Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
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 inclusive form (including the listeners).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 2:29:
Uma: “From there, Petrus also said: ‘My relatives, we may say with certainty/clearness, it was not himself that Daud’s words earlier were aimed-at. Because our father Daud, he of course died and was buried. His grave is in our town to this time.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “‘Na, my brothers,’ Petros said, ‘I am telling you clearly about our (incl.) forefather King Da’ud ley (deceased). He certainly died and was buried, and his grave is still here with us (incl.) until now.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Peter continued speaking, he said, ‘My brothers, we (incl.) know that our (incl.) ancestor King David long ago, he has been dead a long time and he was buried and we still know where his grave is today.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then he said, ‘You (my) companions, I want to make-known correctly to you concerning David our ancestor long-ago. David, he died and was buried, and his burial-place can still be seen today.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well now, brethren, think about (lit. walk over with your mind) this which I am saying-plainly. Isn’t it so that out ancestor David died and was buried ? And isn’t it so that till today/now where he was buried is still here with us ?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The name that is transliterated as “David” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign signifying king and a sling (referring to 1 Samuel 17:49 and 2 Samuel 5:4). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff.)
If a term for brothers does not lend itself to generalization in identifying fellow countrymen, one can often use another kinship term which will have this essential function, for example, “relatives,” “kinsmen,” or “cousins.”
Quite plainly translates “with boldness” or “with confidence.” The same phrase is used in 4.31 and is translated there with boldness; the expanded phrase occurs in 4.29 and 28.31 where it is translated with all boldness. A literal rendering of the phrase speak to you … plainly may turn out in some languages to be only a reference to the quality of utterance or pronunciation. Hence, one may need to shift the focus to something like “I must make you to understand clearly.”
Patriarch (a word which occurs in the New Testament only here and in 7.8, 9 and Hebrews 7.4) implies progenitor and “founder of the nation,” but in the present passage it is an honorary title applied to David, the king of Israel. The term patriarch is equivalent in many languages to “forefather,” “grandfather in ancient times,” “our big grandfather,” or “elder many years ago.”
If it is necessary to specify the agent of the expression was buried, one can simply say “he was buried by the people” or “the people buried him.” Nothing more explicit is required.
In order to avoid speaking as though Peter was addressing the crowd in a cemetery, one may wish to shift the expression here to “near here.” In some languages, however, one cannot speak of a grave as “near” someone or something, since graves are not regarded as “movable.” Therefore, it may be necessary to shift the focus, for example, “and we here are near to (or, not far from) his grave.”
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 .
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese show different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.
In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).