centurion

The Greek that is translated as “centurion” in English is translated in Noongar as “boss of the Roman soldiers (lit.: ‘men of fighting’)” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), in Uma as “Roman army warchief” (source: Uma Back Translation), in Western Bukidnon Manobo as “a person who was not a Jew, the captain of a hundred soldiers” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation), and in Mairasi “leader of Roman warriors” (source: Enggavoter 2004).

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Roman Centurion .

complete verse (Acts 24:23)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 24:23:

  • Uma: “After that, he ordered his officers to guard Paulus. But even though he was guarded, he was not like a person that was really jailed. Because he was indeed given the opportunity to walk around, and his friends were permitted to give him whatever he needed.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Then he ordered the lieutenant, telling him to guard Paul but not very much. And commanded not to stop/forbid his friends from going there to bring him the things he needed.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And he told the sergeant that he should not stop guarding Paul, however he should take care of him and it would be possible that Paul could be visited by his friends in order that they might help him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Then he commanded the captain to have-Pablo -guarded, but that they consider him as a non prisoner and also permit the going of his friends to take what he needed.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And then he handed Pablo over to a captain of soldiers. But he said that he wasn’t to be treated really strictly and also his friends weren’t to be prevented who would come to visit him bringing him what he was in need of.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 24:23

The Good News Translation, the Jerusalem Bible, and the New English Bible have translated the pronoun “him” as Paul to clear up a possible ambiguity from the point of the English reader (note the Revised Standard Version “then he gave orders to the centurion that he should be kept in custody”).

It is difficult to determine precisely what is involved in to give him some freedom. This could involve “freedom to go in and out of the prison” or “freedom from being guarded so closely.” Some translators may want to render this as “to be considered like a person who was not a prisoner, even though he was still being guarded.”

Allow his friends to provide for his needs is actually given in the Greek in a negative statement, “and to prevent none of his friends from providing for his needs,” but in English this is stated much more naturally in the positive. This last clause may be rendered as “to permit his friends to help Paul in any way they wanted to.”

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Acts 24:23

24:23a

centurion: The centurion was an officer in the Roman army who usually led one hundred soldiers. Translate this word as you did in 10:1 or 23:23.

to keep Paul under guard: The centurion was responsible to keep Paul there as a prisoner. His soldiers would guard Paul, to make sure that he did not escape and also to protect him from those who wanted to kill him. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

that he should be kept in custody (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
to guard Paul (God’s Word)
-or-
that soldiers should guard Paul

Scholars have two opinions about what this phrase indicates:

(1) The soldiers chained and guarded him.

(2) The soldiers guarded Paul but did not chain him.

Either interpretation is possible because both customs were practiced under Roman custody. Lysias, the Roman commander, probably did not have authority to chain a Roman citizen (22:29–30), but higher ranking officials like a governor could put chains on a Roman citizen (26:29). If possible, translate in a way that allows both interpretations.

24:23b

to allow him some freedom: This phrase indicates that the centurion was to allow Paul to do things as long as those things did not interfere with guarding him. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

should have some liberty (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
to allow him to do reasonable things

24:23c

permit his friends to minister to his needs: This phrase refers to allowing Paul’s friends to visit him and to bring him things that he might need. It probably included bringing food. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

that none of his friends should be prevented from attending to his needs (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
allow his friends to visit him and take care of his needs (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
not…to stop his friends from helping him (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
to let his friends bring what he needed (New Century Version)

General Comment on 24:23a–c

The centurion did as Felix had ordered. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly imply that the centurion did not do those things. If so, indicate that the centurion obeyed in your translation. For example:

He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard but to give him some freedom and permit his friends to take care of his needs. ⌊And the centurion did so.⌋

© 2001, 2021 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.