12The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house.
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 11:12:
Uma: “The Holy Spirit said to me: ‘Petrus, don’t let your (sing.) heart be uncertain about following those people.’ So I did indeed go with them. And there are indeed my witnesses here, because those six relatives of ours over there accompanied me to Kaisarea. When we (excl.) arrived at the house of Kornelius, we (excl.) entered inside.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “The Spirit of God told me not to hesitate to go with them. And I was also accompanied by these here, six of our (incl.) fellow disciples of Isa from Joppa. When we (excl.) arrived at Kesarea, we (excl.) went and entered the house of Captain Korneliyus.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And the Holy Spirit said to me that I should go with them and I shouldn’t be reluctant to go with them. These six believers also who are our companion Jews went with me to Caesarea. And we went into the house of Cornelius,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When that was so, the Holy Spirit said that I should not doubt to go-with them. So-of-course I went-with (them), my group-mates being these-here and six of our siblings. When we (excl.) arrived in Cesarea, we (excl.) entered the house of plural Cornelius.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “I was told by the Espiritu Santo that I wasn’t to hesitate in going with them. Well, these six siblings of ours in believing accompanied me. We(excl.) went to the house of that person who was having me fetched.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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 group that Peter speaks to in Jerusalem).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
The Greek that is translated in English as “brother” or “brother and sister” (in the sense of fellow believers), is translated with a specifically coined word in Kachin: “There are two terms for brother in Kachin. One is used to refer to a Christian brother. This term combines ‘older and younger brother.’ The other term is used specifically for addressing siblings. When one uses this term, one must specify if the older or younger person is involved. A parallel system exists for ‘sister’ as well. In [these verses], the term for ‘a Christian brother’ is used.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae)
In Matumbi is is translated as alongo aumini or “relative-believer.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In Martu Wangka it is translated as “relative” (this is also the term that is used for “follower.”) (Source: Carl Gross)
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is often translated as Mitchristen or “fellow Christians.”
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) can be used, as in mi-tama (御霊) or “Spirit (of God)” in the referenced verses.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.
On this verse see 10.20. There the Greek text has a participle (rendered do not hesitate), while here there is a difference in the Greek manuscripts. Some have a participial form (rendered without hesitation; so New American Bible), while others have a different form of the participle of the same verb (translated “without making any distinction”; see Revised Standard Version and Zürcher Bibel). The UBS committee on the Greek text favors this latter form, since it has the earliest manuscript evidence in its favor.
Into the house of Cornelius is literally “into the house of the man,” but the context makes it clear that Cornelius is meant, and for English readers the proper name reads more naturally in this context than the general term “man.”
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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