complete verse (Acts 18:16)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 18:16:

  • Uma: “After that, and he expelled them from the deciding house of.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “And he sent/drove them away from that judgment room.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then he caused them to leave the court.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Then he drove-them -out of the court.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And then he drove them out of that judging house.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 18:16

Drove them out of the court must usually be interpreted as a causative “caused them to be driven out of the court” or “caused soldiers to force them out of the court.”

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 18:16

18:16

And he drove them away from the judgment seat: This clause in Greek is literally “And he drove them from the judgment seat.” Gallio probably ordered his court police to force the Jews to leave. The Roman court police carried rods and could beat the Jews if they refused the order to leave. The verse does not say if the court police actually beat them or not. Other ways to translate this clause are:

And he drove them out of the court. (Good News Translation)
-or-
Then he had them forced away from the judgment seat. (NET Bible)
-or-
So Gallio had them forced out of his court. (God’s Word)

judgment seat: See how you translated this word in 18:12.

General Comment on 18:16

The Jews had not completely left the court, because 18:17 occurs in court. You may want to indicate that they were still somewhere in the court area. For example:

Then he began to force them out of the court
-or-
So he had them ejected from the court. ⌊As they were leaving,⌋

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