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.)
