The Greek that is usually translated as “scribe” in English “were more than mere writers of the law. They were the trained interpreters of the law and expounders of tradition.”
Tboli: “one who taught the law God before caused Moses to write” (or “one who taught the law of Moses”) (source for this and 5 above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Noongar: Mammarapa-Warrinyang or “law man” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Mairasi: “one who writes and explains Great Above One’s (=God’s) prohibitions” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Chichewa: “teacher of Laws” (source: Ernst Wendland)
Lalana Chinantec: “one who is a teacher of the law which God gave to Moses back then”
Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “one who know well the law” (Source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Huixtán Tzotzil: “one who mistakenly thought he was teaching God’s commandments”(Huixtán Tzotzil frequently uses the verb -cuy to express “to mistakenly think something” from the point of view of the speaker; source: Marion M. Cowan in Notes on Translation 20/1966, pp. 6ff.)
Germandas Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “theologian” and the 1998 translation by Walter Jens: “interpreter of scriptures” (Schriftausleger)
English translation by Scot McKnight (The Second Testament, publ. 2023): Covenant Code scholar
In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that combines the signs for “expert” and “law.” (Source: Anna Smith)
“Scribe” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL , used with permission)
The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated into English as “chariot” is translated into Anuak as “canoe pulled by horse.” “Canoe” is the general term for “vehicle” (source: Loren Bliese). Similarly it is translated in Lokạạ as ukwaa wạ nyanyang ntuuli or “canoe that is driven by horses.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
Other translations include:
Chichicapan Zapotec: “ox cart” (in Acts 8) (ox carts are common vehicles for travel) (source: Loren Bliese)
Chichimeca-Jonaz, it is translated as “little house with two feet pulled by two horses” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
HausaCommon Language Bible as keken-doki or “cart of donkey” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 3:12:
Uma: “When Petrus saw those many people, he said to them: ‘My Israel relatives! Why are you surprised seeing what has happened here? What do you keep looking at us (excl.) for? Do you think/say that the reason this person is walking is because we (excl.) have power, or from the holiness of our (excl.) hearts? Indeed not!” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When Petros saw the people, he spoke to them. He said, ‘O people of Isra’il. Why do you wonder about us (excl.)? And why do you stare at us (excl.)? Do you think-mistakenly it is our (excl.) power that has caused this man to walk, or that’s the reason he is able to walk, because our (excl.) livers are holy/clean? It’s not.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when Peter saw this, he said to the people, ‘My companions, descendants of Israel, why are you so surprised? Why are you looking at us? Perhaps you suppose that it was through our own power or because of the fact that we don’t have any sin that we cured this person so that he could walk.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When Pedro saw them, he said, ‘My companions who are Israel’s descendants, why are you amazed at that? Why are you staring-at-us? Is-it-indeed-the-case (incredulous RQ) that our power or goodness was what-made-this man-walk?” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When Pedro observed, he said to them, ‘My fellow-countrymen descendants of Israel, why are you amazed at what has happened to this person? And why are you staring like that at us (excl.), as if he had been made able to walk through the strength of our (excl.) own knowledge/aquired-skill or (our) obeying of the will of God?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Chichimeca-Jonaz: “When Peter saw many gathering together, he addressed the people, he told them: ‘You Israelites who are relatives of mine, why are you thinking it over inside because of what you saw happen and why are you looking so hard at us as if it were that we alone by our strength had caused that this person went to walking? Maybe you all think he got well because we are so holy.'” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding the congregation of the disciples).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff. and Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.
W. R. Hutton (see The Bible Translator April 1953, p. 86ff. ) who worked on the translation into Karbi says this: “In Acts 6:3 a matter of church government comes up. The Revised Standard Version has ‘whom we may appoint to this duty.’ Does the ‘we’ include those who do the picking in the first place as well as the Apostles? It is very likely the answers here will diverge along the lines of church polity and Baptists give one answer and Church of England folk another. It would be convenient not to have to take sides in a translation but for those of us who have an inclusive and an exclusive ‘we’ a decision has to be made.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 4:15:
Uma: “That is why they put those apostles of the Lord Yesus out of their meeting, and they made-plans,” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Therefore they sent them out of the judgment room and the councilors conferred among themselves.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Therefore there in the room in which they were gathered, they told Peter and company that they should go outside for a while. And then they discussed it saying,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “That being so, they had-plural Pedro -go-out so they the leaders would-be-alone to converse.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Therefore they caused Pedro-and-companion to go out of their gathering-place, so that they could discuss what would be good to do.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Eastern Highland Otomi: “They sent the disciples outside because they wanted to talk among themselves about them.”
