Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 23:7:
Uma: “Hearing that, the Parisi the Saduki people [began to] argue with one another, with the result that they were no longer in agreement.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “After he said this, the Pariseo and the Sadduseo began to discuss/argue. That’s why the council members were now divided (in opinion).” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when he said this the Sadducees and the Pharisees began to have a dispute and all of them were divided.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When he said that, that was when-the Pharisees and Saducees -began to quarrel, because their minds were divided.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When he had said that, the Pariseo and the Saduceo got into a fierce argument. Those people gathered there were now divided.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The Greek that is a transliteration of the Hebrew Pərūšīm and is typically transliterated into English as “Pharisee” is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as Fǎlìsài (法利賽 / 法利赛) (Protestant) or Fǎlìsāi (法利塞) (Catholic). In Chinese, transliterations can typically be done with a great number of different and identical-sounding characters. Often the meaning of the characters are not relevant, unless they are chosen carefully as in these cases. The Protestant Fǎlìsài can mean something like “Competition for the profit of the law” and the Catholic Fǎlìsāi “Stuffed by/with the profit of the law.” (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 51)
In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “prayer shawl”. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as Observant. He explains (p. 302): “Pharisee has become a public, universal pejorative term for a hypocrite. Pharisees were observant of the interpretation of the Covenant Code called the ‘tradition of the elders.’ They conformed their behaviors to the interpretation. Among the various groups of Jews at the time of Jesus, they were perhaps closest to Jesus in their overall concern to make a radical commitment to the will of God (as they understood it).”
The force of the Greek verb construction in this sentence is to indicate the initiation of an action, and so the Good News Translation has translated started to quarrel (see also Moffatt “a quarrel broke out”). The phrase started to quarrel may simply be translated as “started to talk against each other”; and the group was divided may be rendered as “the group became two groups.”
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 .
a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as dispute here probably implies anger and shouting while they argued. Other ways to translate this clause are:
the Pharisees and the Sadducees got into a big argument (Contemporary English Version) -or-
the Pharisees and the Sadducees began shouting and arguing with each other
23:7c
the assembly was divided: The word divided means that some of the members of the Sanhedrin had one opinion and others members had another, very different opinion. Other ways to translate this clause are:
the council members were now divided (in opinion) -or-
the men who had gathered now separated ⌊by their beliefs⌋
This word probably does not indicate that the Sadducees and Pharisees moved from where they were and gathered into two groups on different sides of the room.
the assembly: Here the word assembly refers to the Sanhedrin. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
the meeting (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English) -or-
the men in the meeting (God’s Word) -or-
those who had assembled there
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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