complete verse (Acts 22:22)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 22:22:

  • Uma: “The crowd was always quiet listening to Paulus speak. But when he said earlier that he went to people who were not Yahudi people, they shouted with all their might, they said: ‘Just go on and kill him! He is no longer fit to live!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “The people really listened to Paul up-to/until he said this. But just after he had finished saying this, they started again to shout loudly, they said, ‘Kill him. He is not worthy to live.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when Paul said this, the people no longer listened, they shouted, ‘Kill him because he is fit to be killed!'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Upon Pablo’s saying that, the many-people who were listening to him, they began to shout, ‘Let’s kill-him now! His life has no purpose!'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “That crowd listened only until those words of his. When they heard him mention the people who weren’t Jews, their anger flared up again. They were shouting out, saying, ‘It’s necessary that a person like him be removed from this world/land! It’s not possible/acceptable to let him live any longer!'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 22:22

This verse begins a new paragraph, and the Good News Translation has made the participants explicit: the people listened to Paul (literally “they listened to him”). The clause until he said this may need to be somewhat more specific, since in a number of languages a pronoun such as this cannot readily refer to a statement or topic—for example, “until he spoke about going to the Gentiles.”

But then they started shouting at the top their voices is literally “then they lifted up their voices and said.” The New English Bible takes this clause to mean “but now they began shouting,” while An American Translation* understands this in the sense of “but then they shouted.”

Away with him! Kill him! is literally “Away from the earth with such a person!” The phrase “from the earth” merely intensifies and qualifies “away with him,” and there is no other way to understand this than in the sense of “kill him” (see Phillips “Kill him, and rid the earth of such a man!”). It is, of course, not necessary to translate both phrases away with him and kill him. The two expressions in English are simply complementary ways of translating the same Greek terms. If there is in the receptor language a strong expression for kill him, this should be sufficient.

The sentence He’s not fit to live! may be rendered as “He should not be allowed to live!” or “It is not right that he should live!”

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 22:22

Section 22:22–29

The Roman commander questioned Paul

In this section, the crowd of Jews became angry and began shouting, because they heard that Paul would go to the Gentiles. The Roman commander ordered his soldiers to bring Paul into the barracks. He told his soldiers to flog Paul so that Paul would tell them why the crowd was so angry. They tied his hands spread apart so they could flog his back. Paul told them that he was a Roman citizen. It was illegal in Roman law to flog or even chain a Roman citizen before going to court and a judge hearing his case. When they learned that he was a Roman citizen, they did not flog him.

Other examples of headings for this section are:

The consequence of Paul’s speech (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
Paul and the Roman Army Commander (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Paul was a Roman citizen so the Roman officer did not flog him

Paragraph 22:22

22:22a

The crowd: The Greek word is literally “they.” It refers to the crowd of people last mentioned in 21:40–22:2. So the Berean Standard Bible explains the pronoun here using the phrase The crowd. Other ways to translate this Greek word are:

they (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
The people (Good News Translation)

until he made this statement: This phrase in Greek is literally “as far as this word.” “This word” refers to the last sentence that Paul spoke (22:21) or possibly just the word “Gentiles,” since Jews did not like Gentiles and Paul had been accused of bringing a Gentile into the temple area reserved for Jews, which was against their law. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

as far as those words
-or-
up to those words that he spoke
-or-
but then they stopped listening

22:22b

Then: The Greek conjunction is usually translated in English as “and.” The crowd stopped listening (22:22a) and now they begin shouting.

they lifted up their voices and shouted: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as shouted is literally “saying.” All the words together mean “they shouted.” Other ways to translate it are:

they shouted (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
they shouted ⌊angrily⌋

The context implies that they shouted the words of 22:22c more than once. For example:

they began to shout (New Jerusalem Bible)

22:22c

Rid the earth of him: This clause in Greek is literally “Take from the earth such a (person).” This idiom (and the Berean Standard Bible) means “kill him.” In some languages a literal translation has the correct meaning. Other ways to translate this clause are:

Away with such a fellow from the earth! (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
Remove this man from the earth!

In some languages a literal translation would not have the correct meaning. If that is true in your language, you may want to:

• Explain the idiom in your translation. For example:

Kill him, and rid the earth of such a man! (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

• Use an idiom from your language that has that meaning.

• Translate the meaning of the idiom. For example:

Kill him! (God’s Word)
-or-
End his life!

him: This word in Greek is literally “such a (person).” It shows that the crowd had no respect for Paul. For example:

such a fellow (Revised Standard Version)

He is not fit to live: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as fit means “is proper.” The crowd believed that Paul was so bad that the only right or proper thing to do was to kill him.

The Greek clause indicates that this idea was true in the past as well as at the present time. Other ways to translate this clause are:

It is not right that he has lived this long!
-or-
The only right/proper thing to do with such a person is to kill him!

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