complete verse (Acts 5:13)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 5:13:

  • Uma: “People who did not believe in Yesus did not dare gather with them. But even so, all the believers were respected by the crowds/masses.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “None of the other people dared to join them there even though they were greatly respected by the people.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And those who were not believers, they would not join in with them because they were afraid. However all of the people of Jerusalem, they respected the believers.” (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: “But the others who hadn’t yet believed didn’t dare join with them there. However they spoke highly of those believers.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 5:13

It is not known exactly who nobody outside the group (literally “none of the others”) may be, though the Good News Translation (see also New English Bible) understands them to be the non-Christian group. This conclusion receives support both from the context and from the observation that earlier (Luke 8.10) Luke changed the Markan Greek phrase “to those outside” (Mark 4.11) to “to the others.” There are certain complications in the phrase nobody … dared join them. This might imply that no one other than the believers could become a believer. This is obviously not true since in verse 14 Luke indicates clearly that more and more people were becoming Christians. Accordingly, in some languages this first clause in verse 13 may be translated as “nobody who was not a believer dared to pretend to be a believer when he was not.” On the other hand, this clause may refer to the fact that the believers met separately from other people and therefore could be rendered as “nobody who was not a believer sat with them.”

The connective even though may be rendered in some languages by an expression equivalent to “nevertheless.” The logical connection between the two clauses is not easy to represent accurately.

The people spoke highly of them is rendered in many languages as “the people spoke well of them” or “the people said the believers were good.”

In some instances, however, the expression the people must be more definitely identified, either by using “the nonbelievers” or “the people in Jerusalem” (as a designation of people in general in the area rather than the believers specifically).

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 5:13

5:13a

Although: The Greek word here is usually translated as “but.” For example:

but (Revised Standard Version)

the people regarded them highly: The Greek is more literally “the people regarded highly them.” The people said good things about the believers and how they behaved. Here are some other ways to translate this:

the people spoke highly of them (Good News Translation)
-or-
the people said that they were good people

5:13b

no one else: The Greek is more literally “no one of the rest.” The “rest” is those other than the people named in 5:12b. The people named in 5:12b were the believers, so the “rest” would be Jews who did not believe in Jesus. Here are some other ways to translate it:

None of the rest (NET Bible)
-or-
Nobody outside the group (Good News Translation)
-or-
No other ⌊Jews⌋

dared to: This word refers to being bold enough to do something. No Jew was bold enough to join the believers, unless they actually believed in Jesus as the Christ (5:14). Here are some other ways to translate this word:

had the courage to
-or-
was brave enough to

join: The Greek word here means “be closely associated.” The word may refer to people going to the meetings of believers, doing things with the believers, or becoming believers in Jesus. For example:

associate (New American Standard Bible)

But many English versions translate the Greek word as join, as the Berean Standard Bible does.

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