synagogue, temple (inner), temple (outer)

In many English translations the Greek terms “hieron” (the whole “temple” in Jerusalem or specifically the outer courts open to worshippers) and “naos” (the inner “shrine” or “sanctuary”) are translated with only one word: “temple” (see also for instance “Tempel” in German [for exception see below] and “tempel” in Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans).

Other languages make a distinction: (Click or tap here to see more)

  • Navajo: “house in which worship is carried out” (for naos)
  • Balinese: “inner part of the Great Temple” (“the term ‘inner part’ denoting the hindmost and holiest of the two or three courts that temples on Bali usually possess”) vs. “Great Temple”
  • Telugu: “womb (i.e. interior)-of-the-abode” vs. “abode”
  • Thai: a term denoting the main audience hall of a Buddhist temple compound vs. “environs-of-the-main-audience-hall”
  • Kituba: “place of holiness of house-God Lord” vs. “house-God Lord”
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “deep in God’s house” vs. “God’s house” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • German das Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “inner court of the temple” (Tempelinnenhof) vs. “temple”

Languages that, like English, German, Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans don’t make that distinction include:

  • Mandarin Chinese: “聖殿 Shèng diàn” (“holy palace”)
  • Loma: “the holy place”
  • Pular: “the sacred house” (source for this and the one above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Zarma: “God’s compound”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “big church of the Jews”
  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “big house on top (i.e. most important)”
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “house that is looked upon as holy, that is sacred, that is taboo and where one may not set foot” (lit. “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” — because taboo is violated — using a term that is also applied to a Muslim mosque) (source for this and the three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Mairasi: Janav Enggwarjer Weso: “Great Above One’s (God’s) House” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Noongar: Maya-maya-Kooranyi: “Sacred House” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Huehuetla Tepehua: “the big church of the Israelites”
  • Aguaruna: “the house for talking to God” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Guhu-Samane: “festival longhouse of God” (“The biiri, ‘festival longhouse’, being the religious and social center of the community, is a possible term for ‘temple’. It is not the ‘poro house’ as such. That would be too closely identified with the cult of poro. The physical features of the building, huge and sub-divided, lend it further favor for this consideration. By qualifying it as ‘God’s biiri’ the term has become meaningful and appropriate in the context of the Scriptures.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
  • Enga: “God’s restricted access house” (source: Adam Boyd on his blog)

Another distinction that tends to be overlooked in translations is that between hieron (“temple” in English) and sunagógé (“synagogue” in English). Euan Fry (in The Bible Translator 1987, p. 213ff. ) reports on this:

“Many older translations have simply used transliterations of ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ rather than trying to find equivalent terms or meaningful expressions in their own languages. This approach does keep the two terms separate; but it makes the readers depend on explanations given by pastors or teachers for their understanding of the text.

“Translators who have tried to find meaningful equivalents, for the two terms ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ have usually made a distinction between them in one of two ways (which focus on the contrasting components of meaning). One way takes the size and importance of the Temple to make a contrast, so that expressions such as ‘sacred meeting/ worship house of the Jews’ and ‘big sacred meeting/worship house of the Jews’ are used. The other way focuses on the different nature of the religious activity at each of the places, so that expressions such as ‘meeting/worship house of the Jews’ and ‘sacrifice/ceremony place of the Jews’ are used.

“It is not my purpose in this article to discuss how to arrive at the most precise equivalent to cover all the components of meaning of ‘temple’. That is something that each translator really has to work through for himself in the light of the present usage and possibilities in his own language. My chief concern here is that the basic term or terms chosen for ‘temple’ should give the reader of a translation a clear and correct picture of the location referred to in each passage. And I am afraid that in many cases where an equivalent like ‘house of God’ or ‘worship house’ has been chosen, the readers have quite the wrong picture of what going to the Temple or being in the Temple means. (This may be the case for the word ‘temple’ in English too, for many readers.)”

Here are some examples:

  • Bambara: “house of God” (or: “big house of worship”) vs. “worship house” (or: “small houses of worship”)
  • Toraja-Sa’dan: “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” (see above) vs. “meeting house for discussing matters concerning religious customs” (and “church” is “house where one meets on Sunday”)
  • Navajo: “house in which worship is carried out” vs. “house of gathering” (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida)

    • Bangandu: “the great house of God” vs. “house of prayer” (Source: Ervais Fotso Noumsi in Le Sycomore, 16/1, 2022 )

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Herod’s temple (source: Bible Lands 2012)

Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing synagogues in New Testament times (source: Bible Lands 2012)

See also this devotion on YouVersion .

complete verse (Acts 19:24)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 19:24:

