complete verse (Acts 5:12)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 5:12:

  • Uma: “The apostles of the Lord Yesus did many surprising signs and powerful things in the eyes of the people. All the believers in the Lord Yesus were of-one-heart gathering at the Porch of Salomo at the House of God.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Many works of power and works of wonder were done by the ones commissioned by Isa among the people of Awrusalam. All the ones who trusted in Isa often gathered there on Sulaiman’s Porch.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And as for the apostles, the signs and miracles which they showed among the people were many. And all of the believers, they were always gathering in that place called the Sheltering Place of King Solomon.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Where-the believers -were-meeting-together was what they called Solomon’s Roofed-Shelter which was in the Temple area. As for those who did not believe, they were afraid to join (them), but the many-people nevertheless acknowledged-with-respect the believers and many men and women were joining/being-added who believed. There were many amazing-things that the apostles were doing that the many-people were seeing.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “As for those apostles, many were signs which were amazing things they were able to do before the eyes of everyone. And all the believers really were harmonious, who gathered every day there at what was referred to as Portico of Solomon.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 5:12

Miracles and wonders reflects the same Greek expression which appears in 2.19. A number of languages require a somewhat different expression for “performing miracles,” and in many instances it is useful to employ an active rather than a passive construction, for example, “the apostles caused many miracles and wonders to happen.” In other languages one must “show miracles and wonders” or even “cause them to be seen.”

Some languages require a goal to the term believers, for example, “believers in Jesus.”

Together in a group is the same word which is translated by New English Bible, Phillips, Jerusalem Bible as “by common consent”; for the meaning of this word see 1.14. The emphasis upon unity in the expression together in a group is rendered in some languages as “united just as though one person.” In other languages, “together like a single family.”

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 5:12

Section 5:12–16

The apostles healed many people

In this section, the apostles were doing many amazing miracles, and all the believers met regularly in one of the temple areas. Other people greatly respected the believers and many were becoming believers in the Lord Jesus. During those days, God used the apostles to heal all of the sick and demon-possessed people who came to them.

Here are other possible headings for this section:

The apostles healed sick people and removed evil spirits from people
-or-
The apostles do miracles, wonders, and healings

Paragraph 5:12–16

5:12a

The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people: The Greek is more literally “and/but/now many signs and wonders were being done by the hands of the apostles among the people.” It implies that God was doing these signs and wonders through the apostles. Here are some ways to translate this passive clause:

• As a passive clause. For example:

Now many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles. (Revised Standard Version)

• As an active clause. For example:

Through the apostles ⌊God⌋ was doing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people.

apostles: See how you translated this word in 1:2 or 5:2.

performed: The tense of the Greek verb indicates that they did a number of these signs and wonders, but not all at one time. See the above examples.

many signs and wonders: The word many applies to both the signs and the wonders. In some languages the word many must be repeated for the correct meaning. For example:

many miraculous signs and many wonders

signs: The Greek word refers to the kinds of miracles which are regarded as having some special meaning. See how you translated this word in 2:22 or 4:30.

wonders: This word refers to an amazing action or event that indicates something is about to happen. See how you translated this word in 2:22 or 4:30.

5:12b

the believers gathered together: The Greek is more literally “they all were.” The word “all” in the Greek probably refers to a different group than the apostles (5:12a).

Solomon’s Colonnade was not a house with beds or places to cook, so the Greek verb refers to the believers generally being in this place.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

they were all (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
all the believers were meeting (New Living Translation (2004))

Solomon’s Colonnade: A Colonnade is a long building made of many columns or posts instead of walls. Here there were columns on one side and a wall on the other side. They supported a roof. See how you translated this phrase in 3:11.

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