with a loud voice

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “with a loud voice” in English is translated in Low German idiomatically as luuthals or “loud-throated” (translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006).

It is also used in Acts 19:28 for krazó (κράζω).

complete verse (Acts 19:28)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 19:28:

  • Uma: “When they heard the words of Demitrius, they were angry, and they kept on cheering/shouting: ‘Praise Artemis, the anitu of us Efesus people!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When those men who were gathered heard what Demetiri said, they were very angry. They kept calling out loudly, they said, ‘Greatly honored is Artemis, the god of the people of Epesus.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then when the many people gathered there heard this, they became very angry with Paul and company, and they shouted out, ‘Great is Artemisa the one we Ephesians worship’.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Upon their hearing that-aforementioned which Demetrius said, they became-extremely -angry, and they all-shouted-as-a-group saying, ‘Honored is Artemis who is our god here in Efeso!'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When they heard, their anger wanted to explode now. They were then shouting out, saying, ‘Praiseworthy is Diana whom we taga Efeso worship!'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 19:28

The indefinite pronoun subject of the verb heard has been made definite, the crowd. Heard these words may be rendered in some languages as “heard what Demetrius had said.”

The term translated furious combines in this context components of anger as well as excitement. In some languages this is actually translated “became excited and very angry.”

The form of the shout raised by the Ephesians was the usual way of cheering: Great is Artemis of Ephesus! The grammatical form of this shout by the Ephesians is in some languages rendered as “Artemis of Ephesus is very great indeed.” In other instances there are idiomatic expressions equivalent to great which may literally mean “long live” or “high above all else” but which are in reality only idiomatic ways of shouting praise to an important personage or a god.

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 19:28

Paragraph 19:28–31

19:28a

When the men heard this, they were enraged: The Greek words are literally “having heard and having become full of anger.” It tells of two things that happened before the men began shouting: They heard what Demetrius said and became very angry. Other ways to translate this are:

When they heard this and were filled with rage (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
When they heard this they were very angry.

the men: This refers to the men whom Demetrius had called together.

19:28b

and began shouting: The Greek words indicate that the men shouted “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians” many times.

Great is Artemis of the Ephesians: The Berean Standard Bible follows the Greek word order. In some languages this word order is not natural. Translate using a natural word order. For example:

Artemis of the Ephesians is great! (God’s Word)

The men shouting this were from Ephesus. They used the name of their city to be clear that only they had the temple of Artemis in their city. They were proud that the temple was in their city. Probably most Ephesians worshiped her as one of their most important gods.

In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate or imply that the men were not from Ephesus. If that is true in your language, translate the correct meaning. For example:

Great is Artemis of ⌊us,⌋ the Ephesians
-or-
Great is Artemis, whom ⌊we,⌋ the Ephesians, ⌊worship⌋
-or-
Great is Artemis of Ephesus

Great: Here this word refers to being famous, important, or powerful. It does not refer to being large. The Ephesian men stated that Artemis was an important god.

Artemis of the Ephesians: The word of indicates a relationship between Artemis and the people of Ephesus. The temple was in Ephesus. It was the main temple where Artemis was worshiped. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

Artemis, the goddess of Ephesus, (New Century Version)
-or-
Artemis ⌊here⌋ in Ephesus

But the men were not explaining who Artemis was. Everyone in Ephesus knew who Artemis was. Your translation should not imply that the men were explaining who Artemis was.

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