The phrase that is translated into English as “uncircumcised in heart and ears” is translated into Afar as “You are people who have hearts that refuse God, and ears closed saying we didn’t hear God’s message.” (Source: Loren Bliese)
Other translations for “uncircumcised in heart and ears” include:
- Rincón Zapotec: “it doesn’t enter your hearts or your ears. You are like those who don’t even believe”
- Eastern Highland Otomi: “hard are your hearts and not a little bit open are your ears”
- Morelos Nahuatl: “you have your heart as unbelievers, you do not want to hear God’s word”
- Highland Popoluca: “you never wanted to do God’s will, never truly believed”
- Teutila Cuicatec: “you are just the same as those who do not believe God’s word because you do not obey”
- Huichol: “you have not been marked with God’s sign in your hearts or in your ears” (or: “you are unruly and unsubmissive like an untamed, unbranded bronco”)
- Ojitlán Chinantec: “you do not have the word-sign in your hearts. Your ears are clogged”
- Copainalá Zoque: “you just don’t understand”
- Isthmus Mixe: “your hearts and minds are not open” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- Kaqchikel: “with your hearts unprepared” (source: Nida 1964, p. 220)
- Elhomwe: “like people who do not know God” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
- Chichewa (interconfessional translation) “hard-headed.” (Source: Wendland 1987, p. 130)
- Bariai: “You aren’t able to receive knowledge, certainly not. You shut your ears always to Deo’s talk.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
- Low German 1975 translation by Rudolf Muuß: “Your hearts and ears are no better than those of the heathen”
- Uma: “No kidding your stubbornness! No kidding your making yourselves deaf to hearing the Word of the Lord God!” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
- Yakan: “Your livers are livers not obeying/following God. And how deaf are your ears. You do not listen-to/heed God’s word/message.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
See also uncircumcised and stiff-necked.
The Greek that is translated into English as “babbler” is translated in a number of different ways:
- Fuyug: “birdbrain” (source: David Clark)
- San Mateo del Mar Huave: “man who does not know how to close his mouth”
- Eastern Highland Otomi: “much-talker man”
- Teutila Cuicatec: “loud-mouthed fellow”
- Chichimeca-Jonaz: “person who does nothing but talk”
- Morelos Nahuatl: “man who talks so much” (source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- Low German: “know-it-all” (Klooksnaker) (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006)
- Hausa: “owner of noise” (source: Hausa Common Language Bible Back Translation)
- Hiligaynon: “boaster” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- Mairasi: “guy know who talks out of his own thinking” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
For various English translations, see Translation commentary on Acts 17:18.
The Greek that is here translated as “sect” in English is translated as “new mind” in Isthmus Mixe, as “new teaching” in Morelos Nahuatl, or “different word” in Lalana Chinantec. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
See also sect.
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 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 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 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 that is translated as “author of life” in English is translated as
