Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form (excluding Felix).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
In many English translations the Greek terms “hieron” (the whole “temple” in Jerusalem or specifically the outer courts open to worshippers) and “naos” (the inner “shrine” or “sanctuary”) are translated with only one word: “temple” (see also for instance “Tempel” in German [for exception see below] and “tempel” in Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans).
Other languages make a distinction: (Click or tap here to see more)
Navajo (Dinė): “house in which worship is carried out” (for naos)
Balinese: “inner part of the Great Temple” (“the term ‘inner part’ denoting the hindmost and holiest of the two or three courts that temples on Bali usually possess”) vs. “Great Temple”
Telugu: “womb (i.e. interior)-of-the-abode” vs. “abode”
Thai: a term denoting the main audience hall of a Buddhist temple compound vs. “environs-of-the-main-audience-hall”
Kituba: “place of holiness of house-God Lord” vs. “house-God Lord”
Shipibo-Conibo: “deep in God’s house” vs. “God’s house” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Germandas Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022): “inner court of the temple” (Tempelinnenhof) vs. “temple”
Languages that, like English, German, Dutch, Danish, or Afrikaans, don’t make that distinction include:
Toraja-Sa’dan: “house that is looked upon as holy, that is sacred, that is taboo and where one may not set foot” (lit. “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” — because taboo is violated — using a term that is also applied to a Muslim mosque) (source for this and the three above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Aguaruna: “the house for talking to God” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Guhu-Samane: “festival longhouse of God” (“The biiri, ‘festival longhouse’, being the religious and social center of the community, is a possible term for ‘temple’. It is not the ‘poro house’ as such. That would be too closely identified with the cult of poro. The physical features of the building, huge and sub-divided, lend it further favor for this consideration. By qualifying it as ‘God’s biiri’ the term has become meaningful and appropriate in the context of the Scriptures.”) (Source: Ernest Richert in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. )
Enga: “God’s restricted access house” (source: Adam Boyd on his blog )
Another distinction that tends to be overlooked in translations is that between hieron (“temple” in English) and sunagógé (“synagogue” in English). Euan Fry (in The Bible Translator 1987, p. 213ff. ) reports on this:
“Many older translations have simply used transliterations of ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ rather than trying to find equivalent terms or meaningful expressions in their own languages. This approach does keep the two terms separate; but it makes the readers depend on explanations given by pastors or teachers for their understanding of the text.
“Translators who have tried to find meaningful equivalents, for the two terms ‘temple’ and ‘synagogue’ have usually made a distinction between them in one of two ways (which focus on the contrasting components of meaning). One way takes the size and importance of the Temple to make a contrast, so that expressions such as ‘sacred meeting/ worship house of the Jews’ and ‘big sacred meeting/worship house of the Jews’ are used. The other way focuses on the different nature of the religious activity at each of the places, so that expressions such as ‘meeting/worship house of the Jews’ and ‘sacrifice/ceremony place of the Jews’ are used.
“It is not my purpose in this article to discuss how to arrive at the most precise equivalent to cover all the components of meaning of ‘temple’. That is something that each translator really has to work through for himself in the light of the present usage and possibilities in his own language. My chief concern here is that the basic term or terms chosen for ‘temple’ should give the reader of a translation a clear and correct picture of the location referred to in each passage. And I am afraid that in many cases where an equivalent like ‘house of God’ or ‘worship house’ has been chosen, the readers have quite the wrong picture of what going to the Temple or being in the Temple means. (This may be the case for the word ‘temple’ in English too, for many readers.)”
