apostle, apostles

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The Greek term that is usually translated as “apostle(s)” in English is (back-) translated in the following ways:

Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as commissioner.

In American Sign Language it is translated with a combination of the signs for “following” plus the sign for “authority” to differentiate it from disciple. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


“apostles” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor

high priest

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “high priest” in English is translated in the following ways:

  • Yatzachi Zapotec: “the ruler of the priests of our nation”
  • Chol: “very great priest” (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
  • Ayutla Mixtec: “first over the priests”
  • Desano: “chief of the priests” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.).
  • Uma: “Big Priest” (source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “high sacrificer” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa as “Most-important Priest of God” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “Big leader of offerings” (source: Bariai Back Translation)

In Khoekhoe the translation for “high priest” is only capitalized when it refers to Jesus (as is Hebrews 2:17 et al.). (Source: project-specific notes in Paratext)

See also priest and chief priest.

complete verse (Acts 5:17)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 5:17:

  • Uma: “At that time, the Big Priest with his companions that followed the teaching of the Saduki, they became jealous of the apostles of the Lord Yesus. That’s why they began to persecute them.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “So then, the leading priest and his companions the Sadduseo in Awrusalam, they were really jealous of the commissioned ones.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And at that time the high priest and his companions and the Sadducee people, they were very jealous of the apostles.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When that was so, the highest priest and his companions the Saducees were excessively jealous of the apostles.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When that’s how it was, the jealousy became much worse of the Most-important Priest and all his companions who were Saduceo.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 5:17

In Greek, verses 17 and 18 comprise one sentence that begins with the word translated in the King James Version as “rose up.” This is the same word that is used in verse 6 and does not indicate whether the High Priest was sitting or lying down before he got up. It is used simply to indicate the initiation of an action, and is translated by the Good News Translation so they decided to take action (see New English Bible “… were goaded into action”). In many languages High Priest is rendered as “the big priest,” “the chief of the priests,” or “the priest who commands the other priests.”

His companions are “his henchmen” or, as in some languages, “his helpers” or “his followers.” (See also 5.21b.)

The appositional phrase members of the local party of the Sadducees must be clearly marked as apposition in some languages, for example, “his followers, that is to say, the members of the local party of the Sadducees” or “his followers who were part of the local group of the Sadducees.”

In translating party it is useful to employ a term which designates primarily a political group, not a religious group, for in this context the emphasis is upon the political role of the Sadducees.

In the phrase the local party of the Sadducees, local translates a Greek participial construction which is taken by commentators to mean “what is current in time or local in place.” Similar constructions are also found in 11.22 and 13.1.

It is interesting that throughout the book of Acts the Pharisees, who were representative of the heart of Judaism, are presented as generally favorable toward the Christian movement, whereas the Sadducees are strongly opposed to the Christian community.

In many languages jealous is expressed by an idiomatic phrase, for example, “their hearts burned” or “their livers were yellow.” In some instances, however, one must employ a rather full description of precisely what was involved, such as “they were not happy because everybody liked the apostles” or “they were unhappy because the apostles were doing so much.”

The verb take action must sometimes specify the goal, particularly when some kind of opposition is involved, for example, “to take action against the apostles” or “to make the apostles suffer.”

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 5:17

Section 5:17–42

The Jewish leaders persecuted the apostles

When the Jewish religious leaders saw the crowds of people going to the apostles, those leaders became extremely angry with the apostles. So they arrested the apostles, put them in jail, held court against them, and beat them for healing, teaching, and preaching in the name of Jesus.

Here are other possible headings for this section:

The Jewish leaders arrested the apostles, put them on trial, and released them
-or-
The apostles were persecuted
-or-
The apostles were arrested, freed, tried in court, flogged, and released

Paragraph 5:17–21b

5:17a–c

Then the high priest and all his associates…were filled with jealousy. They went out: The Greek of 5:17a–c is more literally “and/but, having arisen, the high priest and everyone who with him….were filled of/with jealousy.” Here the phrase “having arisen” corresponds to the words that the Berean Standard Bible translates as They went out (5:17c). The Greek verb “having arisen” probably connects to 5:18, so the Berean Standard Bible places these words in 5:17c, right before 5:18. It may be more natural in your language to have this verb near to 5:18. Other way to translate these words are:

As he got up, the high priest and all his associates, who belonged to the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18They arrested the apostles
-or-
The high priest and all his associates, who belonged to the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. Now/And they arose and 18arrested the apostles

The Greek words “having arisen” indicate that the high priest prepared to start an action. It probably refers to any preparations for arresting the apostles (5:18a) rather than being filled with jealousy (5:17b). Here are some other ways to translate this:

Then the high priest rose up (New American Bible, Revised Edition)
-or-
Then the high priest took action (New Revised Standard Version)

5:17a

Then the high priest and all his associates, who belonged to the party of the Sadducees: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as who belonged to the party of the Sadducees is literally “being the party/group of the Sadducees.” There are two interpretation issues here regarding this Greek phrase.

Issue 1: Interpretation about the size of the group

There are two ways to interpret the Greek about how many Sadducees these words refer to:

(1) The phrase the high priest and all his associates refers to only some of the Sadducees. For example:

The high priest and his officials, who were Sadducees (New Living Translation (2004))

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation (2004), Contemporary English Version)

(2) The phrase the high priest and all his associates refers to all of the Sadducees. For example:

But the high priest rose up and all who were with him, that is, the party of the Sadducees (Revised Standard Version)

(Revised Standard Version, King James Version, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version, God’s Word, NET Bible, Revised English Bible, New Century Version, New American Bible, Revised Edition)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) because the Greek seems to be describing the high priest and all his associates as Sadducees rather than stating this group and only this group were Sadducees.

Issue 2: Interpretation who is included in the group

There are two ways to interpret the Greek about whether or not the high priest is a Sadducee:

(1) The high priest is a Sadducee. For example:

The high priest and his officials, who were Sadducees (New Living Translation (2004))

(Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, New Living Translation (2004), Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible, New Century Version)

(2) The high priest is not a Sadducee. For example:

The chief priest and the whole party of the Sadducees who were with him (God’s Word)

(New Jerusalem Bible, King James Version, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version, God’s Word, NET Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because the Greek puts the high priest and all his associates together in one phrase with and, with nothing interrupting it. And this phrase occurs just before “being the party of the Sadducees.”

high priest: This refers to the leader of all the Jewish priests. See how you translated this phrase in 4:6.

all his associates: The Greek is more literally “all the ones with him.” It refers to people (probably all men) who were connected to the high priest and probably were allies religiously or politically. It could be friends, family, or advisors. Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

all who were with him
-or-
his colleagues (Revised English Bible)

who belonged to the party of the Sadducees: The Greek is more literally “being the party/group of the Sadducees.” See the interpretation issues above.

Sadducees: The Sadducees were a Jewish religious group or party. See how you translated this phrase in 4:1.

5:17b

were filled with jealousy: This clause is passive. Some languages must avoid a passive clause here. For example:

were completely jealous
-or-
jealousy filled them

The Greek tense is the general tense for narrative/stories. It does not say when they began to be jealous, but it does indicate that they were full of jealousy by this time in the story.

jealousy: This refers to having bad feelings toward a person because that person has something that you want for yourself. The people of Jerusalem respected the apostles (5:13) and the apostles were doing miracles of healing (5:16). The Sadducees were doing neither and so were jealous of the apostles.

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