the Way

The Greek that is often translated in English as “the Way,” referring to the young church in Acts, is translated in a number of ways:

  • Isthmus Mixe: “those who follow the good words about Jesus Christ”
  • Morelos Nahuatl; “the Jews who followed that man Jesus
  • Lalana Chinantec: “the people who took the trail of Jesus”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “all who believed on Jesus”
  • Rincón Zapotec: “those who had received as truth Christ’s word”
  • Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “those who walk in the road of the Lord”
  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “who believed that message” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Elhomwe: “those who lived according to the Way of the Lord” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): “Christian(ity)”

In the Mandarin Chinese Union Version, the most commonly used Protestant Chinese Bible, it is translated as zhèdào (这道) or “this way.” Note that dào (道) or “way” is the same word that is also used for Logos (usually “Word” in English) in John 1:1 and elsewhere (see Word / Logos).

complete verse (Acts 19:23)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 19:23:

  • Uma: “At that time, many people made a disturbance in Efesus because of the Teachings of the Lord Yesus. Like this its account:” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “At that time, there in Epesus, there was big trouble because of the teaching of Isa. This is how it happened.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then big trouble took place in Ephesus because of the doctrine given by our Lord.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “That was when-a fearful riot -broke-out (lit. came-out) in Efeso concerning the faith of the Cristiano.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But, at that time, really far-from-ordinary trouble arose about the way/trail which Pablo was teaching.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 19:23

The expression translated as serious trouble is literally, in Greek, “not a little trouble.” Luke is particularly fond of these negative statements as a means of providing strong emphasis. By translating literally “not a little” one is, however, very likely to miss the emphasis implied in Luke’s usage. Moreover, from the standpoint of the structure of the meaning, it is more difficult for people to understand “not a little” than a positive expression such as “very much” or “serious.”

On the Way of the Lord see verse 9.

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 19:23

Paragraph 19:23–27

19:23

This verse introduces the story in 19:24–41.

About that time: This refers to the time Paul stayed in Ephesus after he sent Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

During that time (God’s Word)
-or-
At that time (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
That was when

there arose a great disturbance: This clause in Greek is literally “no little disturbance happened.” The phrase “no little” is a Greek idiom that means great here. Other ways to translate this clause are:

no little trouble occurred
-or-
a great commotion happened
-or-
there was huge turmoil

disturbance: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as disturbance refers to being upset or refers to trouble. This disturbance occurred because Demetrius objected to Paul preaching about Jesus and caused people to riot. See the above examples.

the Way: This name refers to the beliefs of Christians and living as a Christian. See how you translated this phrase at 9:2 or 19:9.

© 2001, 2021 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.