The Greek and Latin that is translated as “resurrection” in English is translated in Chicahuaxtla Triqui and Pohnpeian as “live-up” (i.e. return to life) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel) and in Iloko as panagungar: a term that stems “from the word ‘agungar,’ an agricultural term used to describe the coming back to life of a plant which was wilting but which has been watered by the farmer, or of a bulb which was apparently dead but grows again.” (Source: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
Likewise, in Matumbiyu’ya carries the meaning of “raise from the dead, resuscitate, come back from near death” and is used for dry plants that come back to life when you water them or sick children who revive after being healed. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In Estado de México Otomi, it is translated as “people will be raised from the dead,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “the dead having to come to life again,” in San Mateo del Mar Huave as “arose from the grave” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), and in Kriol as gidap laibala brom dedbala or “get up alive from the dead” (source: Sam Freney in this article .)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 26:23:
Uma: “who said: The Redeemer King must undergo suffering to the point that he is killed, and he is the one who will first return to life from death. So that He will take the light to all people, whether they are Yahudi people or not Yahudi people.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “They said hep that Almasi should endure/suffer persecution and die. And Almasi would be the first one to be made alive from the dead and he would give light to the mind of the Yahudi and to the tribes that are not Yahudi. This means that he would proclaim/make-known to them that they can be saved.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “for fulfilled already is that which they prophesied that the one whom God chose to rule, it would be necessary that he be tormented and killed. And they prophesied also that he would be the first one to rise from the dead, and he would tell the Jews and those who are not Jews that it is possible for their minds to be illuminated by the true doctrine.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Because they prophesied that the Messiah would have to endure suffering and die, so that later then, he would be the first (lit. going-ahead) one to come-to-life again to illumine the minds of the many-people, whether Jews or Gentiles, to make-known the way God will save them.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “For isn’t it of course contained in what they wrote that Cristo, the Savior King who was promised, must experience big hardship? It is also written that he would be the first one to be made alive again who would not die again. And through that coming alive again of his, he would be able to give all people enlightment, to Jews and not (Jews), concerning salvation.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The Greek Christos (Χρηστός) is typically transliterated when it appears together with Iésous (Ἰησοῦς) (Jesus). In English the transliteration is the Anglicized “Christ,” whereas in many other languages it is based on the Greek or Latin as “Kristus,” “Cristo,” or similar.
When used as a descriptive term in the New Testament — as it’s typically done in the gospels (with the possible exceptions of for instance John 1:17 and 17:3) — Christos is seen as the Greek translation of the Hebrew mashiaḥ (המשיח) (“anointed”). Accordingly, a transliteration of mashiaḥ is used, either as “Messiah” or based on the Greek or Latin as a form of “Messias.”
This transliteration is also used in the two instances where the Greek term Μεσσίας (Messias) is used in John 1:41 and 4:25.
In some languages and some translations, the term “Messiah” is supplemented with an explanation. Such as in the GermanGute Nachricht with “the Messiah, the promised savior” (Wir haben den Messias gefunden, den versprochenen Retter) or in Muna with “Messiah, the Saving King” (Mesias, Omputo Fosalamatino) (source: René van den Berg).
In predominantly Muslim areas or for Bible translations for a Muslim target group, Christos is usually transliterated from the Arabic al-Masih (ٱلْمَسِيحِ) — “Messiah.” In most cases, this practice corresponds with languages that also use a form of the Arabic Isa (عيسى) for Jesus (see Jesus). There are some exceptions, though, including modern translations in Arabic which use Yasua (يَسُوعَ) (coming from the Aramaic Yēšūa’) alongside a transliteration of al-Masih, Hausa which uses Yesu but Almahisu, and some Fula languages (Adamawa Fulfulde, Nigerian Fulfulde, and Central-Eastern Niger Fulfulde) which also use a form of Iésous (Yeesu) but Almasiihu (or Almasiifu) for Christos.
In Indonesian, while most Bible translations had already used Yesus Kristus rather than Isa al Masih, three public holidays used to be described using the term Isa Al Masih. From 2024 on, the government is using Yesus Kristus in those holiday names instead (see this article in Christianity Today ).
Other solutions that are used by a number of languages include these:
Dobel: “The important one that God had appointed to come” (source: Jock Hughes)
Noongar: Keny Mammarap or “The One Man” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Mairasi: “King of not dying for life all mashed out infinitely” (for “mashed out,” see salvation; source: Lloyd Peckham)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “One chosen by God to rule mankind” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Bacama: Ma Pwa a Ngɨltən: “The one God has chosen” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
Binumarien: Anutuna: originally a term that was used for a man that was blessed by elders for a task by the laying on of hands (source: Desmond Oatridges, Holzhausen 1991, p. 49f.)