Lalana Chinantec: “They told Peter and John to go outside for a while. When Peter and John had gone outside they discussed by themselves, just the people who judged.”
Chuj: “But those rulers said that Peter and John must go out from their faces (presence). After they were taken out, those rulers talked together alone.”
Chichimeca-Jonaz: “Then they commanded them to go outside from where the elders were assembled, and they alone went to talking together.” (Source for this and three above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 4:19:
Uma: “Petrus and Yohanes answered said: ‘Consider for yourselves, which one does God like: to follow your [emphatic] commands, or follow the commands of God.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But Petros and Yahiya answered them, they said, ‘Give your opinion, which is right/straight in God’s sight, we (excl.) obey/follow you or God?” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Peter and John answered saying, ‘Consider which one of these two ways would be what God would want, if we obey your command and we do not teach the name of Jesus or if we obey that which God told us to do.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But Pedro and Juan said, ‘Please think if it is right in the sight of God that we (excl.) obey what you are saying, not what he is saying.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But when Pedro-and-companion heard, they replied, saying, ‘You judge which is possible/acceptable with God. Is it that his will is what we (excl.) obey or this of yours which is contrary to what he told us (excl.) to do?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Desano: “Peter and John answered saying, ‘Think this over with the help of God. What do you think? Should one do first your commands, or the commands of God?'”
Eastern Highland Otomi: “Peter and John answered: ‘You say now what is better that we do before the face of God. Do we do what you say or do we do what God says?'”
Coatlán Mixe: “All of you consider if it is the straight of it with God that we obey you when it is proper that we should obey God.”
Teutila Cuicatec: “…Figure it out for yourselves. Before God, is it proper that we should not obey what he commands in order to obey you?”
Isthmus Mixe: “…You decide if God approves if we obey your words and not God’s.”
Chichimeca-Jonaz: “…Do you think God will say it’s good if we believe you and obey your saying and leave the saying of God? Do you feel it is right?”
Ayutla Mixtec: “Then Peter and John answered, they said to them, ‘May you consider, would God see it as better that we obey you? Would God see it as better that we obey him himself?’ they said answering.” (Source for this and six above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 1:3:
Uma: “until the day arrived of his being lifted going to heaven. After he was killed and brought back alive, many times he appeared to his apostles, so that they would clearly know that he lived again. During forty days, they indeed saw him and he taught them of God’s purpose of lifting mankind from the punishment of their sins and making them his people in his Kingdom. Before he left going to heaven, with authority of the Holy Spirit he placed [i.e., gave] his commands to those apostles of his whom he had chosen.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “After his death, during forty days Isa often hep appeared to the persons/people he had commissioned. There were many signs which he showed (to prove) that he was really alive. They saw him and he spoke to them about the rule of God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “until he was taken up by God to heaven. When Jesus was killed and rose again, there were many ways in which he showed his apostles proof that he was raised from the dead. For within forty days from that time he was always appearing to them. He taught them the ruling of God. Before he was taken up to heaven, he taught by means of the power of the Holy Spirit that which he wanted them to do to the apostles whom he had chosen before.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “from when-he-began to teach until his being-raised to heaven. When he died and-then lived again, he appeared to those whom he chose as apostles, and he did many things so-that they would thoroughly come-to-know that he lived again. Forty days went by during which he was appearing to them and was teaching them concerning God’s ruling. He also commanded them that which the Ispirito Santo (Holy Spirit) had-him-tell.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “As for those disciples of his, they are the ones meant by apostles. And from when Jesus was killed and came alive again till his returning to heaven, for the space of forty days he was always/often coming to see them. Many were the evidences which he showed that he truly was alive again, and he was still teaching them concerning the kingdom of God.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Eastern Highland Otomi: “Jesus saw suffering and died. When he had risen from the dead, he went to where the disciples were. The disciples saw that he lived again. And he showed them many works so that they could know that he lived. Forty days he lived with them, the disciples, after he had risen. He told them of the work that God does, the big chief.”
Chichimeca-Jonaz: “They saw Jesus; he appeared to them all alive after he had suffered and died. He did many things to show that it was true that he was really alive. They saw him repeatedly, he appeared to them until it completed 40 days, and always he was telling them what it is like where God rules.” (Source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
