20He answered, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more thoroughly into his case.
The term that is transliterated as “Paul” in English means “little.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
In American Sign Language it is translated with a sign that signifies the many letters he wrote. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Paul” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting putting away a sword, referring to his conversion from a persecutor of Christians to a Christian leader. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with a sign that is based on contemporary depictions and refers to the presumed baldness of the top of his head. The description originates from the 2nd-century apocryphal text titled Acts of Paul and Thecla , which represents the earliest and most detailed physical characterization of the apostle in Christian tradition (see also the icon below). (Source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group)
“Paul” in Hungarian Sign Language — note that only the first part refers to “Paul,” the second part refers to “apostle” (source )
Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
Down below you’ll see an ivory carving that is located in the Musée national du Moyen-âge in Paris from the Byzantine empire of the 6th or early 7th century:
The following is a contemporary stained glass window from the Messiah Episcopal Church in St. Paul, Minnesota by Peter Dohmen. Individual glass pieces were made in Germany in accordance with Dohmen’s design, using a technique first developed by Irish monks in the 9th and 10th centuries.
“This window is dedicated to St. Paul, the great apostle and missionary, for whom our city is named. At the top of the window is a ship which symbolizes the many missionary journeys of Paul — the Church is our ship, which carries us over the way of life. In the lower section we see Paul on the road to Damascus when he saw a great light and heard our Lord’s voice, which called him to discipleship.”
Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Paul (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Spanish uses a formal vs. informal second-person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Spanish Bibles all use only the informal second-person pronoun (tú), with the exception of Dios Habla Hoy (third edition: 1996) which also uses the formal pronoun (usted). In the referenced verses, the formal form is used.
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 23:20:
Uma: “That child said: ‘There are Yahudi people that have made-plans to request to [you] Head, that tomorrow my uncle be taken to a meeting of the judges, pretending, they say, to examine his case further.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “He answered, he said, ‘The Yahudi have planned/agreed that tomorrow they will ask you ko’ to bring Paul to the council members, pretending to investigate him again.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And the young man said, ‘As for the Jews, they have agreed that tomorrow they will beg you to bring Paul there to the gathering place of the elders because they will thoroughly, they say, check up on what he did.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “The young-man answered and said, ‘The leaders of the Jews have-agreed-together to ask you (sing.) to take Pablo to their meeting-place tomorrow, in order that they will reportedly try/interrogate-him properly concerning his case.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “The child said, ‘There are some Jews who have agreed together that tomorrow they will ask for Pablo to be taken there again by you and stood in the presence of the members of the Sanedrin for, they will say, they will interrogate him well.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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. The concept of “requesting” is translated in the Shinkaiyaku Bible as o-negai (お願い), combining “request” (negai) with the respectful prefix o (お).
ask you to bring Paul to the Sanhedrin tomorrow: Some languages need to express to bring Paul to the Sanhedrin tomorrow as direct speech. For example:
ask you, ‘Could you bring Paul down to the Sanhedrin tomorrow?’
Sanhedrin: The word Sanhedrin is a Greek word that means “council.” See how you translated this word in 4:15 or 23:15.
23:20a
The Jews: Paul’s nephew used the general phrase The Jews. It probably refers to the Jewish leaders of the Sanhedrin and perhaps not even all of them (23:7–9).
In some languages a literal translation would wrongly refer to all of the Jews. If that is true in your language, indicate the correct meaning. For example:
The Jewish authorities (Good News Translation) -or-
Some Jews (New Living Translation (2004))
23:20c
on the pretext of: This phrase in Greek is literally “as intending.” The messengers would say that the Sanhedrin wanted to examine Paul once again. But they would lie so that the commander would bring Paul out of the barracks so that the conspirators could kill him. Translate this phrase in the same way as in 23:15.
acquiring more information: The Greek words are literally “to question more accurately something.” The nephew did not know what questions the Jewish leaders would ask, so he used the word “something.” Another way to translate this Greek clause is:
to ask about things more accurately
See how you translated “examining his case more carefully” in 23:15.
about him: The questions about Paul would be about the accusations against him. For example, the New Revised Standard Version says,
they were going to inquire more thoroughly into his case
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