pray / prayer

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “pray” (or “prayer”) in English is often translated as “talking with God” (Central Pame, Tzeltal, Chol, Chimborazo Highland Quichua, Shipibo-Conibo, Kaqchikel, Tepeuxila Cuicatec, Copainalá Zoque, Central Tarahumara).

Other solutions include:

  • “to beg” or “to ask,” (full expression: “to ask with one’s heart coming out,” which leaves out selfish praying, for asking with the heart out leaves no place for self to hide) (Tzotzil)
  • “to cause God to know” (Huichol)
  • “to raise up one’s words to God” (implying an element of worship, as well as communication) (Miskito, Lacandon) (source of this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Shilluk: “speak to God” (source: Nida 1964, p. 237)
  • Mairasi: “talk together with Great Above One (=God)” (source: Enggavoter, 2004)
  • San Blas Kuna: “call to one’s Father” (source: Claudio and Marvel Iglesias in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 85ff. )
  • Ik: waan: “beg.” Terrill Schrock (in Wycliffe Bible Translators 2016, p. 93) explains (click or tap here to read more):

    What do begging and praying have to do with each other? Do you beg when you pray? Do I?

    “The Ik word for ‘visitor’ is waanam, which means ‘begging person.’ Do you beg when you go visiting? The Ik do. Maybe you don’t beg, but maybe when you visit someone, you are looking for something. Maybe it’s just a listening ear.

    When the Ik hear that [my wife] Amber and I are planning trip to this or that place for a certain amount of time, the letters and lists start coming. As the days dwindle before our departure, the little stack of guests grows. ‘Please, sir, remember me for the allowing: shoes, jacket (rainproof), watch, box, trousers, pens, and money for the children. Thank you, sir, for your assistance.’

    “A few people come by just to greet us or spend bit of time with us. Another precious few will occasionally confide in us about their problems without asking for anything more than a listening ear. I love that.

    “The other day I was in our spare bedroom praying my list of requests to God — a nice list covering most areas of my life, certainly all the points of anxiety. Then it hit me: Does God want my list, or does he want my relationship?

    “I decided to try something. Instead of reading off my list of requests to God, I just talk to him about my issues without any expectation of how he should respond. I make it more about our relationship than my list, because if our personhood is like God’s personhood, then maybe God prefers our confidence and time to our lists, letters, and enumerations.”

In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning (click or tap here to read more):

  • For Acts 1:14, 20:36, 21:5: kola ttieru-yawur nehla — “hold the waist and hug the neck.” (“This is the more general term for prayer and often refers to worship in prayer as opposed to petition. The Luang people spend the majority of their prayers worshiping rather than petitioning, which explains why this term often is used generically for prayer.”)
  • For Acts 28:9: sumbiani — “pray.” (“This term is also used generically for ‘prayer’. When praying is referred to several times in close proximity, it serves as a variation for kola ttieru-yawur nehla, in keeping with Luang discourse style. It is also used when a prayer is made up of many requests.”)
  • For Acts 8:15, 12:5: polu-waka — “call-ask.” (“This is a term for petition that is used especially when the need is very intense.”)

Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.

complete verse (Acts 12:12)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 12:12:

  • Uma: “After pondering/thinking like that, he went to the house of Maria, the mother of Yohanes Markus. At that house, many people were gathered praying.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When Petros knew this, he went to the house of Mariyam, the mother of Yahiya Markus. Many people were gathered there praying to God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And since he understood all of this, he continued to the house of Mary, that one who is the mother of John who is that John who is also called Mark. And at that house there were many believers gathered because they would pray to God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When he realized that, he went to the house of plural Maria the mother of Juan Marcos where-many people -were-gathered praying.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Without anything further, when he had comprehended that, he went to the house of Maria, the mother of Juan whose other name was Marcos. There at that house many were the believers who were gathered to pray. What they were praying about was Pedro.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 12:12

Aware of his situation translates a single verb in the Greek (literally, “when he realized”) that has no object, and so the object must be supplied from the context such as the New English Bible “when he realized how things stood” and the Jerusalem Bible “as soon as he realized this.” One may render aware of his situation by such expressions as “now knowing what had happened” or “seeing what had really happened.”

It is interesting that Mary is identified by the addition of her son’s name John Mark, though it was more natural to identify a person by the father than by his son. This is the first mention in Acts of John Mark. It is typical of Luke’s writing to introduce a person such as John Mark by this kind of brief reference, particularly when he is going to be mentioned in the text later (12.25; 13.5, 13; 15.37-39).

Were praying may require in many languages some grammatical object, for example, “were praying to God for Peter.”

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 .