his face was like the face of an angel

The Greek in Acts 6:15 that is translated as “his face was like the face of an angel” or similar in English is translated in Matumbi as “his face changed to look like that of an angel” as in an transformation-like act. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

council

The Greek that is translated as “council” or “Council” in English is (back-) translated in a variety of ways:

angel

The Greek, Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Aramaic that is translated as “angel” in English versions is translated in many ways:

  • Pintupi-Luritja: ngaṉka ngurrara: “one who belongs in the sky” (source: Ken Hansen quoted in Steven 1984a, p. 116.)
  • Tetela, Kpelle, Balinese, and Mandarin Chinese: “heavenly messenger”
  • Shilluk / Igede: “spirit messenger”
  • Mashco Piro: “messenger of God”
  • Batak Toba: “envoy, messenger”
  • Navajo (Dinė): “holy servant” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida 1961; Igede: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
  • Central Mazahua: “God’s worker” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)
  • Saramaccan: basia u Masa Gaangadu köndë or “messenger from God’s country” (source: Jabini 2015, p. 86)
  • Mairasi: atatnyev nyaa or “sent-one” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “word bringer” (source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
  • Apali: “God’s one with talk from the head” (“basically God’s messenger since head refers to any leader’s talk”) (source: Martha Wade)
  • Michoacán Nahuatl: “clean helper of God” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Noongar: Hdjin-djin-kwabba or “spirit good” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Wè Northern (Wɛɛ): Kea ‘a “sooa or “the Lord’s soldier” (also: “God’s soldier” or “his soldier”) (source: Drew Maust)
  • Iwaidja: “a man sent with a message” (Sam Freney explains the genesis of this term [in this article ): “For example, in Darwin last year, as we were working on a new translation of Luke 2:6–12 in Iwaidja, a Northern Territory language, the translators had written ‘angel’ as ‘a man with eagle wings’. Even before getting to the question of whether this was an accurate term (or one that imported some other information in), the word for ‘eagle’ started getting discussed. One of the translators had her teenage granddaughter with her, and this word didn’t mean anything to her at all. She’d never heard of it, as it was an archaic term that younger people didn’t use anymore. They ended up changing the translation of ‘angel’ to something like ‘a man sent with a message’, which is both more accurate and clear.”)

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) is used as in mi-tsukai (御使い) or “messenger (of God).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also angel (Acts 12:15) and this devotion on YouVersion .

complete verse (Acts 6:15)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 6:15:

  • Uma: “Hearing this, all the judges stared at Stefanus. What should they see, but that his face was like the face of an angel.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Then when the councilors heard what they said, they all looked straight/intently at Estepan. They saw Estepan’s face shine like the face of an angel.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And all the leaders there stared at Stephen, and his appearance, it was as if it were the appearance of a messenger of God because of his being inspired.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The leaders who were gathered there, they were-staring-at Esteban, and they saw that his face, it was like the face of an angel.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When all those members of the Sanedrin sitting there heard, they looked straight at Esteban not moving their eyes, for they saw his face gleaming like the face of an angel.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 6:15

Fixed their eyes on translates the same verb as was used in 1.10. Fixed their eyes on is equivalent to “looked directly at” or “watched Stephen carefully.”

The indication that Stephen’s face looked like the face of an angel doubtless means that his face shone like that of Moses (see Exodus 34.29-30) and of Jesus (Luke 9.29; Matthew 17.2). In some languages resemblance may be expressed negatively as not being able to make a distinction, for example, “they could not see that his face was different from the face of an angel.” In other languages the equivalent is “Stephen’s face and an angel’s face were alike.”

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 6:15

6:15a

Sanhedrin: This is the name of the Jewish ruling council. See how you translated it in 6:12.

looked intently: The Greek word here refers to looking long and hard at something or someone. Here are some other ways to translate this Greek word:

stared (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
gazed
-or-
looked hard/straight

6:15b

his face was like the face of an angel: The Greek does not say how Stephen’s face was like an angel’s face. And the context does not imply how either. You should translate without saying how Stephen’s face was like an angel’s face.

angel: This word refers to a spirit being who serves God. See how you translated it in 5:19.

© 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.