Noongar: Keny Boolanga-Yira Waangki-Koorliny: “One God is Sending” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uab Meto: Neno Anan: “Son of heaven” P. Middelkoop explains: “The idea of heavenly power bestowed on a Timorese king is rendered in the title Neno Anan. It is based on the historical fact that chiefs in general came from overseas and they who come thence are believed to have come down from heaven, from the land beyond the sea, that means the sphere of God and the ghosts of the dead. The symbolical act of anointing has been made subservient to the revelation of an eternal truth and when the term Neno Anan is used as a translation thereof, it also is made subservient to a new revelation of God in Jesus Christ. The very fact that Jesus came from heaven makes this translation hit the mark.” (Source: P. Middelkoop in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 183ff. )
In Finnish Sign Language both “Christ” and “Messiah” are translated with a sign signifying “king.” (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
“Christ / Messiah” in Finnish Sign Language (source )
Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient GreekSeptuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew mashiah was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments (click or tap here to read more):
“Another important word in the New Testament that comes from the Septuagint is christos, ‘Christ.’ Christ is not part of the name of the man from Nazareth, as if ‘the Christs’ were written above the door of his family home. Rather, ‘Christ’ is an explicitly messianic title used by the writers of the New Testament who have learned this word from the Septuagint’s translation of the Hebrew mashiach, ‘anointed,’ which itself is often rendered in English as ‘Messiah.’ To be sure, one detects a messianic intent on the part of the Septuagint translator in some places. Amos 4:13 may have been one of these. In the Hebrew Bible, God ‘reveals his thoughts to mortals,’ but the Septuagint has ‘announcing his anointed to humans.’ A fine distinction must be made, however, between theology that was intended by the Septuagint translators and that developed by later Christian writers. In Amos 4:13 it is merely possible we have a messianic reading, but it is unquestionably the case that the New Testament writers exploit the Septuagint’s use of christos, in Amos and elsewhere, to messianic ends.”
The content of this verse specifies what Paul understood was the message of the prophets and Moses. The belief that the Messiah must suffer is not found explicitly in any known Jewish source. However, Paul must have felt that this was in keeping with Jewish tradition and thought. In this type of context must suffer may be rendered as “must die,” “had to die,” or “was put to death.”
The light of salvation is the manner in which the Good News Translation has made explicit Paul’s phrase “a light.” This passage reflects the thought of Isaiah 9.2. In a number of languages it is difficult to speak of the light of salvation. In some instances the closest equivalent is “to announce to Jews and to Gentiles that they can be saved, and this is like light to them.”
To the Jews is literally “to the people,” a phrase used consistently in this sense.
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 .
26:23 describes what Paul testified about. It is also what the prophets of the Old Testament and Moses said. Some English versions use a colon (:) at the end of 26:22 to indicate that. Other English versions use a long dash (—). Other English versions begin a new sentence here and add some words to indicate the connection. For example:
They said that the Messiah would suffer… (God’s Word)
that the Christ would suffer, and as the first to rise from the dead: The Greek words can be translated literally as “that the Christ would suffer that (he is) the first by resurrection of the dead.” Paul believed that Jesus was the Christ and that he suffered and was the first person that God resurrected from death and took to heaven. But the Jews disagreed. For example:
I told them how the Messiah would suffer and be the first to be raised from death, (Contemporary English Version)
26:23a
the Christ would suffer: In God’s plan, the Christ suffered while on earth. God told the prophets beforehand that he would suffer. For example:
the Christ must suffer (Revised Standard Version)
26:23b implies that the suffering here includes death. In some languages this implied information must be explicit for the correct meaning. For example:
the Messiah would have to endure suffering and die
the Christ: The word Christ means “the anointed one.” The Jews used it to refer to the special person that God had promised to send to save them from their enemies. The Hebrew word with the same meaning is written “Messiah” in English. Here Paul was trying to convince the King Agrippa that Jesus was the Christ/Messiah. See how you translated this phrase in 18:28.
suffer: Here the word suffer refers to enduring pain and death.
26:23b
and as the first to rise from the dead: This phrase in Greek is literally “if first out of a resurrection of the dead.” It indicates that since God resurrected Jesus from death first, Jesus was now able to proclaim good news (26:23c). Other ways to translate this phrase are:
and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, (Revised Standard Version) -or-
and that, on the basis of being the first person to be resurrected from death,
26:23c
light: This word is a metaphor. It refers to the good news about what Jesus did for all people. As a metaphor, light also implies guidance. The good news about Jesus will guide people to live right.
In some languages a literal translation would not have the correct meaning. If so, you may want to:
• Translate the metaphor as a simile. For example:
⌊his gospel which is like a⌋ light
• Translate literally and explain the meaning in a footnote. An example footnote is:
The word “light” refers to the good news about what Jesus did for all people. This “light” guides people to God.
• Explain the metaphor in your translation. For example:
the light of salvation (Good News Translation)
• Translate the meaning without the figure of speech. For example:
that he will save people ⌊and bring them to God⌋
You may then want to indicate the literal word here in a footnote. An example footnote is:
Literally “light.”
to our people: This phrase refers to the Jews. For example:
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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