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 )
The term that is transliterated as “Paul” in English is translated in American Sign Language 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)
“Hope is sometimes one of the most difficult terms to translate in the entire Bible. It is not because people do not hope for things, but so often they speak of hoping as simply ‘waiting.’ In fact, even in Spanish, the word esperar means both ‘to wait’ and ‘to hope.’ However, in many instances the purely neutral term meaning ‘to wait’ may be modified in such a way that people will understand something more of its significance. For example, in Tepeuxila Cuicatec hope is called ‘wait-desire.’ Hope is thus a blend of two activities: waiting and desiring. This is substantially the type of expectancy of which hope consists.
In Yucateco the dependence of hope is described by the phrase ‘on what it hangs.’ ‘Our hope in God’ means that ‘we hang onto God.’ The object of hope is the support of one’s expectant waiting. In Ngäbere the phrase “resting the mind” is used. This “implies waiting and confidence, and what is a better definition of hope than ‘confident waiting’.” (Source for this and above: Nida 1952, p. 20, 133)
Enlhet: “waitings of (our) innermost” (“innermost” or valhoc is a term that is frequently used in Enlhet to describe a large variety of emotions or states of mind — for other examples see here) (source: Jacob Loewen in The Bible Translator 1969, p. 24ff. )
Kwang: “one’s future is restored to one’s soul like a fresh, cool breeze on a hot day.” (Source: Mark Vanderkooi right here )
Noongar: koort-kwidiny or “heart waiting” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Anjam: “looking through the horizon” (source: Albert Hoffmann in his memoirs from 1948, quoted in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 7)
Ron: kintiɓwi or “put lip” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Alekano: “wait not hearing two ears” (meaning to “wait without being double-minded” — source: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation June 1986, p. 36ff.)
Marathiaasha (आशा) with a stronger emphasis on desire
In Mwera “hope” and “faith” are translated with the same word: ngulupai. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
C.M. Doke looks at a number of Bantu languages and their respective translations of “hope” with slightly varying connotations (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 9ff. ):
Xhosa and Zulu: themba “hope, expect,” also “have faith in, rely upon”
Tswana: tsholofelo “hope, expect, look for confidently”
Southern Sotho: tshepo “trust, rely on, believe in, have confidence in”
“Unlike English, which uses the word hope broadly, the French language uses two words that derive from the word espérer (to hope): espoir and espérance. Both can first refer to something hoped for. In this sense, the word espoir usually refers to an uncertain object; that is, someone who hopes for something in this way does not have the certainty that it will happen (“I hope the weather will be nice tomorrow”). On the other hand, espérance describes what, rightly or wrongly, is hoped for or expected with certainty. It often refers to a philosophical or eschatological object (‘I hope in the goodness of human beings’; ‘I hope for the return of Jesus Christ’).
“When we speak of espoir or espérance, we then have in mind different types of objects hoped for. This difference matters, because both terms also commonly refer to the state of mind that characterizes the hopeful. And this state of mind will be different precisely according to the object hoped for.
“Having espoir for an uncertain yet better future in these difficult times may be a good thing, but it is not enough. Such hope can be disappointed and easily fade away when our wishes and expectations (our hopes) do not materialize.
“The opposite is true with espérance, which is deeper than our desire and wish for an end to a crisis or a future without pain and suffering. To face the trials of life, we need peace and joy in our hearts that come from expecting certain happiness. This is what espérance is: a profound and stable disposition resulting from faith in the coming of what we expect. In this sense, it is similar in meaning to the English word hopefulness.
“If we have believed in the Son of the living God, we have such a hope. It rests on the infallible promises of our God, who knows the plans he has for us, his children — plans of peace and not misfortune, to give us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). By using the two meanings of the word, we can say that the espérance that the fulfillment of his promises represents (the object hoped for) fills us with espérance (the state of mind).”
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 24:26:
Uma: “Actually, Feliks was hoping Paulus would give him money in order that he would free him. That is why he often called him to talk to him.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “And moreover also, Governor Pilik was hoping that Paul would give him a bribe, (sabolno) that’s why he often called for Paul and conversed with him.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Felix really wanted that Paul might give him some money. That’s why he always called for him in order to speak to him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “And in later days, he often had-Pablo -called so that they would converse-together, but what was in his mind/thoughts, he thought that Pablo would bribe him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Also in his mind was, he was hoping to be given a bribe by Pablo, asking-with-which that he release him. Therefore he was always/often having Pablo fetched so they could talk together.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
He was hoping may be translated in this context as “he was wishing” or “he wanted.” Although Felix is pictured as hoping that Paul would give him some money, the very fact that he would call for him often and talk with him suggests that his interest was not solely in what he might get from Paul. It was not uncommon for government officials to take money either for the imprisonment or the release of prisoners, though there was a law against such activities.
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 .
At the same time: This phrase indicates that Felix promised to listen further to Paul talk about faith in Christ Jesus (24:24), but At the same time he hoped Paul would bribe him to leave prison.
he was hoping: Here the English word hoping refers to wanting something to happen. The word does not mean “confidently expect” here.
Paul would offer him a bribe: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as a bribe is literally “money.” The English word bribe indicates that the money would be paid to an official to do something illegal or immoral (like cheating).
Felix hoped for money from Paul so that Felix would release him from prison before any trial. In Roman law, a bribe was illegal. But some Roman leaders, including Felix, accepted bribes. Other ways to translate this Greek word are:
Paul would bribe him (New Living Translation (2004)) -or-
Paul would secretly/illegally pay him ⌊to be released from custody/prison⌋
24:26b
he sent for Paul frequently and talked with him: Each time Felix and Paul talked, he hoped Paul would bribe him. But at the same time he may have been interested in hearing about this new religion that Paul followed.
General Comment on 24:26a–b
24:27 indicates that Paul did not bribe Felix to leave prison, because he remained there the whole time Felix was governor. In some languages, a literal translation would wrongly indicate or imply that Paul bribed Felix. If so, you may want to explain that Paul did not bribe him. For example:
At the same time he was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe, so he sent for him frequently and talked with him. ⌊But Paul never bribed him.⌋
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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