sell

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “sell” in English is translated in Noongar as wort-bangal or “away-barter.” Note that “buy” is translated as bangal-barranga or “get-barter.” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)

See also buy and buying / selling.

complete verse (Acts 5:1)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 5:1:

  • Uma: “There was also a man named Ananias with his wife who was named Safira. That Ananias also sold his land.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But there was a certain man named Ananiyas. His wife was Sappira. They had land which he sold,” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And there was a man who was named Ananias. His wife was named Sapphira. He sold their land,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But there was also a married-couple Ananias and Safira who sold their land.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “There was a person called Ananias. The name of his wife was Safira. They also sold a piece of their land.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 5:1

The Greek text introduces Ananias as the subject of the verb sold, but the introductory particle tis (“a certain”) indicates clearly that this is someone previously unidentified in the discourse. In English the most satisfactory way of handling this type of reference is to place the name in the predicate position with a kind of “dummy subject” using there. It is for this reason that the Good News Translation has there was a man named Ananias. The manner in which unidentified participants are introduced into a story differs from language to language. It is therefore very important that one make the necessary adaptations.

The phrase named Ananias must frequently be translated as “people called him Ananias” or “his name was Ananias.” As in the case of all such proper names, terms such as Ananias and Sapphira should be adjusted in form so as to make them most easily pronounceable in terms of the system of the receptor languages. These two names, however, normally represent relatively minor difficulties.

The term for property in verse 1 is different from the term translated property in verse 3. The term in verse 1 is a very general term for any kind of possession, while in verse 3 the reference is directly to a “field.”

It is important to indicate clearly in this verse that Sapphira participated in this deal, not only as one who knew about it (as specified in v. 2), but as one who shared in the possession. Though Ananias is the one who sold the property, Sapphira obviously participated in the sale as one who shared in the possession (note the Good News Translation rendering).

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Acts 5:1

Section 5:1–11

God judged Ananias and Sapphira

In this section Ananias and Sapphira sold some land. They kept some of the money for themselves and gave the rest to the apostles. First Ananias went to Peter. The context seems to imply that he lied to Peter and said it was the whole amount. The Holy Spirit told Peter what Ananias had done and Peter rebuked him. Immediately Ananias died by the hand of God. Later Sapphira lied to Peter and he rebuked her. Immediately she died. The rest of the believers became very afraid.

Here are other possible headings for this section:

Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit and died
-or-
Ananias and Sapphira’s bad example

Paragraph 5:1–2

5:1

It is not known how much time after Barnabas sold his land (4:36–37) that Ananias and Sapphira sold their land. Also, you should not begin this verse with “Therefore.”

Now: The Greek word here often indicates contrast. The deeds of Ananias and his wife in 5:1–2 clearly contrast with what Barnabas did in 4:36–37. For example:

But (Good News Translation)

Here the English word Now introduces a new part of the story. It does not mean “at this moment” here.

a man named Ananias: The Greek is more literally “a certain man, Ananias by name.” It indicates that Ananias was a new person in this story. For example:

there was a man named Ananias (Good News Translation)

also sold: The Berean Standard Bible adds the word also. It indicates that this was the second example of someone selling property and giving the money to the apostles. The first example is in Acts 4:36–37.

a piece of property: This phrase is an idiom that refers to some amount of land. It does not say how much. It may have been only a part of all of his land but this phrase does not tell us that. Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

some land (New Century Version)
-or-
some property (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
an amount of land
-or-
a property (New Jerusalem Bible)

© 2001, 2021 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.