joy

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The Greek, Latin, Ge’ez, and Hebrew that is translated with “joy” or “gladness” in English is translated with various strategies:

  • Baoulé: “a song in the stomach” (see also peace (inner peace))
  • Bambara: “the spirit is made sweet”
  • Kpelle: “sweet heart”
  • Tzeltal: “the good taste of one’s heart”
  • Uduk: “good to the stomach”
  • Mískito: “the liver is wide open” (“happily letting the pleasures flooding in upon it”) (source for this and above: Nida 1952)
  • Mairasi: “good liver” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Noongar: koort-kwabba-djil or “heart very good” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “refreshed heart” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.).
  • Hausa Common Language Bible: farin ciki or “white stomach.” Other languages that use the same expression include Southern Birifor (pʋpɛl), Dera (popolok awo), Reshe (ɾipo ɾipuhã). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

See also Seat of the Mind for traditional views of “ways of knowing, thinking, and feeling,” happiness / joy, and exceeding joy.

complete verse (Acts 15:31)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 15:31:

  • Uma: “When this letter was read to the masses, they were all glad, for its contents comforted their hearts.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When they read the letter, they were very glad over that letter which encouraged their livers.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And as for the believers, when they read it they were very happy over this advice to them.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When they read it then, great was their happiness at the good advice.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When those believers had read it, they were happy about the teaching for them which it contained.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 15:31

This is a very brief sentence in Greek, consisting of only six words. For the English reader, however, there are certain ambiguities if it is rendered literally (see Revised Standard Version “And when they read it, they rejoiced at the exhortation”); and so this necessitates a longer sentence than appears in Greek. If the first “they” is qualified as the people, there is no problem of understanding the referent of the next “they.” In Greek there is no object expressed, but what they read was the letter. “At the encouragement” is an evident reference to the message of encouragement (contained in the letter). It may be necessary to shift the passive expression were filled to an active one and to make somewhat more explicit the relationship between message and encouragement. Moreover, the people are the ones who have joy and are being encouraged; therefore one may restructure this second clause as “the message encouraged the people and filled them with joy” or “… caused them to have great joy.”

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Acts 15:31

15:31

the people read it: Probably one of the leaders read the letter aloud so all of the other believers there could listen to what it said. In that way they all read it.

In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate that each person read it to himself. If that is true in your language, indicate that it was read aloud to the group. For example:

they read it aloud (NET Bible)
-or-
they ⌊listened as someone⌋ read it aloud

they rejoiced at its encouraging message: The letter implied that they did not have to obey the Jewish laws, including circumcision. So they were glad. Other ways to translate this are:

they rejoiced because of its encouragement (English Standard Version)
-or-
they were pleased because the letter encouraged them
-or-
its message encouraged them and they were glad

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