inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Acts 26:5)

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 King Agrippa).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (Acts 26:5)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 26:5:

  • Uma: “They have long known my actions/behavior. If they wanted, they themselves could recount the main-points of my life from the beginning, that I followed the teachings of the Parisi, who are very strict in their following of all the customs of the Yahudi religion.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “For a long time they have known my behavior, and if they really want to, they can testify/witness that since the beginning my behavior has been the behavior of a Pariseo. No one can equal the Pariseo in their obeying/following the Yahudi religious law.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “They know and they can testify to this if their breath accepts it that from the time that I was a young man I have been a Pharisee. And as for the Pharisees, very tight is their obeying the doctrines of us Jews.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Therefore they have known for a long-time that from the first I have-belonged to the party/group of Pharisees which is the strictest/stubbornest of our religion, and I have been-thorough in following all their beliefs. They can confirm that these-things are true if they want-to.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “From back then in the past, they have observed all my life. Therefore if only they wanted to, they could testify that I was one of the strictest in following/obeying the religion of us Jews for I am a Pariseo.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Pharisee

The Greek that is a transliteration of the Hebrew Pərūšīm and is typically transliterated into English as “Pharisee” is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as Fǎlìsài (法利賽 / 法利赛) (Protestant) or Fǎlìsāi (法利塞) (Catholic). In Chinese, transliterations can typically be done with a great number of different and identical-sounding characters. Often the meaning of the characters are not relevant, unless they are chosen carefully as in these cases. The Protestant Fǎlìsài can mean something like “Competition for the profit of the law” and the Catholic Fǎlìsāi “Stuffed by/with the profit of the law.” (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 51)

In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “prayer shawl”. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Pharisee” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

In British Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts “pointing out the law.” (Source: Anna Smith)


“Pharisee” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)

In French Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts the box of the phylacteries attached to the forehead:


“Pharisees” in French Sign Language (source: La Bible en langue des signes française )

Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as Observant. He explains (p. 302): “Pharisee has become a public, universal pejorative term for a hypocrite. Pharisees were observant of the interpretation of the Covenant Code called the ‘tradition of the elders.’ They conformed their behaviors to the interpretation. Among the various groups of Jews at the time of Jesus, they were perhaps closest to Jesus in their overall concern to make a radical commitment to the will of God (as they understood it).”

See also Nicodemus.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Pharisees .

Translation commentary on Acts 26:5

Always translates the adverb rendered “long enough” in New English Bible and “for a long time” in Jerusalem Bible. In Luke 1.2 the same adverb is used with the meaning “from the beginning” (see Good News Translation; New English Bible “in detail”).

The clause if they are willing to testify my seem to be strange in this kind of context. Obviously, what the Jews know about Paul is in no sense dependent upon their being willing to testify. Therefore, in some languages this clause must be rendered as “and they can testify that this is true if they want to.”

Party is the same word rendered false in 24.14. That the present meaning is intended in this context is clear, and illustrates that in different contexts the same word may have a variety of meanings. In this type of context, party obviously refers to a “group”—for example, “a member of the group that was most strict” or “a member of the group that followed regulations more than any other.”

The word which Paul uses for religion is especially suited in a Gentile context. Basically, the word refers to the entire mode of worship of a particular people; it is not the same word used in 25.19. As in so many other contexts, our religion may be rendered as “the way in which we worship God.”

The expression the Pharisees may need to be identified as the name of the particular group—for example, “a member of a group which worshiped our God in a way which was more strict than any other group. This group is called the Pharisees.”

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 .