blaspheme, blasphemy

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is translated as “blasphemy” or “blaspheme” is translated in various forms:

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Acts 19:37)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the city clerk, the riotous Ephesians, and all Ephesian citizens).

Source: SIL International Translation Department (1999).

complete verse (Acts 19:37)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 19:37:

  • Uma: “These two people you brought here, but they haven’t robbed our worship house or disparaged the name of our anitu.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “You have brought these people here but they have not broken into (and robbed) the prayer-house nor spoken evil about our (dual) female god.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “You brought these men here, but they haven’t stolen anything from our temples and they have also not said bad things against our god.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The people you have brought here, they have certainly stolen nothing from our temple, and neither have they spoken-evil-of our god.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For, as for these people whom you have brought here, they aren’t indeed taking belongings from our worship-place. They also aren’t belittling/insulting the one we worship.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

everyone (Japanese honorifics)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way to do this is through the usage of appropriate suffix title referred to as keishō (敬称) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017 by either using -san or –sama with the latter being the more formal title.

In these verses, the Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “everyone” or similar in English is translated in the Shinkaiyaku Bible as mina-san (皆さん), combining the word for “everyone” (nī) and the suffix title –san. This creates a higher sense of familiarity and equality than for instance the same term with the more respectful title –sama at young people (Japanese honorifics). (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Acts 19:37

These men refers back to Gaius and Aristarchus of verse 29. Robbing temples and saying evil things about other gods were accusations often made against Jews during the New Testament period. Robbed temples is equivalent to “carried away holy things from temples.” Obviously no one would be accused of “robbing the whole building” in the sense of “carrying off a temple.”

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 19:37

19:37a

This verse implies that the city clerk thought that what the crowd had already done was rash.

these men: This phrase refers to Gaius and Aristarchus.

19:37b

robbed our temple: People of that time considered robbing the temple a serious crime. In some languages a literal translation would not indicate or imply a serious crime. If that is true in your language, you way want to:

• Translate literally and explain its meaning in a footnote. An example footnote is:

People of that time considered robbing the temple a serious crime.

• Explain it in your translation. For example:

⌊done the serious crime of⌋ robbing temples

The Greek word also has a more general meaning of any deed against religion. For example:

guilty of any sacrilege (New Jerusalem Bible)

blasphemed: This word refers to hurting someone’s reputation. Here it refers to saying something that dishonors the goddess Artemis. Other ways to translate this word are:

said evil things about (Good News Translation)
-or-
cursed
-or-
spoken against (New Living Translation (2004))

our goddess: This phrase refers to Artemis.

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