ἀναφάναντες δὲ τὴν Κύπρον καὶ καταλιπόντες αὐτὴν εὐώνυμον ἐπλέομεν εἰς Συρίαν καὶ κατήλθομεν εἰς Τύρον· ἐκεῖσε γὰρ τὸ πλοῖον ἦν ἀποφορτιζόμενον τὸν γόμον.
3We came in sight of Cyprus, and leaving it on our left, we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, because the ship was to unload its cargo there.
The Greek that is translated as “filled with new wine” in English is translated in Elhomwe as evonille ottheka or “drunk,” literally “to be full of beer.” (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) is is translated with zuviel Süßwein gesoffen or “boozed on too much sweet wine.”
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated “boat” or “ship” in English is translated in Chichimeca-Jonaz as “that with which we can walk on water” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.), in Chitonga as a term in combination with bwato or “dugout canoe” (source: Wendland 1987, p. 72), and in Tangale as inj am or “canoe-of water” (inj — “canoe” — on its own typically refers to a traditional type of carved-out log for sleeping) (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).
In Kouya it is translated as ‘glʋ ‘kadʋ — “big canoe.”
Philip Saunders (p. 231) explains how the Kouya team arrived at that conclusion:
“Acts chapter 27 was a challenge! It describes Paul’s sea voyage to Italy, and finally Rome. There is a storm at sea and a shipwreck on Malta, and the chapter includes much detailed nautical vocabulary. How do you translate this for a landlocked people group, most of whom have never seen the ocean? All they know are small rivers and dugout canoes.
“We knew that we could later insert some illustrations during the final paging process which would help the Kouya readers to picture what was happening, but meanwhile we struggled to find or invent meaningful terms. The ‘ship’ was a ‘big canoe’ and the ‘passengers’ were ‘the people in the big canoe’; the ‘crew’ were the ‘workers in the big canoe’; the ‘pilot’ was the ‘driver of the big canoe’; the ‘big canoe stopping place’ was the ‘harbour’, and the ‘big canoe stopping metal’ was the ‘anchor’!”
In Lokạạ it is translated as ukalangkwaa, lit. “English canoe.” “The term was not coined for the Bible translation, but rather originated in colonial times when the English arrived in Nigeria on ships. The indigenous term for a canoe was modified to represent the large, ocean-going ship of the English.” (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
See also ships of Tarshish, harbor, anchor, and sailor.
The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Cyprus” in English is translated more specifically as “the island of Cyprus” in some languages. Eastern Highland Otomi for instance has “the land of Cyprus, the little land it sits in the water,” Morelos Nahuatl has “the land-rise of Cyprus,” or Lalana Chinantec has “land in the middle of the water which is called Cyprus.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
In Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) it is translated with a sign that depicts the shape of the island and “blossoming flower” (a possible meaning of the name). (Source: Missão Kophós )
“Cyprus” in Libras (source )
See also complete verse (Acts 13:4) and Samothrace.
For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see this article in Christianity Today .
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 exclusive form (excluding the addressee).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 21:3:
Came to where we could see apparently is a technical term for sighting land (see New English Bible “came in sight of”; and Phillips, Jerusalem Bible “after sighting”). Sailed south of it is literally “leaving it on our left,” but geographically what is meant is that the ship sailed south of Cyprus. Some translators have rendered this as a technical term used in sailing (see Jerusalem Bible and New English Bible “leaving it to port” and Barclay “left it on our port beam”), but since these terms are not easily understood by most readers, it is usually more advisable to translate as the Good News Translation has done.
All commentators agree that the past tense used by Luke (literally “was unloading”) must be understood with a future reference; was going to unload (see Revised Standard Version and Jerusalem Bible “was to unload”). In some languages it is not possible to say the ship was going to unload its cargo. Rather, one must say that “men were going to unload the ship,” “men were going to carry from the ship what was on it,” or “… what was being transported in it.”
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 .
21:3a
After sighting Cyprus: As the ship sailed southeast towards Phoenicia, it passed near enough to the island of Cyprus where the people on the ship could see it. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
When we had come in sight of Cyprus (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
We could see the island of Cyprus (God’s Word)
-or-
We sailed near the island of Cyprus, seeing it (New Century Version)
Cyprus: This name refers to an island in the Mediterranean Sea west of Syria. See how you spelled this name in 15:39.
passing south of it: The Greek words are literally “leaving it on the left hand.” For example:
passed it on our left (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
sailing past on/to the right side of it
But in some languages it is more natural to use a direction. For example:
sailed south of it (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
sailed…seeing it to the north (New Century Version)
21:3b
Syria: At that time the name Syria referred to a province under Roman rule. It was north of Judea and Galilee. The western border was the coast on the Mediterranean sea. The region of Phoenicia was part of it.
It is previously mentioned in Acts four times (15:23, 15:41, 18:18, 20:3). If you indicated that Syria was a province in one of those verses, you may not need to indicate that it refers to a province again here.
But in some languages people are not familiar with this name. You may want to indicate what the name refers to again here. For example:
⌊the province of⌋ Syria
21:3c
landed: Here the word landed indicates that the ship arrived at the place where people got off the ship. Here it implies that Paul and the others left the ship and went ashore. Other ways to translate this clause are:
stopped (New Century Version)
-or-
went ashore (Good News Translation)
Tyre: Tyre was the principal city of Phoenicia. In some languages people are not familiar with this name. You may want to indicate what the name refers to here. For example:
⌊the city of⌋ Tyre
the ship was to unload its cargo: The people who worked on the ship unloaded the cargo. In some languages, it is more natural to refer to those people unloading the ship. For example:
our ship’s cargo would be unloaded
-or-
our ship’s crew would unload it
the ship: Some English versions add the word “our.” Paul and his companions traveled by that ship. It did not belong to them. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
our ship (New International Version)
-or-
the ship that we traveled by
-or-
the ship that we took here
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