The Greek in Acts 1:24 that is translated in English as “(you) know everyone’s heart” or similar is translated in Enlhet as “(you) know everyone’s innermost.” “Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind (for other examples see here). (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
It is translated as “who knowest the hearts of all men you know what the hearts of all the people in the world are like” in Lalana Chinantec, as “you know the hearts of all” in Morelos Nahuatl, as “you know what is in our hearts” in Chuj, and as “you know all people’s hearts and minds” in Isthmus Mixe. (Source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Greek in Acts 3:20 that is translated as “times of refreshing” or similar in English is translated in the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) with Zeit des Aufatmens or “time to breath again freely.”
In Morelos Nahuatl it is translated as “in times of heart-joy,” in Central Pame as “a time when God alone is going to cool you, you will be strengthened,” in Lalana Chinantec as “your hearts will be refreshed as the heart of a person who does work in the hot sun is refreshed when he drinks water,” and in Highland Popoluca as “like the corn is refreshed by rain after drought, so the Lord will refresh you.” (Source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Greek in Acts 2:8 that is translated as “our own native language” or similar in English is translated as “the language we know when we were children” in Eastern Highland Otomi, “as we talk from when we were born” in Morelos Nahuatl, “the Chinantec we have spoken since we were small” in Lalana Chinantec, and “language we began to understand when still a baby” in Chichimeca-Jonaz. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Greek that is translated as “room upstairs” of “upper room” in English is translated in a 1922 translation into Chagatai, a precursor language of both Uzbek and Uighur, with bala-xāna, “small room” of “children’s room.” “It is safe to say that the cultural structure of the Uighurs influenced the choice of this word for the translation. At the time of the translation, the attic room commonly used by the Uighurs living in East Turkistan was known as “bala-khana”, due to its smaller size compared to other rooms. Therefore, it is understood that the translators translated the source text by considering word choices such as this that would help society understand the text better. This choice of the translators can again be explained by the concept of cultural equivalents.” (Source: F. Erbay and F.N. Küçükballı in Acta Theologica 2025 45/2, p. 133ff. )
Isthmus Mixe: “the top floor of a more than one story house” (Source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “holy ground” is translated as “you are before me and I am good” in Morelos Nahuatl and “where I myself am and I am God” in Rincón Zapotec. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Greek in Acts 1:25 that is translated “go to his own place” in English is translated as “go to hell” in Morelos Nahuatl, as “went to see the suffering of his sin” in Eastern Highland Otomi, as “arrived at an evil place” in Isthmus Mixe, and as “went to his own place in the dark place” in Rincón Zapotec. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
