Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 23:35:
Uma: “he said: ‘OK. I will examine your (sing.) case as soon as your (sing.) enemies arrive.’ After that, he ordered his soldiers to guard Paulus in the large house that King Herodes had built long ago.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “he said to Paul, ‘Your accusers must first arrive, before I will listen to your excuses.’ Then he commanded that Paul to be guarded there at the palace of Herod.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “the governor said, ‘I will investigate the things you are accused of when your accusers arrive.’ And then he had soldiers guard Paul and he had him placed in the palace of King Herod.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “the governor said, ‘I will then try/investigate you (sing.) when your (sing.) accusers come.’ Then he commanded that he be guarded in his house that King Herod had caused-to-be-built previously.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “he said, ‘When these who are bringing a case against you arrive, then I will properly elicit-all-the-information.’ And then he ordered that Pablo be guarded by soldiers there in that house which had been caused to be built by the past king Herodes.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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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 shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.
In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
I will hear you translates a legal technical term (appearing only here in the New Testament), and means something like “to hold a hearing.” The equivalent in some languages is “I will listen to your case,” “I will listen to what you are accused of,” or “I will listen and judge what you have done.” The addition of the term “judge” is sometimes necessary to indicate the official character of such a hearing.
In order to avoid the possibility of ambiguity for English readers, the Good News Translation has rendered the Greek pronoun “him” by Paul.
The phrase kept under guard may be translated as “had soldiers watching him” or even “commanded soldiers to watch him.”
Herod’s palace (rendered literally as “Herod’s praetorium” by the Revised Standard Version) is a reference to the palace which Herod the Great built and which was used as the headquarters by the Roman governors in Palestine.
The translation of Herod’s palace should not imply that Herod was still alive and therefore using the palace. This phrase may be rendered in some languages as “the palace that Herod had built.”
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 .
I will hear your case: This clause indicates that Felix would listen to both Paul and his Jewish accusers. Other ways to translate this clause are:
I will give you a hearing (New Revised Standard Version) -or-
I will examine your case -or-
I will investigate the things you are accused of
accusers: This word refers to people who accuse someone of doing something wrong. See how you translated this word in 23:30.
23:35b
he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod’s Praetorium: This probably happened in Herod’s Praetorium. The governor lived there and governed the people from there. Some languages must use direct speech here. For example:
he ordered/said, “Keep Paul under guard ⌊here⌋.” ⌊They were all⌋ in Herod’s palace.
he ordered that Paul be kept under guard: The clause Paul be kept under guard is passive. Some languages must use an active clause. For example:
he ordered ⌊some of⌋ his soldiers to guard Paul
kept under guard: This phrase refers to always guarding Paul. The Romans usually did this for someone awaiting trial. Another way to translate this phrase is:
always guarded
Herod’s Praetorium: The Greek phrase the Berean Standard Bible translates as Herod’s Praetorium refers to the costly palace Herod the Great built. He died a year or two after Jesus was born. At the time of this story, more than fifty years later, the Romans used it as the residence and headquarters of the Roman governor of Judea.
The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible literally translates as Praetorium is the borrowed Roman word praetorium. This word refers to the residence of a Roman leader such as the governor Felix. But Herod built a palace for himself, not a praetorium for the Roman governor. However, when Herod lived there, he ruled the people from there, like the Roman governor did. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
Herod’s palace (New International Version) -or-
the palace that Herod built -or-
⌊the governor’s house and offices that used to be⌋ Herod’s palace -or-
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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