complete verse (Acts 18:17)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 18:17:

  • Uma: “Outside the deciding house, the crowd caught Sostenes, a leader of the house of prayer, and beat him. But Galio did not pay attention to what they did.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Then the people seized Sostenes, the leader of the Yahudi prayer-house and they beat (lit. inflicted-pain) him there in front of the judgment house (lit. house where judging is done). But the Governor Galliyo didn’t do anything about it.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And the Gentiles there, they grabbed Sosthenes, the head of the church of the Jews, and they beat him up there near the court. In spite of that, Gallio paid no attention to it.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “That being so, the Gentiles who were watching, they grabbed Sostenes the leader of the synagogue and whipped him in the yard of the court, but Gallio, he ignored/let-them -be.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Without anything further, they switched to arresting Sosthenes, another overseer of their worship-place, and then they kept on beating him outside that judging house. But Galion paid no attention to that which they did.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 18:17

In the statement they all grabbed, the pronoun they may refer either to the Jews or to the Gentiles; the text is not clear and commentators differ.

The name Sosthenes appears only here and in 1 Corinthians 1.1. Although the identify is not certain, there are many who believe that these men are one and the same; the appearance of the name in the papyri is rare enough to make a good case for the identity of the two. If Sosthenes mentioned here is identical with the Sosthenes mentioned in the first verse of the first letter to the Corinthians, it would presumably be the Jews who beat him in front of the court. On the other hand, if Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue was the ringleader of those who were opposing Paul, it is understandable that the Gentiles might have beaten Sosthenes. This seems to be slightly more probable in view of Gallio’s complete lack of concern. Having driven the Jews from the court, it would be unlikely that he would be completely unconcerned about their attacking a Christian who was identified with Paul. The same person Sosthenes, however, could at this time have been a leader of the synagogue and later be identified with the Christian community.

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 18:17

18:17a

the crowd:
The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the crowd is literally “they.” The pronoun “they” probably refers to people at the court: Greeks and a few Romans. It is unlikely that the pronoun refers to the Jews (18:14–16). The Jews would probably not beat one of their own people in front of the Roman judge. Refer in a general way to the Greeks and Romans. For example:

the whole crowd of people (Easy English Bible)

seized: The Greek word is literally “seized.” (The New International Version translation indicates that the people changed from polite behavior to wanting to fight.) For example:

grabbed (Good News Translation)

the synagogue leader: This phrase indicates that Sosthenes was the leader over the Jews. They were members of the synagogue. For example:

the leader of the synagogue (Good News Translation)
-or-
the Jewish leader (Contemporary English Version)

18:17b

beat him: The people probably beat Sosthenes with their fists. Some languages must say what they beat him with. For example:

beat him ⌊with their fists⌋

in front of the judgment seat: This phrase in Greek is literally “before the judgment seat.” The Jews had not yet left the area where Gallio judged people. The court police had forced the Jews away from being directly in front of him. This phrase indicates that he was still able to see them. For example:

in the court area
-or-
with Gallio watching

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

18:17c

none of this was of concern to Gallio: This clause indicates that Gallio knew that people were beating Sosthenes but did not care. He allowed them to continue beating Sosthenes. Other ways to translate this clause are:

But Gallio was not concerned about any of these things. (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
But none of this mattered to Gallio. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
But that did not bother Gallio a bit. (Good News Translation)

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