Paul (icon)

Following is a Georgian Orthodox icon of Paul the Apostle from the 14th century (located in the Art Museum of Georgia, Tbilisi).

Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )

See also Paul.

Paul

The term that is transliterated as “Paul” in English is translated in American Sign Language with a sign that signifies the many letters he wrote. (Source: RuthAnna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


“Paul” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor

In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting putting away a sword, referring to his conversion from a persecutor of Christians to a Christian leader. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


“Paul (and Saul)” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Paul (source: Bible Lands 2012)

See also Paul (icon).

complete verse (Acts 20:9)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 20:9:

  • Uma: “In that gathering of ours(excl.), there was a young man, his name Eutikhus, sat in the window. Because Paulus did not stop teaching, that young man got sleepy and fell asleep, with the result that he fell to the ground. Yet that window was on the third level from the ground. His companions went-down to pick him up, they saw he was dead.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “There was a man still young named Utikus sitting on the window (sill). When Paul was making his speech long, that Utikus became very sleepy and eventually fell asleep. Then he fell from the third story of that house where we (excl.) were gathered to the ground. When they lifted him up, he was really dead.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There was a young man, Eutichus, who was sitting in the window there on the third floor, and because Paul’s preaching was very long he became very sleepy and when he could no longer endure his being sleepy and he fell down to the ground. And when they picked him up, he was dead already.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “There was also a young-unmarried-man who was Eutikus who was seated in the window. When Pablo’s speaking lasted-a-long-time, he was sleepy, eventually he fell-asleep, and then he fell from the third story of the house. When they went to pick-him-up, he was already dead.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “There was a young man named Eutico who, there at the window was where he was sitting. When Pablo continued speaking, as for this Eutico, he was nodding-sleepily. When it had been a long time now, he fell sound asleep. Without anything further, he then fell to the ground. Because where he had fallen from was high up, when they picked him up he was already dead.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “A young man called Eutychus was sitting on the window sill there in the third floor and as Paul continued preaching sleep grabbed him and when he was sleeping well he went over backwards and fell to the ground. They went and picked him up and he was already dead.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

Translation commentary on Acts 20:9

Young man is a different word from the one used in verse 12 below. According to the classification of one ancient Greek writer, the word used in this verse would normally describe a man who was from 23 to 28 years of age, whereas the word used in verse 12 (translated “boy” by many translators) is taken to describe a person of 8 to 14 years of age. It is quite possible that Luke is simply describing a person who is somewhere between 20 and 30 years of age. The second Greek term which would normally suggest a person of younger age than the first term may, of course, imply some greater degree of endearment, but more probably it is simply used in the more general sense of a young person.

The Good News Translation has brought out the contrast that Luke has made between the Greek progressive tense got sleepier and sleepier and the Greek verb tense denoting instantaneous action finally went sound asleep.

The third story includes in its calculation the ground floor; therefore in some translations this would be equivalent to “the second story.” In Greek “he was taken up” is an impersonal passive construction equivalent in English to they picked him up. Luke actually says that he was dead (see Jerusalem Bible “he was picked up dead”). Had Luke intended to say that he only appeared to be dead, he could easily have done this. Therefore, such a translation as “was picked up as dead” (Phillips) or “was picked up for dead” (New English Bible) is misleading.

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 .