17Now while Peter was greatly puzzled about what to make of the vision that he had seen, suddenly the men sent by Cornelius appeared. They were asking for Simon’s house and were standing by the gate.
Ayutla Mixtec: “see that which will happen” (source for this and seven above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Tagbanwa: “being caused to dream by God” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Chichewa: azidzaona zinthu m’masomphenya: “they will see things as if face-to-face” (interconfessional translation, publ. 1999) (Source: Wendland 1998, p. 69)
The Greek in the books of Revelation and Acts is translated as obq-rmwible: “look-dream” in Natügu. Brenda Boerger (in Beerle-Moor / Voinov, p. 162ff.) tells the story of that translation: “In the book of Revelation, the author, John, talks about having visions. Mr. Simon [the native language translator] and I discussed what this meant and he invented the compound verb obq-rmwible ‘look-dream’ to express it. Interestingly, during village testing no one ever had to ask what this neologism meant.”
Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
Following is a hand colored stencil print on momigami of Peter by Sadao Watanabe (1970):
Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe. For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.
The name that is transliterated as “Simon (the tanner)” in English is translated in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) with a sign that combines “listen” (the meaning of the name) and “leather” (in reference to “tanner”). (Source: Missão Kophós )
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 10:17:
Uma: “From there, Petrus was confused thinking what was the meaning of the vision he had just seen. While he was still thinking, the messengers of Kornelius arrived in Yope. They asked the townspeople where the house of Simon was. The house that they were looking for was pointed-out to them, and they went and stood at the gate [door of the fence],” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “While Petros was still wondering what the meaning was of that which had been caused-to-appear to him, those sent by Korneliyus arrived at Simon’s house. They were now there at the gate.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And while Peter was still thinking about what might be the meaning of this that he had seen, the messengers of Cornelius arrived in the village. They asked where the house of Simon was. And when they were already outside the house near the doorway,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “As Pedro was thinking-about what perhaps it meant to say, those whom Cornelius sent arrived and inquired-about the location of Simon’s house. When they arrived then at the entrance,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Pedro was still trying-to-understand the meaning of that thing when those sent by Cornelio arrived in Jope, and they had themselves shown where the house of Simon was. There they were now at the gate,” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Lalana Chinantec: “Peter very much meditated. ‘What in the world?’ he thought. As he was meditating, Peter, the people whom Cornelius had sent arrived. They asked where Peter lived. They stopped outside the door.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The transition between paragraphs is made possible by the reference to the vision which has just been seen.
The meaning of this vision may be rendered as “what this vision was trying to say,” “what God was trying to say by means of this vision,” or “what God was trying to teach by means of this vision.”
The phrase in the meantime also serves as a transitional device and represents the particle translated suddenly in 1.10. The literal translation of this portion of verse 17 is “but as Peter wondered to himself … behold the men sent by Cornelius.” “Behold” must be taken in connection with “as” to indicate that both actions were taking place simultaneously: that is, Peter was wondering at the same moment that the men sent by Cornelius were standing in front of the gate.
The verb translated learned means “to learn by inquiry.” Compare “had been asking the way to Simon’s house, and now arrived at the entrance” (New English Bible).
The word gate when applied to a house indicates the gateway leading to the inner court. (In 12.13-14 the same Greek word is translated door.)
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 .
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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