The Greek that is often translated as “judge” in English has the option of various terms in Luang with different shades of meaning.
For Acts 4:21 and 10:42, maktorna wathudi lokarni-taitiaili lahanu (“the one who holds the scales”). “This term is used when judgment of sin or wrong is in focus.”
For Acts 13:20, maktorna deulu-tatra (“the one who holds the law”). “This term is used for the judges in the Old Testament for whom judging wrong was only a part of their job.”
Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated in English translations as “Judges” (as the title of the biblical book) of “judges” (in Judg 2:16 and 2:17 Ruth 1:1, and in Acts 13:20) is translated into Bukusu as “leaders” (in the case of the title of the book ‘The book of Leaders’). In light of this, there is no real need to explain that these persons were not judges of a court of law, but leaders.
In Isthmus Mixe it is also translated as “leaders,” in Morelos Nahuatl as “authorities,” and in Eastern Highland Otomi as “judges who were the rulers of the people.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the DanishBibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “The ancient type of leader called judges in the bible (described in the Book of Judges) presents its own problems in a translation like this. Calling them ‘judges’ simply doesn’t work because that was such a small part of what they did. We discussed this at length but never came up with anything better than ‘leader’.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about judges in ancient Israel (source: Bible Lands 2012)
The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is transliterated as “Samuel” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “listen” referring to 1 Samuel 3:10. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 13:20:
Uma: “All those happenings earlier were about 450 years in length. ‘After that, the Lord God gave them warchiefs who became their leaders, down to [lit., until arriving at] the prophet Samuel.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “From the time they went to the country Misil until the time they lived in the country Kana’an, it was four hundred and fifty years. After that,’ Paul said, ‘there were judges whom God chose to rule them until-including Nabi Samuel who was their last judge.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “After that datus is what he caused to lead them until the time of Samuel, who was a prophet also.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “‘When that was done, God appointed those-to-judge them who took-each-other’s-places until the time of Samuel who was God’s spokesman.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “The length of all this was four hundred and fifty years.When they had settled down in Canaan, God appointed for them leaders who succeeded one another till Prophet Samuel was now their leader.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Eugene Nida wrote the following about the translation of the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are typically translated with “prophet” in English:
“The tendency in many translations is to use ‘to foretell the future’ for ‘prophesy,’ and ‘one who foretells the future’ for ‘prophet.’ This is not always a recommended usage, particularly if such expressions denote certain special native practices of spirit contact and control. It is true, of course, that prophets of the Bible did foretell the future, but this was not always their principal function. One essential significance of the Greek word prophētēs is ‘one who speaks forth,’ principally, of course, as a forth-teller of the Divine will. A translation such as ‘spokesman for God’ may often be employed profitably.” (1947, p. 234f.)
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages (click or tap for details):
Ayutla Mixtec: “one who talks as God’s representative”
Isthmus Mixe: “speaker for God” (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Mezquital Otomi / Paasaal: “God’s messenger” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff. and Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
Noongar: Warda Marridjiny or “News Traveling” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Kutu: mtula ndagu or “one who gives the prediction of the past and the future” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ebira: ọnịsẹ, a neologism that combines the prefix ọn for “a person” with ịsẹ for “prediction” (source: Scholz /Scholz 2015, p. 49)
French 1985 translation by Chouraqui: inspiré or “inspired one” (“someone in whom God has breathed [Latin: in + spiro]) (source: Watson 2023, p. 45)
In Ixcatlán Mazatec a term is used that specifically includes women. (Source: Robert Bascom)
“In some instances these spiritual terms result from adaptations reflecting the native life and culture. Among the Northern Grebo people of Liberia, a missionary wanted some adequate term for ‘prophet,’ and she was fully aware that the native word for ‘soothsayer’ or ‘diviner’ was no equivalent for the Biblical prophet who spoke forth for God. Of course, much of what the prophets said referred to the future, and though this was an essential part of much of their ministry, it was by no means all. The right word for the Gbeapo people would have to include something which would not only mean the foretelling of important events but the proclamation of truth as God’s representative among the people. At last the right word came; it was ‘God’s town-crier.’ Every morning and evening the official representative of the chief goes through the village crying out the news, delivering the orders of the chief, and announcing important coming events. ‘God’s town-crier’ would be the official representative of God, announcing to the people God’s doings, His commands, and His pronouncements for their salvation and well-being. For the Northern Grebo people the prophet is no weird person from forgotten times; he is as real as the human, moving message of the plowman Amos, who became God’s town-crier to a calloused people.” (source: Nida 1952, p. 20)
In British Sign Language it is is translated with a sign that depicts a message coming from God to a person (the upright finger) and then being passed on to others. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Prophet” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Many languages use a “body part tally system” where body parts function as numerals (see body part tally systems with a description). One such language is Angguruk Yali which uses a system that ends at the number 27. To circumvent this limitation, the Angguruk Yali translators adopted a strategy where a large number is first indicated with an approximation via the traditional system, followed by the exact number according to Arabic numerals. For example, where in 2 Samuel 6:1 it says “thirty thousand” in the English translation, the Angguruk Yali says teng-teng angge 30.000 or “so many rounds [following the body part tally system] 30,000,” likewise, in Acts 27:37 where the number “two hundred seventy-six” is used, the Angguruk Yali translation says teng-teng angge 276 or “so many rounds 276,” or in John 6:10 teng-teng angge 5.000 for “five thousand.”
This strategy is used in all the verses referenced here.
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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 rare (られ) 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, atae-rare-ru (与えられる) or “give” is used.
The UBS Greek text and most translations include for about four hundred and fifty years as the first part of verse 20, but the Revised Standard Version includes these words as the last part of verse 19. The period of four hundred and fifty years is evidently intended to include the whole period from God’s choice of Israel in Egypt to the possession of the land in Canaan, and it is arrived at by adding the four hundred years’ stay in Egypt (Genesis 15.13) to the forty years in the wilderness, and another ten years from the entry into Canaan to the dividing of the land among the tribes (see Joshua 14).
The judges referred to were far from being judges in the contemporary sense of the word; they were spiritually endowed leaders who arose at particular times in Israel’s history and enabled Israel to overcome their enemies. It is not easy to translate properly the word judges since the systems of present-day courts and judicial procedures are so utterly different from what existed in biblical times. In reality these judges were simply leaders or “strong chiefs.” In fact, the closest equivalent to the judges in many face-to-face societies is the term “chief,” since it is the chief who not only gives direction to the activities of the tribe but also judges the internal disputes. It is, therefore, recommended that in many instances the term rendered judges in English be translated simply “chief.”
The expression he gave them judges cannot be readily rendered in a number of languages. Rather, one must say “he caused them to have chiefs” or even “he caused chiefs to lead them.”
The time of the prophet Samuel is distinguished from the period of the judges; Samuel is regarded as the beginning point of a new period in the history of God’s dealings with Israel. Until the time of the prophet Samuel may cause certain complications in some languages since a conjunction such as until always suggests some type of activity, not merely a designation of time. Therefore one may have “until the day the prophet Samuel was leader” or “until the time the prophet Samuel came.” In general, it is important to avoid any such possessive construction as might be suggested by the English preposition of. Most frequently this relationship is expressed in languages as being “time when.”
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 .
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