The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is transliterated as “Samuel” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “listen” referring to 1 Samuel 3:10. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 3:24:
Uma: “The prophets who carried the Lord’s Word long ago, beginning from the prophet Samuel down to [lit., until arriving] the prophets who came after Samuel, they all foretold what has happened at this time.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Likewise also,’ Petros said, ‘all the prophets beginning with/from Nabi Samuel have spoken about these present days.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And the others who were inspired long ago who prophesied,’ said Peter, ‘like Samuel and those who came after him, they prophesied also the things that are taking place today.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Samuel also and all the other prophets who replaced/succeeded him, there is also that which they prophesied concerning what is happening nowadays.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Yes indeed, all the prophets, from Samuel onward, there wasn’t one who didn’t tell concerning this time right now.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Eugene Nida wrote the following about the translation of the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are typically translated with “prophet” in English:
“The tendency in many translations is to use ‘to foretell the future’ for ‘prophesy,’ and ‘one who foretells the future’ for ‘prophet.’ This is not always a recommended usage, particularly if such expressions denote certain special native practices of spirit contact and control. It is true, of course, that prophets of the Bible did foretell the future, but this was not always their principal function. One essential significance of the Greek word prophētēs is ‘one who speaks forth,’ principally, of course, as a forth-teller of the Divine will. A translation such as ‘spokesman for God’ may often be employed profitably.” (1947, p. 234f.)
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages (click or tap for details):
Ayutla Mixtec: “one who talks as God’s representative”
Isthmus Mixe: “speaker for God” (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Mezquital Otomi / Paasaal: “God’s messenger” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff. and Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
Noongar: Warda Marridjiny or “News Traveling” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Kutu: mtula ndagu or “one who gives the prediction of the past and the future” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ebira: ọnịsẹ, a neologism that combines the prefix ọn for “a person” with ịsẹ for “prediction” (source: Scholz /Scholz 2015, p. 49)
French 1985 translation by Chouraqui: inspiré or “inspired one” (“someone in whom God has breathed [Latin: in + spiro]) (source: Watson 2023, p. 45)
In Ixcatlán Mazatec a term is used that specifically includes women. (Source: Robert Bascom)
“In some instances these spiritual terms result from adaptations reflecting the native life and culture. Among the Northern Grebo people of Liberia, a missionary wanted some adequate term for ‘prophet,’ and she was fully aware that the native word for ‘soothsayer’ or ‘diviner’ was no equivalent for the Biblical prophet who spoke forth for God. Of course, much of what the prophets said referred to the future, and though this was an essential part of much of their ministry, it was by no means all. The right word for the Gbeapo people would have to include something which would not only mean the foretelling of important events but the proclamation of truth as God’s representative among the people. At last the right word came; it was ‘God’s town-crier.’ Every morning and evening the official representative of the chief goes through the village crying out the news, delivering the orders of the chief, and announcing important coming events. ‘God’s town-crier’ would be the official representative of God, announcing to the people God’s doings, His commands, and His pronouncements for their salvation and well-being. For the Northern Grebo people the prophet is no weird person from forgotten times; he is as real as the human, moving message of the plowman Amos, who became God’s town-crier to a calloused people.” (source: Nida 1952, p. 20)
In British Sign Language it is is translated with a sign that depicts a message coming from God to a person (the upright finger) and then being passed on to others. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Prophet” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Verse 24 has essentially the same position in the discourse structure as verse 22, which is itself an amplification of the general statement occurring in verse 21b.
The Greek phrase “from Samuel” means “from (the time of) Samuel”; and since it is obvious that Samuel is intended as one of the members of this group the Good News Translation has translated including Samuel.
Since the expression the prophets is not designed to exclude Moses (mentioned in v. 22), it may be necessary to say “and the other prophets.” The syntactic and semantic structure of the first part of verse 24 is awkward for there are two types of apposition following the prophets. First, there is the phrase including Samuel and those who came after him and, second, all of them who had a message. In some languages it is better to take the phrase including Samuel and those who came after him and place it at the end of verse 24, for example, “And the other prophets, that is, all of them who had a message, also announced these present days. These included Samuel and those who came after him.”
The phrase those who came after him may be slightly restructured as “those who lived later than Samuel” or even “those who followed Samuel.”
The clause all of them who had a message may seem rather obscure. The implication is that the message came from God, and it may be necessary to specify this in some instance, for example, “all the prophets who had a message from God” or, in a more direct form, “all the prophets whom God caused to speak.”
The relation between announced and these present days is not easily represented in some languages. One may announce what is going to happen, or announce what has happened, but one does not “announce a day.” Therefore it may be necessary to modify slightly the structure so as to read “also announced what would happen in these present days.” This is a perfectly legitimate specification of components of the term “days,” for here it represents not merely a temporal element but the feature of time at which certain important events took place.
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 .
Peter ended the quotation from Moses in 3:23b. Here he began speaking his own words again. In some languages he must be introduced again. For example:
⌊Peter spoke further saying,⌋…
Indeed: This word emphasizes that many prophets prophesied about what Peter here called “these days.” Here are some other ways to translate this word:
In fact (New Jerusalem Bible) -or-
Yes indeed
all the prophets from Samuel on:Samuel lived hundreds of years after Moses. This phrase refers to the prophets of the Old Testament who lived after Samuel did. Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
all the prophets…from Samuel and those who came afterwards (Revised Standard Version) -or-
all the prophets…including Samuel and those who came after him (Good News Translation)
prophets: See how you translated the word prophets in 3:21.
as many as have spoken: This phrase probably refers to all the prophets whose words are in the Old Testament. For example:
as many as have spoken ⌊in Scripture⌋
these days: This phrase refers to the important events which had recently happened, especially those which related to Jesus, the Christ. In some languages a literal translation would be too general. If that is true in your language, explain it in your translation. 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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