Here are some examples:
Bambara: “house of God” (or: “big house of worship”) vs. “worship house” (or: “small houses of worship”)
Toraja-Sa’dan: “house where-the-belly-gets-swollen” (see above) vs. “meeting house for discussing matters concerning religious customs” (and “church” is “house where one meets on Sunday”)
Navajo (Dinė): “house in which worship is carried out” vs. “house of gathering” (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida)
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Herod’s temple (source: Bible Lands 2012)Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing synagogues in New Testament times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 24:6:
Uma: “What’s more, he wants to dirty the House of God. That is why we (excl.) arrested him. It was our (excl.) intention the other day to judge his case according to the laws of our (excl.) own religion.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “He was also about to defile the temple and we (excl.) seized him. We (excl.) wanted to judge him in accordance with our (excl.) religious law,” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And that’s not all because he would like to defile our church, the House of God. That’s why we arrested him. We would investigate him there according to what is taught in our law,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “He has also tried to defile (lit. cause-to-be-dirtied) the Temple in Jerusalem, so we (excl.) arrested-him, because we thought to try/investigate-him according to our (excl.) law.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Something else he did was, he almost fouled our (excl.) Templo in Jerusalem. Therefore at that we (excl.) arrested him.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Morelos Nahuatl: “This man was going to make the big church ugly in Jerusalem. Then we grabbed him. We were going to have a meeting in order to judge him according to the commandments of us Jews.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Greek that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
In Yucateco the phrase that is used for “law” is “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198) and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command.” (wsource: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
In Greek, this verse is a relative clause continuing the sentence begun in the previous verse. It is interesting to note that the verb rendered to defile is not the usual term that Jews used to describe someone who had defiled their temple, but it is a more general term which would more likely appeal to someone who was not a Jew. To defile the temple may be rendered as “make the temple unholy” or “take away the holiness from the temple.”
The verb rendered arrested may possibly mean “caught” (An American Translation*) or “seized” (Revised Standard Version). It should be noticed that everything from the last half of verse 6 through the first half of verse 8 has been placed in brackets. The reason for this is that there is a considerable degree of doubt regarding the text at this point. In fact, the UBS Textual Committee has rated this passage as a “D” reading, indicating that there is the highest degree of doubt regarding the original text at this place. Most modern translations either omit these verses entirely (see Moffatt, An American Translation*, and Phillips) or place them in a footnote (see Revised Standard Version and New English Bible). Even if one does include these verses as a genuine part of the text, they appear in somewhat different forms in the various ancient manuscripts. The longer reading which the Good News Translation has included is the one which is generally accepted as the most probable of the various alternative renderings.
Judge him according to our own Law may be rendered as “judge him as our own Law says we should,” “judge him by what it says in our Law,” or “judge him by quoting our own Law.”
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 .
they continued to meet daily: The phrase meet daily applies to all the activities in 2:46a–47a.
in the temple courts: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as temple courts is literally “temple.” But the Greek word refers to the temple building and the walls and the various courtyards that surrounded it. Only the priests were allowed into the temple itself. People met in the courtyards to worship. Therefore the Berean Standard Bible translates the Greek word as temple courts here.
temple: The temple was in Jerusalem and was the most important place where Jews worshiped God. Priests served in the temple and presented the people’s sacrifices to the Lord.
Here are some other ways to translate this word:
• Use a descriptive phrase. For example:
God’s house -or-
house of sacrifice -or-
holy/sacred house
• If your language has a word for temple, consider using it. But you may need to explain in the text that it is God’s temple. For example:
temple of the Lord
Be sure to use a word or phrase for the temple that is different from the one you use for a “synagogue.”
courts: Surrounding the temple was the courtyard of priests and surrounding that was the courtyard of Jewish men. There was also an area for Jewish women. Surrounding all of that was the courtyard of the Gentiles (non-Jewish people). The location of their daily meetings was probably in this last courtyard. Here are some other ways to translate this word:
⌊surrounding⌋ areas -or-
⌊outer⌋ yards
You should make it clear that they did not meet inside the temple building where only the priests could go.
2:46b
to break bread from house to house: The phrase break bread is an idiom. It means “eat a meal.” The believers regularly ate together. The whole clause may imply eating the Lord’s Supper together as well. Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
they had their meals together in their homes (Good News Translation) -or-
They ate together in their homes (New Century Version)
See how you translated this phrase in 2:42b (“the breaking of bread”).
from house to house: The Berean Standard Bible literally represents the Greek here. This phrase indicates that they regularly changed which houses they ate in. For example:
at each other’s homes (God’s Word) -or-
in their homes (New International Version)
With more than three thousand believers, they met in many houses.
sharing their meals with gladness and sincerity of heart: This clause describes the way they ate their meals together (“broke bread”).
