Translation commentary on Acts 1:10

To have one’s eyes fixed on something is a favorite Lukan expression (the verb he uses here is used fourteen times in the New Testament, twelve times by Luke himself). It means to look at something intently. Furthermore, the form of the verb, as well as the meaning of the verb itself, underscores the intensity with which the disciples were staring into the sky as Jesus was taken away.

An expression such as had their eyes fixed on the sky is effective in present-day English, but in most languages a verbal form of “seeing” or “looking” is required, for example, “looked continuously toward the sky,” “gazed strongly at the sky,” or “tried very hard to see into the sky.” In a number of languages one can and should shift the order of the “going,” for example, “as Jesus was going away up into the sky, the apostles looked constantly.” This expression is then followed by the dependent expression introducing the two men.

The two men dressed in white are, of course, angels; “white” is the traditional dress of angels in Jewish and Christian tradition. Suddenly is rendered in some other translations by “behold.” The word itself is a particle which generally is used to call attention to what follows; but in certain contexts it may be translated in other ways, and here the meaning “suddenly” or “all at once” (New English Bible) seems best suited to the context.

Even though these two men were angels, it is better in the translation to preserve the meaning of the original text and use simply “two men.” A footnote could be used to indicate that angels are often spoken of in Scripture in this manner.

The phrase dressed in white may be rendered as “with white clothes” or “wearing shining garments.”

The verb “stand” suggests something more than “stand up” or “be standing.” In some languages one must use a compound verb phrase “came and stood” or “arrived and stood,” since the men were not continuously there, at least not visibly so. In other languages, the verb “stand” may be translated as “begin to stand” or “came to stand.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Acts 2:19

The discourse structure, both syntactic and semantic, of this quotation (vv. 17-21) is essentially poetic. This is not too obvious in verses 17 and 18, but in verses 19 and 20 the poetic nature of the lines, that is, the typical parallelism and the figurative symbolism, is evident. In such passages the rendering in the receptor language should have a similar amount of nonprose structure.

Miracles … and marvels represents a set phrase in Greek (it occurs here and also in 2.43; 4.30; 5.12; 6.8; 7.36; 14.3; 15.12). Although the word translated miracles taken by itself would most naturally refer to a happening that evokes awe, and the word translated marvel (literally “sign”) is often used to point to a truth beyond itself, in a set phrase such as this it is not possible to establish any significant difference between the two words. If a receptor language has two terms for such miraculous happenings, one is likely to refer to portents—special signs in the heavens which foretell important events, or which symbolize significant changes or happenings. This is the term which would most closely parallel the first of the two Greek terms. Frequently, however, such terms occur most naturally in causative expressions, for example, “I will cause portents to occur in the sky” or “I will cause people to see portents in the sky.” Where only one term exists in a receptor language, a person may employ a single statement, such as “I will cause portents to exist in the sky and on the earth.”

The precise meaning of the phrase thick smoke (literally “vapor of smoke”) is difficult to define, though the translation represented by the Good News Translation (see also An American Translation*) seems most probable. The equivalent of “thick smoke” is in many languages “a cloud of dark smoke,” “heavy smoke,” or “big smoke.” The closest normal equivalent is what comes from a volcano—both smoke and vapor.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Acts 3:5

The Good News Translation marks the transition in activity by the particle so. This is a legitimate as well as a useful transitional device.

In English the lame man as well as Peter and John can be identified by pronouns, but in some languages one or another of the participants may need to be specified by nouns.

He looked at them is not the same verb as is used in the preceding verse (Look at us!), although in the context the meaning of both verbs are essentially the same. The Greek verb in this verse is actually one which normally occurs with a direct object (“fix [object] on someone”), but in this Greek sentence there is no object expressed. The object may either be one’s mind or one’s eyes; the Good News Translation takes it to mean he fixed his eyes on them, that is he looked at them.

It may not be easy to translate a term such as expecting. This may need to be shifted to a form such as “thought in himself (or even, said to himself), I will get something from them.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Acts 4:12

Salvation, a word which can also mean “healing,” represents a play on words that is difficult to reproduce in English: (Christian) salvation and/or the healing (of the lame man) are possible only through the name of Jesus. The strong double negative expression in the Greek text (not … in no one) is represented in the Good News Translation by a positive (a completely legitimate equivalent), and one which forms a much more frequent basis for transfer into other languages. However, the use of a nominal construction such as salvation is to be found is difficult since normally salvation must be expressed by a verb, for example, “you can only be saved through him alone” or “he alone is able to save you.” (See also 2.21.)

As can be clearly seen, verse 12b is simply an elaboration of the statement in verse 12a, stated in a slightly different form.

In all the world literally translates “under the heaven.” For some languages there is a problem involved in two relative clauses being attributive to such an expression as no one else in all the world. Moreover, these two relative clauses are not coordinate. The first is restrictive before the second. In some languages it means that the first restriction must be stated as a preposed clause, with the second restriction coming in the next clause, for example, “God has given his name to men and there is no one else in all the world by whom we can be saved.”

Whose name God has given to men represents another one of the passive constructions in Greek in which God is the implicit subject, “name … which God has given to men.”

By whom we can be saved is the meaning of the Greek expression “by whom (i.e. by which name) it is necessary for us to be saved” (see Jerusalem Bible “by which we can be saved” and New English Bible “by which we may receive salvation”). The passive expression by whom we can be saved can be shifted to an active “who can save us.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Acts 5:10

The phrase she fell down at his feet can mean in some languages “to implore” or to “ask a great favor of.” In this context, however, she collapsed in death, or, as in some languages, “died and fell down in front of him.”

In this verse the Greek term translated young men is not the same word as occurs in verse 6; and came represents a different Greek expression from the corresponding term in verse 6. This may or may not suggest that the same persons were referred to in both instances; but in either case it supports the earlier judgment that the phrase young men is not a technical term for a church office or function.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Acts 5:42

In people’s homes is the same expression which appeared in 2.46; whether they taught only in the houses of believers or in the houses of believers and unbelievers alike the text does not state.

Preach the Good News translates one Greek word, which appears fifteen times in the book of Acts and is somewhat of a technical term for the preaching of the Good News. In the Greek sentence structure (about) Jesus the Messiah is actually the object of the verb preach the Good News.

Messiah may be understood as in the Good News Translation, that is, as a title; or it may be taken as a part of a proper name, Christ Jesus. If it is understood as a title the meaning may be that they were preaching the Good News that Jesus is the Messiah.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Acts 7:17

In many languages one cannot say time drew near. One may say that “people approach a time,” but time does not itself “move.” In such languages one can sometimes say “when it was about that day,” “when the day was not far away,” or “when they would soon see the day.”

To keep is not expressed in the Greek (“when the time of the promise which God made to Abraham was drawing near”), but the meaning is clearly implicit in the text (see Jerusalem Bible “as the time drew near for God to fulfill the promise”; and also New English Bible, Phillips, An American Translation*). Had grown much larger translates two verbs which are almost synonyms: “grow” and “multiply.” The Jerusalem Bible translates “grew larger and larger.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Acts 7:49

The Scripture quote in verses 49-50 comes from Isaiah 66.1-2, and follows the Septuagint closely. Footstool is used in this passage as an illustration of the greatness of God, for whom the whole world is merely a small footstool; the significance of a footstool is different in the earlier passage (2.35), where it is a figure of subjection.

What kind of house correctly translates the force of the qualitative interrogative in Greek.

In many cultures there is no equivalent to a throne as a seat of authority. One may, however, render this first clause of verse 49 as “heaven is the place from which I rule.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .