complete verse (Acts 16:39)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 16:39:

  • Uma: “They went asking forgiveness of Paulus and Silas and they escorted them outside, and they said to them: ‘It is better if you leave our (excl.) town.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Therefore they went and asked forgiveness from Paul and company. Then they brought Paul and company out from the prison and they entreated them telling them to leave now from that town.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Therefore they went there and they begged their forgiveness. And they took them outside the prison and begged them that they might leave the town.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “So they went to the prison to go apologize to them. After that they led (them) outside, and requested that they leave that town.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Without anything further, they hurried and went there and asked forgiveness. And then when they had released them, they kept on asking Pablo-and-companion that hopefully they wouldn’t stay there but would now leave.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 16:39

Apologized may be rendered as “asked them to forgive them” or (perhaps better) “asked them to overlook.” In some languages the equivalent is “they said to them, We are sorry for what we did.”

The final verb expression asked them to leave the city may need to be expressed as direct discourse in some languages—for example, “said to them, Please leave the city.”

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 16:39

16:39a

They came to appease them: Here the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as appease refers to encouraging someone not to be angry with them. Other ways to translate this clause are:

they came and apologized to them (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
they came and told Paul and Silas they were sorry (New Century Version)
-or-
They came and tried to placate them
-or-
They came and said to them(dual), “We(excl) are sorry ⌊for mistreating you⌋.”

16:39b

requesting that they leave the city: The Greek tense probably indicates that the judges asked more than one time. For example:

they asked them repeatedly to leave the city (NET Bible)

requesting: Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, so the officials could not order them to leave the town. Paul and Silas could have told the leader over these officials about the unlawful behavior of the officials, so the officials wanted Paul and Silas to leave town quickly and politely asked them to do so. For example:

asked them to please leave town (Contemporary English Version)

city: Philippi was a small city. See how you translated this word in 16:20.

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