Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 4:15:
Uma: “That is why they put those apostles of the Lord Yesus out of their meeting, and they made-plans,” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Therefore they sent them out of the judgment room and the councilors conferred among themselves.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Therefore there in the room in which they were gathered, they told Peter and company that they should go outside for a while. And then they discussed it saying,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “That being so, they had-plural Pedro -go-out so they the leaders would-be-alone to converse.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Therefore they caused Pedro-and-companion to go out of their gathering-place, so that they could discuss what would be good to do.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Eastern Highland Otomi: “They sent the disciples outside because they wanted to talk among themselves about them.”
Lalana Chinantec: “They told Peter and John to go outside for a while. When Peter and John had gone outside they discussed by themselves, just the people who judged.”
Chuj: “But those rulers said that Peter and John must go out from their faces (presence). After they were taken out, those rulers talked together alone.”
Chichimeca-Jonaz: “Then they commanded them to go outside from where the elders were assembled, and they alone went to talking together.” (Source for this and three above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Since verse 15 introduces a result of the Council’s inability to make any formal accusations, some such transitional particle as so is helpful.
It may be necessary to identify them as referring directly to Peter and John and probably also to the man who had been healed.
Nothing is known regarding the location of the Council room where the Jewish Council met at that time.
A term for discussing must not suggest “arguing” but rather “conferring.” Evidently all the persons involved were joined in trying to find a practical solution to the problem.
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 .
So: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as So is literally “and/but.” Here it introduces what the Jewish leaders did next. For example:
But (Revised Standard Version)
In some languages it is more natural to omit this conjunction.
they ordered them to leave the Sanhedrin: The leaders ordered the three men to go outside of the council meeting room. The three men were not free to wander away. The leaders probably ordered guards to take all three of them, because Peter and John were still prisoners.
In some languages a literal translation would imply that Peter, John and the man were free to go wherever they wanted. If that is true in your language, you may want to explain in your translation. For example:
They ordered ⌊guards to take⌋ them
they: The pronoun they refers here to the leaders here.
them: The pronoun them refers here to Peter, John and the man who had been lame.
the Sanhedrin: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the Sanhedrin can mean “council,” “council meeting,” “the Jewish ruling council” (the Sanhedrin), or “meeting room.” The Jewish ruling council ordered the three men to leave. The three men left the meeting and the room. Use a word or phrase that indicates any or all of these meanings. For example:
the Council room (Good News Translation) -or-
the meeting (New Century Version) -or-
the council (Revised Standard Version)
4:15b
conferred together: This clause indicates that the leaders talked with each other about Peter and John. 4:16–17 tell us the main points of the discussion. The verb in the Greek indicates that they talked with each other for some time, but probably for just a short time. Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
they started discussing among themselves (Good News Translation) -or-
began to discuss the matter among themselves (God’s Word)
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®).
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.