The Greek and Latin that is translated as “resurrection” in English is translated in Chicahuaxtla Triqui and Pohnpeian as “live-up” (i.e. return to life) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel) and in Iloko as panagungar: a term that stems “from the word ‘agungar,’ an agricultural term used to describe the coming back to life of a plant which was wilting but which has been watered by the farmer, or of a bulb which was apparently dead but grows again.” (Source: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
Likewise, in Matumbiyu’ya carries the meaning of “raise from the dead, resuscitate, come back from near death” and is used for dry plants that come back to life when you water them or sick children who revive after being healed. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In Estado de México Otomi, it is translated as “people will be raised from the dead,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “the dead having to come to life again,” in San Mateo del Mar Huave as “arose from the grave” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), and in Kriol as gidap laibala brom dedbala or “get up alive from the dead” (source: Sam Freney in this article .)
Apali: “God’s one with talk from the head” (“basically God’s messenger since head refers to any leader’s talk”) (source: Martha Wade)
Michoacán Nahuatl: “clean helper of God” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
Noongar: Hdjin-djin-kwabba or “spirit good” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Wè Northern (Wɛɛ): Kea ‘a “sooa or “the Lord’s soldier” (also: “God’s soldier” or “his soldier”) (source: Drew Maust)
Iwaidja: “a man sent with a message” (Sam Freney explains the genesis of this term [in this article ): “For example, in Darwin last year, as we were working on a new translation of Luke 2:6–12 in Iwaidja, a Northern Territory language, the translators had written ‘angel’ as ‘a man with eagle wings’. Even before getting to the question of whether this was an accurate term (or one that imported some other information in), the word for ‘eagle’ started getting discussed. One of the translators had her teenage granddaughter with her, and this word didn’t mean anything to her at all. She’d never heard of it, as it was an archaic term that younger people didn’t use anymore. They ended up changing the translation of ‘angel’ to something like ‘a man sent with a message’, which is both more accurate and clear.”)
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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) is used as in mi-tsukai (御使い) or “messenger (of God).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Bender / Belt (2025, p. 2f.) report about the translation of “angel” in Cherokee: “In John, the concept of angel is translated using a descriptive neologism rather than a semantic extension, suggesting the lack of a ready parallel. The plural is dmikahnawadidohi, ‘the law-givers’ or ‘those who go around looking after the medicine.’ Cherokee speakers argue that the Cherokee word for ‘law,’ dikahnawadvsdi, expresses the intent to maintain social, physical, and spiritual health and has at its core the word for ‘medicine,’ mwoli, which encompasses all aspects of social and spiritual well-being, including balance and order (Altman and Belt 2009), much more than the English word. Thus, the Cherokee word for ‘angel’ represents a new perspective on this category of spiritual beings named in the Bible. It does not derive from the concept of messenger present in both its Greek (angelos) and Hebrew (malak) antecedents perhaps because the Cherokee word for ‘messenger,’ atsinvsidasdi, is widely used to translate the foreign lexeme ‘servant.'”
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 23:8:
Uma: “Because according to the Saduki people, people who die do not live again, and there is no soul of mankind that lives on-and-on, and there are no angels. But the Parisi people [emphatic], they believe all that.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “(Because the Sadduseo, they say that the dead will not ko’ be made alive again and that there is no angel ko’ nor soul/spirit but the Pariseo they believe all of this.)” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The reason they were disputing is because as for the Sadducees, they teach that the dead will not be raised. They say that there are no spirits that come from God and there are also no messengers which come from heaven. But as for the Pharisees, they believe that there will be a resurrection and that there are spirits and that there are messengers of God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “(Because the Saducees, they say that the dead will not live again. They also say that there are no angels or human-spirits. But the Pharisees, they believe all those-things.)” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Because according to the perception of the Saduceo, there is no coming alive again, also none of what are referred to as angels, and neither is there a spirit in man. But as for the Pariseo, they believe there are all of these.” (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).”
Since this verse is an explanatory comment, the Good News Translation (see also New English Bible) has placed it in parenthesis. For the Sadducees say that people will not rise from death translates “for the Sadducees say there is no resurrection.” But in the context the reference is certainly to their denial of a general resurrection (see New English Bible “The Sadducees deny that there is any resurrection”) rather than to the specific denial of Jesus’ resurrection, and for this reason the Good News Translation has made this explicit.
All three (see also Jerusalem Bible) is literally “both” (so King James Version), but this word may also be used in the sense of “all in a series” (see Revised Standard Version “them all”).
There are complications in some languages in the final phrase in all three, since this type of counting would combine not only an event such as the resurrection but angels and spirits, which would be in quite different classes as far as counting is concerned. In fact, some languages have quite different systems of counting, depending upon the types of objects which are being counted. In some languages, therefore, one may have to translate “believe in all of these” or it may be even necessary to repeat the three: “the Pharisees believe in people being raised from the dead, and in angels, and in spirits.” On the other hand, one may express the contrast by saying “but the Pharisees believe in these things that the Sadducees do not believe in.”
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 .
For: The Berean Standard Bible translates the Greek conjunction that introduces this verse as For. Here it introduces extra information about the beliefs of the Pharisees and Sadducees. It explains why they were arguing with each other. Indicate that this verse is extra information. For example:
(For the Sadducees say that people will not rise from death and that there are no angels or spirits; but the Pharisees believe in all three.) (Good News Translation) -or-
Because according to the Saduki people, people who die do not live again, and there is no soul of mankind that lives on-and-on, and there are no angels. But the Parisi people [emphatic], they believe all that. -or-
The reason they were disputing is because…
You may also need to reorder 23:6–8 to place the background information in natural order. See the General Comment at the end of 23:8c for some examples of reordering.
the Sadducees say: Here the verb say generally indicates that at appropriate times the Sadducees would tell people that God does not resurrect people. It was their habit to say so, because that was what they believed. Consider how to indicate that in your language.
23:8b
angels: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as angels means “messengers.” Here it refers to spirit beings who serve God. Some ways to translate this word are:
• Use a descriptive word or phrase. For example:
messengers ⌊from God/heaven⌋ -or-
⌊good/holy⌋ spirit-beings
• Use a local word that fits the biblical meaning.
• In some areas the churches may already be using the common language word for “angel.” Be sure that this term fits the biblical meaning. If some people do not understand the right meaning from this word, you may need to indicate the meaning in some way. For example:
Be sure that your term for “angel” is different from your terms for “prophet” and “apostle.”
spirits: This word refers generally to any being without a physical body. It includes angels, demons, and the spirits of dead people.
Some languages have several terms for spirits. If that is true in your language, you should use a word that refers to the spirit of a human being who has died.
23:8c
the Pharisees acknowledge them all: The Pharisees believed in all three: the resurrection of the dead, angels, and other spirits.
General Comment on 23:6a–8c
The extra (or background) information occurs in the middle of the story about the argument. In some languages, the extra information must be in a different place to be natural. For example:
8 The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. 6⌊So⌋ Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I stand on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead.” 7When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. -or-
6a Paul knew that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees. 8(The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.)6bSo he called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I stand on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead.” 7When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.
If you reorder like this, you will need to mark these three verses together:
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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