resurrection

The Greek and Latin that is translated as “resurrection” in English is translated in Chicahuaxtla Triqui and Pohnpeian as “live-up” (i.e. return to life) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel) and in Iloko as panagungar: a term that stems “from the word ‘agungar,’ an agricultural term used to describe the coming back to life of a plant which was wilting but which has been watered by the farmer, or of a bulb which was apparently dead but grows again.” (Source: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )

Likewise, in Matumbi yu’ya carries the meaning of “raise from the dead, resuscitate, come back from near death” and is used for dry plants that come back to life when you water them or sick children who revive after being healed. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

In Estado de México Otomi, it is translated as “people will be raised from the dead,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “the dead having to come to life again,” in San Mateo del Mar Huave as “arose from the grave” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), and in Kriol as gidap laibala brom dedbala or “get up alive from the dead” (source: Sam Freney in this article .)

See also resurrect / rise again (Jesus).

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Resurrection .

Hades / Sheol

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is often translated in English as “Hades” or “Sheol” is translated in the German Luther Bible 2017 (and pre-1912) as Totenreich or “realm (or: kingdom) of the dead” in these verses. (Source: Jost Zetzsche)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Sheol .

complete verse (Acts 2:31)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 2:31:

  • Uma: “Daud was a prophet, and he knew from-the-start what God would do in the future. God made a promise to Daud with vowing, he said: one from the descendants of Daud later would be raised by God and be made king, like Daud himself. So, that is why Daud foretold ahead-of-time that the Redeemer King would live again, he said: he was not abandoned in the dwelling-place of the dead, and his body is not abandoned in the grave until rotten.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Da’ud knew beforehand as to what would happen in the future, that’s why he spoke about Almasi’s living again from his death. He said that Almasi was not left in the place of the dead and his body did not rot.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And since David knew what God was going to do, he prophesied the resurrection of Christ, the king whom God chose, because David said, ‘God didn’t never mind him there in the place of the dead, and also his body did not rot.’ ‘” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “He also knew that God would make-that descendant of his -come-alive again, and what he prophesied that he would not be left in the place of the dead and neither would his body rot, he was speaking-of the Messiah that God would send.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “David foretold what was put in his mind concerning the coming alive again of Cristo, who really wouldn’t be left there in the wherever of the dead, and his body wouldn’t be left to rot in the grave.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 2:31

By the addition what God was going to do the Good News Translation links the promise that God made (v. 30) to its fulfillment in the resurrection of the Messiah. The Greek expression of “foreseeing” is very elliptical, and particularly in this type of context it requires some degree of redundancy, even as in the Good News Translation.

The nominal phrase he spoke about the resurrection of the Messiah may be rendered as “he said that the Messiah would rise from the dead.” The difficulty with this expression is that it requires some verb of speaking, but this produces a conflict with the following verb of speaking, which introduces direct discourse. Hence, to relate the two expressions it may be necessary to say, “David was really talking about the fact that the Messiah would arise from the dead when he said, He was not abandoned….” In other languages it may be necessary to reverse the order, for example, “When David said, He was not abandoned in the world…, he was really talking about the fact that the Messiah would rise from the dead.”

Messiah is the same word which is translated elsewhere “Christ”; but where the term occurs as a title the Good News Translation renders it Messiah. The Messiah (meaning “the anointed one”) was a technical name for one whom God had promised to send to save his people. In popular Jewish thought of the first century A.D., the title had political overtones and implied a descendant of David who would come and overthrow the Roman rule. Here, of course Messiah is used apart from its political connotations; it is used rather to link Jesus to a spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish hope.

In many languages a term for Messiah is simply borrowed, but this does not make much sense, unless the meaning is taught or the reader is referred to a note in the glossary. In a number of languages Messiah is translated as “God’s specially chosen one.” Literally, of course, Messiah refers to anointing, but since the process of anointing to symbolize the selection of a person for some divinely appointed task is very rare, a literal rendering can rarely be employed. In any event, the meaning and significance of the term Messiah should be explained in the glossary.

Though in the quotation from the Old Testament the pronoun he must be so used as to refer to the Messiah, it is not warranted to introduce the noun “Messiah” into the quotation. One can, of course, always change the passive to the active, for example, “God did not leave him in the world of the dead.”

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 .