17Three days later he called together the local leaders of the Jews. When they had assembled, he said to them, “Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, yet I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.
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 inclusive form (including the Jewish leaders and all Jews).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
The Greek that is translated in English as “brother” (in the sense of a fellow believer), is translated with a specifically coined word in Kachin: “There are two terms for brother in Kachin. One is used to refer to a Christian brother. This term combines ‘older and younger brother.’ The other term is used specifically for addressing siblings. When one uses this term, one must specify if the older or younger person is involved. A parallel system exists for ‘sister’ as well. In [these verses], the term for ‘a Christian brother’ is used.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae)
In Martu Wangka it is translated as “relative” (this is also the term that is used for “follower.”) (Source: Carl Gross)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 28:17:
Uma: “When we had been there three days, Paulus called the Yahudi elders to meet with him. At that meeting, Paulus spoke, saying to them: ‘Relatives, I have done no wrong to our (incl.) relatives the Yahudi people, and I have not transgressed the customs of our (incl.) elders. But even so, I was arrested in Yerusalem and turned-over to the government of Roma.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “After three days (and nights), Paul told the leaders of the Yahudi in that city to gather. When they were gathered there, Paul said to them, ‘My brothers, I here, I do not have any sin toward my fellow Yahudi and I have never transgressed the customs of our (incl.) ancestors. But even though I have no sin, the Yahudi in Awrusalam seized me and imprisoned me and they handed me over into the hands/hold of the Romans (tribe).” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Three days after we arrived, Paul called the leaders of the Jews to gather. And when they were gathered, Paul said to them, ‘Brethren, even though I did nothing bad against our companion Jews in Jerusalem and I did not also disobey the customs which our ancestors left to us, they put me in prison and delivered me into the Roman officials.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When three days went-by, Pablo caused-to-be-called the leaders of the Jews who were in Roma. When they gathered, he said to them, ‘Brothers, I have no crime against our fellow Jews. Neither have I done anything against the customs of our ancestors. But they arrested-me nonetheless in Jerusalem, and they turned-me-over to the Romano.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When it was now the third day, Pablo called for the leaders of the Jews there in Roma to come. When they were now assembled, Pablo said to them, ‘As for me, brethren, even though I have done nothing against our (incl.) nation or against our (incl.) handed-down customs, they arrested me in Jerusalem and then handed me over to the Romano and I was imprisoned.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The name that is transliterated as “Jerusalem” in English is signed in French Sign Language with a sign that depicts worshiping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:
While a similar sign is also used in British Sign Language, another, more neutral sign that combines the sign “J” and the signs for “place” is used as well. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Jerusalem” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Luke begins this verse with one of his favorite transitional formulas (literally “and it happened”), which may be indicated in translation merely by the introduction of a paragraph, and since a new paragraph is begun at this point, the Good News Translation has made the mention of the subject explicit: Paul.
After three days may be rendered in some languages as “three days later” or “after Paul had been in Rome for three days.”
The verb called must be translated in some languages as “invited to a meeting” or “asked them to come see him.”
In order to specify that the Jewish leaders in this instance were those in Rome and not the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem, the term local has been employed.
On my brothers see 2.29. It is obvious that in the present context reference is not made to fellow believers, but to fellow Jews.
In Greek, the first word in Paul’s address is I, placed in an emphatic position. It was important for Paul to point out several matters: (1) that the accusations made against him by the Jews were false; (2) that he was not found guilty by the Roman government and would have been released, had he not appealed to the Emperor; and (3) that he himself had no accusation to make against his own people.
I did nothing against our people may be translated as “I did not in any way harm our people.” In this quoted context the pronoun our is to be rendered as inclusive first person plural for those languages which make a distinction between inclusive and exclusive first person. In speaking about doing nothing against … the customs, it may be necessary to say “I did not violate the customs” or “I did not speak against the customs,” with customs often being translated as “the way in which our people live.”
The customs that we received from our ancestors may be expressed more naturally in some languages as “the customs which our ancestors handed down to us.”
I was made a prisoner in Jerusalem may be translated in the active form as “the Jews caused me to be a prisoner in Jerusalem.”
The word rendered handed over always carries overtones of wrongdoing on the part of those who did the handing over; it is the same word used by Jesus in Luke 9.44 and 18.32.
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 .