Language-specific Insights

uneducated and ordinary men

The Greek in Acts 4:13 that is translated as “uneducated and ordinary men” or similar in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Lalana Chinantec: “people who were not learned, humble people
  • Morelos Nahuatl: “hadn’t studied a lot but were like anybody”
  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “had not studied long in school, truly ordinary people, that is not officials”
  • Chuj: “they had never studied, they were plain people”
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “were not from important families and didn’t know paper (= didn’t have education)”
  • Totontepec Mixe: “they talked like people who plow” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Mairasi: “bees’ wax [i.e., ignorant], unschooled men” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): “can neither read nor write nor have they have received any official schooling”

brothers and fathers

The Greek in Acts 7:2 that is translated as “brothers and fathers” in English is translated in various ways:

  • Purari: “younger and older brothers” (source: David Clark)
  • Mairasi: “fathers, friends, in-laws & all” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Bariai: “companions and elders” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “all of you, officials of our nation and my brothers”
  • Isthmus Mixe: “old men and brothers” (according to order of respect)
  • Lalana Chinantec “companions, men”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “you men, fathers”
  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “you who are our relatives, and you whom I made my fathers”
  • Highland Popoluca: “my older uncles”
  • Rincón Zapotec: “elders and brothers” (source for this and six above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

See also brothers and fathers.

unleavened bread

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “unleavened bread” in English is translated in various ways:

  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “bread that doesn’t have its medicine that makes it puff up”
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “bread without its sour”
  • Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “bread that has no mother” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Mairasi: “bread without other ingredient” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Chichewa: “non-puffed-up bread”
  • Chitonga: “bread without fermented grain” (source for this and above: de Regt / Wendland 2016)
  • Hiligaynon: “bread that has-none of that-which-causes-to-expand” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

census

The Greek and Hebrew that is typically translated as “census” in English is translated in these ways:

zealous for God

The Greek in Acts 22:3 that is often translated in English as “zealous for God” is translated as “very much I was always ready for the word of God with all my heart” in Eastern Highland Otomi, as “very much wanted to do as I thought God wanted” in Lalana Chinantec, and as “every day I obey with all my innermost being all that God commands” Teutila Cuicatec. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

See also zeal / zealous.

full of grace

The Greek in Acts 6:8 that is typically translated as “full of grace” in English is translated in the following ways:

See also complete verse (Acts 6:8).