The Greek and Hebrew that is translated in English as “encourage” or “comfort” is translated in Enlhet as “become calm of the innermost.” “Innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind (for other examples see here). (Source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
In Bacama it is translated as “(to) cool stomach” (source: David Frank in this blog post ), in Yatzachi Zapotec as “cause hearts to mature,” in Isthmus Zapotec “hearts may lie quiet” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.) and in Thai “give heart power to” (source: Bratcher / Hatton 2000).
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 20:12:
Uma: “As for that young man who had fallen, he indeed lived, and his companions were very glad taking him to his house.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “The young man who had fallen, was brought home alive by his companions. And their livers were peaceful.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And they took the young man home alive, and they were very happy.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “As for the young-man, they took-him-home to their house, and great was their happiness because he had-come-alive.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Some accompanied Eutico going home. They were all very happy because he truly was alive again.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
As mentioned above, young man is not the same word as appears in verse 9; however, for the sake of translation, it is best to render these by the same term. There are certain aspects of this verse which are not altogether clear. They may refer either to some of the Christians who were at the gathering, or more specifically to the relatives of the young man. And the verb rendered took … home is literally “took away” (see New English Bible, Revised Standard Version), but the reference is obviously to the fact that these people took the young man either to his own or to their home. In light of the context, it seems most likely that the young man was taken to his own home. Took the young man home should not imply that “they carried him.” The Greek text simply states “they led him home.” This could also be rendered as “accompanied him.”
The final expression, were greatly comforted, may be rendered as a causative: “this caused them to be very much comforted.” One may however, encounter a number of idiomatic expressions in various receptor languages: “their hearts became still again,” “again they were happy in their hearts,” or “and again their hearts sat down to rest.”
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 .
were greatly relieved: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as were…relieved refers to becoming encouraged or cheerful. The people were greatly relieved because Eutychus was alive again. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
were greatly encouraged (New Jerusalem Bible) -or-
were greatly comforted (New International Version) -or-
were very happy (Contemporary English Version)
greatly: This word in Greek is literally “not moderately.” It is an idiom that means greatly.
to take the boy home alive: This clause in Greek is literally “(They) led the boy away living.” It indicates that the people took Eutychus away from the meeting place. Eutychus probably walked. For example:
they took the lad away alive (Revised Standard Version)
They probably took him home. So the Berean Standard Bible adds the word home.
boy: The Greek word is literally “boy.” Luke also called him a young man in 20:9. So Eutychus was probably thirteen to nineteen years old.
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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