The Greek in Acts 13:10 that is often translated as “enemy of all righteousness” in English is translated in the following ways:
See also enemy / foe.
The Greek in Acts 23:3 that is translated in English as “(you) whitewashed wall” is translated in a number of ways:
- Lalana Chinantec: “you are like a masonry wall on which they have put white paint. It is no longer evident what it is like inside.” (Source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965, p. 2ff.)
- Bariai: “a disintegrating wall and yet they applied paint to it so that it merely looks good” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
- Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “deceiver”
- Eastern Highland Otomi: “you talk up above (not from the heart)”
- Morelos Nahuatl: “you change words (you are a hypocrite)”
- Mezquital Otomi: “you two faced person”
- Rincón Zapotec: “you who make your face broad” (source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- Dan: “whitewashed tomb” (to highlight the hypocrisy) (Source: Don Slager)
- Mairasi: “you bad person and you liar trying to be like a clean person” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
See also complete verse (Acts 23:3) and complete verse (Matthew 23:37).
The Greek that is translated as “does not dwell in houses made with hands” in English is translated in does not dwell in Palantla Chinantec as “it isn’t as though men are capable of building a house where he will live,” in Tenango Otomi as “doesn’t reside in churches made by people,” in Lalana Chinantec as “it isn’t a house that people made where God lives. He lives up in heaven,” in Morelos Nahuatl as “does not really live in churches that we made with our hands,” and in Teutila Cuicatec as “it is not necessary for God….to live inside churches that people build.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
See also dwell (Japanese honorifics) and dwell.
The Greek in John 1:8 that is translated as “to testify to the light” or similar in English is translated in Lalana Chinantec as “in order to tell people that the light of God had become visible.” (Source: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
The Greek in Acts 4:36 that is translated as “son of encouragement” in English is translated as
- “one who makes people receive a helpful word” in Ojitlán Chinantec
- “the person who makes our hearts be at peace” in Lalana Chinantec
- “he will encourage us” in Isthmus Mixe
- “one who enlarges (encourages) hearts” in Chichimeca-Jonaz
- “one who comforts” in San Mateo del Mar Huave
- “one who consoles people” in Tzotzil
- “gives gladness to those who weep” in Desano (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- “The man who strengthens people’s interiors” in Bariai (source: Bariai Back Translation)
- “Child Who Turns Livers Good” in Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)
- “owner of encouraging heart” in Hausa (source: Hausa Common Language Bible Back Translation)
See also Barnabas and encourage / comfort.
The Greek that is often translated in English as “the Way,” referring to the young church in Acts, is translated in a number of ways:
- Isthmus Mixe: “those who follow the good words about Jesus Christ”
- Morelos Nahuatl; “the Jews who followed that man Jesus
- Lalana Chinantec: “the people who took the trail of Jesus”
- Eastern Highland Otomi: “all who believed on Jesus”
- Rincón Zapotec: “those who had received as truth Christ’s word”
- Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “those who walk in the road of the Lord”
- Chichimeca-Jonaz: “who believed that message” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- Elhomwe: “those who lived according to the Way of the Lord” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
- German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): “Christian(ity)”
In the Mandarin Chinese Union Version, the most commonly used Protestant Chinese Bible, it is translated as zhèdào (这道) or “this way.” Note that dào (道) or “way” is the same word that is also used for Logos (usually “Word” in English) in John 1:1 and elsewhere (see Word / Logos).
The Greek in Acts 16:16 that is translated in English as “(she had a) spirit of divination” or similar is translated in Morelos Nahuatl as “in that girl’s heart lived a demon. That demon could say what was going to happen before it happened,” in Lalana Chinantec as “she carried an evil spirit. Therefore she was able to make words ahead of time as to what would happen,” or in Coatlán Mixe as “she has a devil with her with which she foretells.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
In Yalunka an existing local term for “spirit of divination” is used: ninginangana. (Source: Pruett 2014, p. 259)
See also divination
The Greek proverb in Acts 26:14 which is translated directly by some English versions as “kick against the goads (=a spiked stick used for driving cattle)” and refers to “pointless fighting” became “throw chaff into the wind” in the Khmer Standard Version translation of 2005 (the translators also considered “spit vertically upwards”). (Source David Clark)
In Lalana Chinantec it is translated as “as a bull which kicks a sharp stick which his owner holds so do you,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “you are doing the same as an ox that is hurting itself, kicking the sharp stick that people drive it with,” in Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac as “like a horse when it kicks the stick with which it is driven” (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), and in Elhomwe as “because you are against me, you are hurting yourself” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext).
In Russian, the phrase Трудно тебе идти против рожна (Trudno tebe idti protiv rozhna) or “kick against the goads” is widely used as an idiom in every-day life, with the meaning of undertaking a risky action against constraint imposed by tradition or authority. The wording of the quote originated in the Russian Synodal Bible (publ. 1876). (Source: Reznikov 2020, p. 63f.)
