happen first. Paul was in Roman custody/hands, so Festus did not want to give Paul over to his enemies before a Roman trial. For example:

until (New Jerusalem Bible)

he has had an opportunity to face his accusers: The word face refers to being in the same room so that one person can see his accusers. He can hear what they say to the judge about him. Other ways to translate this clause are:

the accused confronts his accusers (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
they have met their accusers face-to-face (Good News Translation)

has had an opportunity to: In a Roman trial, the judge always allowed the accused person to defend himself. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

have had the chance of (Good News Translation)
-or-
the judge allows him to

25:16d

and defend himself against their charges: This phrase implies that the person hears his accusers tell the judge what they accuse him of. He also hears what they say to explain why they think he is guilty. He can then defend himself. In some languages, a literal translation would not imply the person hears all that. If so, include the implied information in the phrase. For example:

and has heard all they tell the judge and⌋ and has had an opportunity to defend himself against their charges

defend himself against their charges: The phrase defend himself refers to responding to the charges/accusations and explaining that he had not done as charged/accused. Other ways to translate the whole phrase are:

make a defense against the charge (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
speak in defense concerning the things they accused him of ⌊doing

© 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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