sincerity: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as sincerity is a rare word that literally means “not rocky.” There are several ways to interpret it in its figurative sense here:
(1) It means uncomplicated here. For example:
singleness (King James Version)
(King James Version)
(2) It means sincere here. For example:
sincerity (New American Standard Bible)
(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition)
(3) It means humble here. For example:
humble (Good News Translation)
(Good News Translation, God’s Word, NET Bible)
(4) It means generous here. For example:
generous hearts (Revised Standard Version)
(Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation (2004), Contemporary English Version, English Standard Version)
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because the BDAG, L&S, and M&M lexicons support it. But if the major language version in your area follows interpretation (2), you may want to follow that.
heart: Here the word heart refers figuratively to the mind, emotions, and will of a person. It refers to the part of a person that he uses to think, feel, and make decisions. See how you translated this word in 2:26.
even: Here this word means “also.” Tertullus implies that Paul was a worse person than being a leader of a sect, because here he claimed Paul tried to desecrate the Jewish temple. Other ways to translate this word are:
also (God’s Word) -or-
Furthermore (New Living Translation (2004)) -or-
and worse than that, -or-
And that’s not all
tried to desecrate the temple: The word desecrate refers to making the temple unfit for religious uses. Doing this is very offensive to those who follow that religion. Tertullus referred to what some Jews from Asia yelled in Acts 21:27–29. They claimed that Paul tried to bring a non-Jewish person into the area only allowed for Jews. If that had happened, all religious services would have stopped until the temple was ritually cleansed. The clause implies that he did not succeed in desecrating the temple. Other ways to translate this clause are:
tried to defile the Temple (Good News Translation) -or-
attempted to profane the Temple (New Jerusalem Bible) -or-
tried to disgrace the temple (Contemporary English Version) -or-
was trying to make the Temple unclean (New Century Version)
the temple: This refers to the temple in Jerusalem. It was the main place where Jews worshiped God. In some languages this must be made clear. For example:
the temple ⌊in Jerusalem⌋ -or-
the ⌊Jewish⌋ temple
If Paul had brought Gentiles into the temple courts reserved for the Jews, the Jews would have considered that he had desecrated the temple as well.
24:6b
so we seized him: This clause in Greek is literally “whom we seized.” This clause is a result of 24:6a, so the Berean Standard Bible adds so here. Use whatever is natural for that meaning. For example:
but we seized him (Revised Standard Version) -or-
attempted to profane the Temple. We placed him under arrest. (New Jerusalem Bible)
seized: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as seized refers to grabbing someone. It can also mean “arrest.” For example:
arrested (Good News Translation)
24:6c–8a
There is a textual issue here:
(1) The earliest Greek manuscripts do not have 24:6c–8a.
(Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, English Standard Version, New American Bible, Revised Edition, New Living Translation (2004), God’s Word, Contemporary English Version, NET Bible, Revised English Bible, New Century Version)
(2) Some later Greek manuscripts have 24:6c–8a, which reads:
and wanted to judge him according to our law. But the commander, Lysias, came and with the use of much force snatched him from our hands and ordered his accusers to come before you
(King James Version, New American Standard Bible (in brackets))
It is recommended that you follow option (1), because the UBS Handbook Greek NT recommends it.
Many English versions put 24:6c–8a in a footnote. You should include 24:6c–8a as a footnote. An example footnote is:
Only some of the later Greek manuscripts include 24:6c–8a, which reads: and wanted to judge him according to our law. But the commander, Lysias, came and with the use of much force snatched him from our hands and ordered his accusers to come before you.
If the common language version in your area includes this verse in their translation, you may want to include it in brackets, as the New American Standard Bible does.
If you put 24:6c–8a in a footnote, here are several ways to number the verses:
• Put the number 7 after the number 6 in 24:6. Put the footnote marker before 24:8. For example:
6–7…so we seized him. * 8By…
• Do not include the number 7. Put the footnote marker before 24:8. For example:
6…so we seized him. * 8By…
• Indicate a span of verses 6 to 8. For example:
6–8…so we seized him. * By…
You probably want to follow how the common language version in your area did this.
[and we would have judged him according to our law]: The Jewish leaders wanted to take Paul to court and try him under Jewish law.
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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