13On the Sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there.
The Greek that is transliterated as “Samothrace” in English is translated more specifically as “the island of Samothrace” in some languages. Isthmus Mixe has “the land of Samothrace [which is] in the midst of the sea” and Eastern Highland Otomi uses “little land of Samothrace which sits in the water.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.) (See also Cyprus.)
The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “Sabbath” in English is rendered as “day we rest” in Tzotzil, in Mairasi as “Jew’s Rest Day,” in Quiotepec Chinantec as “day when people of Israel rested,” in Shilluk as “day of God,” in Obolo as Usen Mbuban or “Holy Day,” and in Mandarin Chinese as ānxírì (安息日) or “rest day” (literally: “peace – rest – day”). (Sources: Tzotzil: Marion Cowan in Notes on Translation with Drill, p. 169ff; Mairasi: Enggavoter 2004; Quiotepec Chinantec: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.; Shilluk: Nida 1964, p. 237; Obolo: Enene Enene; Chinese: Jost Zetzsche)
In Matumbi it is translated as Sabato ya Ayahudi or “Sabbath of the Jews,” to distinguish it from the Islamic Sabbath (which is Friday) or the Christian Sabbath (which is Sunday). (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In the old Khmer version as well as in the first new translation this term was rendered as “day of rest” (Thngai Chhup Somrak / ថ្ងៃឈប់សំរាក). Considered inadequate to convey its religious meaning (not only about cessation of work, but also in honor of Yahweh as the Creator), the committee for the Today’s Khmer Version (publ. 2005) decided to keep the Hebrew word and use its transliterated form Thgnai Sabath (ថ្ងៃសប្ប័ទ). “The Buddhist word Thngai Seil ‘day of merits’ used by some Catholics was once under consideration but was rejected because it did not receive unanimous support.” (Source: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1996, p. 233ff. )
In Spanish, the translation is either día de reposo (“day of rest”) or sábado (usually: “Saturday,” derived from the Greek and Hebrew original). Nida (1947, p. 239f.) explains that problem for Spanish and other languages in its sphere of influence: “In translation ‘Sabbath’ into various aboriginal languages of Latin America, a considerable number of translators have used the Spanish sábado, ‘Saturday,’ because it is derived from the Hebrew sabbath and seems to correspond to English usage as well. The difficulty is that sábado means only ‘Saturday’ for most people. There is no religious significance about this word as the is with ‘Sabbath’ in English. Accordingly the [readers] cannot understand the significance of the persecution of Jesus because he worked on ‘Saturday.’ It has been found quite advantageous to use the translation ‘day of rest,’ for this accurately translated the Hebrew meaning of the term and resolves the problem in connection with the prohibitions placed upon some types of activities.”
In French Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts closing of the blinds of a store:
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 addressee).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
“beg” or “ask,” (full expression: “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)
“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)
“speak to God” (Shilluk) (source: Nida 1964, p. 237)
“talk together with Great Above One (=God)” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter, 2004)
“beg” (waan) (Ik). 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.
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 16:13:
Uma: “On the Sabat Day, we (excl.) went to the banks of a stream outside town, because we (excl.) knew that there was a praying-place of the Yahudi people there. So, we (excl.) sat with several women and spoke to them.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When it was Saturday, we (excl.) went out from that city to the riverside because we (excl.) assumed that there was a place there where the Yahudi prayed. We (excl.) sat there and spoke to the women gathered there.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then on Saturday which is the Day of Rest, we went out of the village and we went to the shore of the river because we wanted to see if there was there a place where the Jews gathered to pray to God. There were some women who were gathered there, and we sat down and talked to them.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “On the day for-resting, we (excl.) left the town, and we (excl.) went to the edge of the river, because that reportedly was the praying-place of the Jews. We (excl.) sat-down and conversed-with the women who had gathered there.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “We(excl.) found out that there was indeed a prayer-place there in Filipos, but it was on the shore of the river outside the city. Therefore, when it was the Day of Rest, we (excl.) went there. On our (excl.) arrival, they were already gathered. They were all women. Well, we (excl.) sat down with them and taught them the Good News.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The Sabbath day referred to is evidently the first Sabbath day after their arrival in the city. Out of the city is literally “out of the gate” but the gate referred to is the “city gate” (New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible). The river mentioned is the Gangites (or Angites).
Place for prayer (see Jerusalem Bible, Moffatt, Barclay) translates a word which generally means merely “prayer,” but here and in verse 16 it means “place for prayer,” a meaning which is also attested outside the New Testament. It is better to translate this term in the generalized sense of “a place for prayer” rather than with a specific meaning of “synagogue,” since Luke did use the word synagogue elsewhere and could have used it here had he so desired.
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 .
Sabbath: The word Sabbath is the name of the seventh and last day of the week for the Jews. The Sabbath was the special day in the week when the Jews rested and worshiped God. See how you translated this word in 15:21.
It was probably the first Sabbath after Paul and his companions arrived in Philippi.
we went outside the city gate along the river: The city was surrounded by a wall. There were openings in the wall for people to enter and exit the city. They had strong doors on them. These doorways were called “the city gates.” Paul and his companions went through one of the gates to go to the river.
16:13b
where it was customary to find: There is a textual issue here regarding the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as it was customary:
(1) It means “we expected.” For example:
we thought there would be (Good News Translation)
(Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Good News Translation, New American Standard Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition, New Living Translation (2004), God’s Word, Contemporary English Version, NET Bible, Revised English Bible, English Standard Version, New Century Version)
(2) It means “it was customary.” For example:
this was a customary place for (New Jerusalem Bible)
(Berean Standard Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, King James Version)
It is recommended that you follow option (1), because the UBS Handbook Greek NT chose it.
a place of prayer: This may have been a building big enough for 10 to 20 people to meet. If so, it was not a proper synagogue, because Luke did not use that word here. But it may only be a location on the river bank where the Jews usually met. Many English versions use the general word place here.
This was a place for Jews to pray and worship God. Some non-Jews, such as Lydia (16:14), worshiped God there as well. The Romans had temples to their gods in the city. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly refer to or imply Romans praying to their gods there. If that is true in your language, include the implied information. For example:
a place of prayer/praying ⌊to God⌋
16:13c
After sitting down, we spoke to the women who had gathered there: 16:14d indicates that Paul told them the good news about Jesus. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly imply Paul did not speak about Jesus. If that is true in your language, add that information here. For example:
We sat down and began to speak ⌊about Jesus⌋ to the women who had gathered there
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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