  • Uma: “In Efesus, there was a man who was skilled at making things from silver, his name Demitrius. His work was making little-houses from silver that resembled the house of worship of the anitu named Dewa [Goddess] Artemis. From that work of his, he and his workers received no little amount of money.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “There was a silversmith, his name was Demetiri. He was making miniature-houses of silver in the shape of the prayer-house of their female god named Artemis. Demetiri and the men working for him, they earned much money in that work.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There was a person who was a craftsman named Demetrius. He had many workmen on his payroll who were craftsmen also, and they made much money by making small silver altars which were the means of showing respect to their goddess Artimesa.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because there was a man named Demetrius who was skilled in metal-working silver/coins. Many also were those he salaried to make pretend temples (i.e. images, carvings) of the woman who was their god Artemis, and large also were their profits.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “The one who was the start of it all was Demetrio. He was a metal-worker, who had many personnel who were metal-workers too, who were makers of little images of the worship-place there in Efeso of their pretend god Diana. As for those images, silver is what they were made of, and this livelihood really made money for them.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 19:24

In many receptor languages a typical way of introducing a person such as Demetrius would be to say “there was a silversmith named Demetrius.” A term for silversmith is simply “one who makes objects out of silver,” “a maker of silver things,” or “a worker with silver.”

Artemis (some translators identify her with the Roman goddess Diana: Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, Phillips) was a goddess of fertility. Her temple, four times larger than the Parthenon in Athens, was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The rendering “silver shrines of Artemis” (so most translations) is misleading, for it suggests that Demetrius made silver figurines of the goddess Artemis herself. What the Greek actually says is that “he made silver temples of Artemis,” that is, miniature temples. For this reason the Good News Translation is much closer to the meaning of the Greek: Demetrius made silver models of the temple of the goddess Artemis. It should also be noted that the Good News Translation has added the qualifier of the goddess in order to indicate to the reader exactly who Artemis was. Archeologists have found a number of silver figurines of the goddess Artemis, and they have found a number of clay models of her temple, though no silver models of her temple have been found.

A translation of silver models of the temple may be “very small temples made of silver which look just like the large temple.”

Though the Good News Translation introduces a classifier such as goddess to identify who Artemis was, it may very well be useful to have at this point a marginal note saying that Artemis was the Greek goddess of fertility. This may help to explain to the reader something of the emotional uproar which Demetrius was able to cause in the crowd which assembled. The Good News Translation expression a great deal is literally “no little” in Greek (see Revised Standard Version), but both the New English Bible and the Good News Translation have rendered this expression by a great deal of.

The last clause in verse 24 may be rendered as “his business caused the workers to receive much money” or “the workers made much money because of this business.”

Profit (Moffatt, An American Translation*) may be the meaning of the Greek word as used by Paul, though some scholars take the word in its original meaning of “business.”

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 19:24

19:24a

It began with a silversmith named Demetrius who made silver shrines of Artemis: The clause who made silver shrines of Artemis tells the reader more about Demetrius. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate that Luke was thinking of other silversmiths named Demetrius here and only this one made silver shrines of Artemis. If that is true in your language, translate this information in a way that tells more about Demetrius. One way to do that is to make a new sentence here. For example:

24aA silversmith named Demetrius made silver shrines of Artemis. 24bHe brought…

silversmith: This word refers to a person who makes things out of silver. Silver is an expensive metal that is shiny. Other ways to translate this word are:

a maker of silver things
-or-
who made things out of silver

silver shrines of Artemis: The shrines were small models of the temple of Artemis. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly refer to statues of Artemis. If that is true in your language, you may need to describe what these shrines were. For example:

silver models of the temple of the goddess Artemis (Good News Translation)
-or-
small images/statues/models made of silver that looked like the temple of Artemis

Artemis: This was the Greek name for a goddess whom the people of Ephesus worshiped. People of other cities and regions also worshiped Artemis.

19:24b

bringing much business to the craftsmen: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as bringing refers to causing something to happen. Demetrius did things that increased the number of shrines sold. He may have encouraged people to buy them in some way. The Greek grammar indicates that he also did some of this business himself. It also indicates that he did this for some time. Other ways to translate this clause are:

He kept many craftsmen busy. (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
provided considerable business for himself and the other craftsmen
-or-
From that work, he and his coworkers received a large amount of money.

It is also possible that the Greek word indicates that Demetrius employed these craftsmen or was their leader. For example:

provided considerable employment for the craftsmen (Revised English Bible)
-or-
Demetrius and the men working silver earned much money/profit in that work.

business: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as business can also mean “profit.” With either meaning, the workers earned a lot of money.

craftsmen: This word refers to people skilled at making things. In this case they were skilled at making things from silver. Other ways to translate this word are:

skilled workers
-or-
artisans (New Revised Standard Version)

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