apostle, apostles

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

lay hands on

The Greek that is translated as “lay hands on (someone)” in English is translated in Tae’ with “‘He-pressed-down,’ a verb that in former times was used with the specific meaning of ‘to press down one’s hand on a person’s head,’ in order to fortify his soul after a dangerous experience, but in Christian usage came to refer to the gesture made when blessing a person.”

pray / prayer

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “pray” (or “prayer”) in English is often translated as “talking with God” (Central Pame, Tzeltal, Chol, Chimborazo Highland Quichua, Shipibo-Conibo, Kaqchikel, Tepeuxila Cuicatec, Copainalá Zoque, Central Tarahumara).

Other solutions include:

  • “to beg” or “to ask,” (full expression: “to ask with one’s heart coming out,” which leaves out selfish praying, for asking with the heart out leaves no place for self to hide) (Tzotzil)
  • “to cause God to know” (Huichol)
  • “to raise up one’s words to God” (implying an element of worship, as well as communication) (Miskito, Lacandon) (source of this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Shilluk: “speak to God” (source: Nida 1964, p. 237)
  • Mairasi: “talk together with Great Above One (=God)” (source: Enggavoter, 2004)
  • San Blas Kuna: “call to one’s Father” (source: Claudio and Marvel Iglesias in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 85ff. )
  • Ik: waan: “beg.” Terrill Schrock (in Wycliffe Bible Translators 2016, p. 93) explains (click or tap here to read more):

    What do begging and praying have to do with each other? Do you beg when you pray? Do I?

    “The Ik word for ‘visitor’ is waanam, which means ‘begging person.’ Do you beg when you go visiting? The Ik do. Maybe you don’t beg, but maybe when you visit someone, you are looking for something. Maybe it’s just a listening ear.

    When the Ik hear that [my wife] Amber and I are planning trip to this or that place for a certain amount of time, the letters and lists start coming. As the days dwindle before our departure, the little stack of guests grows. ‘Please, sir, remember me for the allowing: shoes, jacket (rainproof), watch, box, trousers, pens, and money for the children. Thank you, sir, for your assistance.’

    “A few people come by just to greet us or spend bit of time with us. Another precious few will occasionally confide in us about their problems without asking for anything more than a listening ear. I love that.

    “The other day I was in our spare bedroom praying my list of requests to God — a nice list covering most areas of my life, certainly all the points of anxiety. Then it hit me: Does God want my list, or does he want my relationship?

    “I decided to try something. Instead of reading off my list of requests to God, I just talk to him about my issues without any expectation of how he should respond. I make it more about our relationship than my list, because if our personhood is like God’s personhood, then maybe God prefers our confidence and time to our lists, letters, and enumerations.”

In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning (click or tap here to read more):

  • For Acts 1:14, 20:36, 21:5: kola ttieru-yawur nehla — “hold the waist and hug the neck.” (“This is the more general term for prayer and often refers to worship in prayer as opposed to petition. The Luang people spend the majority of their prayers worshiping rather than petitioning, which explains why this term often is used generically for prayer.”)
  • For Acts 28:9: sumbiani — “pray.” (“This term is also used generically for ‘prayer’. When praying is referred to several times in close proximity, it serves as a variation for kola ttieru-yawur nehla, in keeping with Luang discourse style. It is also used when a prayer is made up of many requests.”)
  • For Acts 8:15, 12:5: polu-waka — “call-ask.” (“This is a term for petition that is used especially when the need is very intense.”)

Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.

complete verse (Acts 6:6)

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

  • Uma: “Those seven were taken to the apostles of Lord Yesus, and those apostles placed-hands-on their heads and prayed requesting that the Lord bless them.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Then they brought those seven men to face the commissioned ones. The commissioned ones prayed/made-supplication for those seven men to God and they laid their hands on them, as a sign that they were the ones given that work.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And they brought those whom they had chosen before the apostles, and the apostles prayed and placed their hands on them which was a way of giving authority to them.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Those seven, they had-them -stand before the apostles, and the apostles, they prayed laying-their-hands-on them.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And then they caused those seven to stand in the presence of the apostles to have them prayed for with putting-on-the-hand.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 6:6

In Greek the subject of the verb presented is not explicit, as the Good News Translation has made it, but obviously the entire congregation is referred to. Neither is the subject of prayed and placed their hands on them explicit in the Greek; the apostles may be the subject (as Good News Translation, New English Bible, Moffatt, Phillips), or the entire congregation may be taken as the subject. Some translations (see Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, An American Translation*) have left the text ambiguous. Although the Jerusalem Bible has left the text ambiguous, the translators have given a footnote: “possibly a gesture of the community, cf. 13.1-3; more probably (v. 3) of the apostles.”

The laying of hands was a gesture taken over by the Christian community from the Jewish community. It symbolized not only the giving of a responsibility but, what is more important, the imparting of strength and of the community’s blessing.

It may be necessary to specify where the hands were placed, in which case one may say “placed on their heads.” Notice, however, that in many instances this type of distributive meaning must be rendered with care. A plural “heads” might imply that each person had more than one head. Therefore, in some languages one must say “placed their hands upon each person’s head.”

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 6:6

6:6a

They: As in 6:5b, this word refers to the gathered believers, except the seven men and the apostles.

presented these seven: The Greek is more literally “stood these men.” It means that the believers brought the seven men to the apostles and made them stand in front of the apostles. Here are some other ways to translate this word:

put these men before (New Century Version)
-or-
had these men stand before (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
brought those men to

these seven: This refers to the seven men (6:5). In many languages “those” would be the correct word here.

apostles: See how you translated this word in 1:2 or 5:40.

6:6b

who prayed and laid their hands on them: This further describes the apostles. It does not separate these apostles from other apostles. For the correct meaning in some languages, translators must avoid the word who. For example:

They prayed and laid their hands on them

prayed and laid their hands on them: The praying probably happened before the laying of hands. For example:

after praying, they laid their hands on them (New American Standard Bible)

laid their hands on them: The laying on of hands is symbolic of giving a blessing or authority to do something. The apostles probably also said a few words as to the purpose of the laying of hands. Here, when the apostles laid hands on the seven men, they gave them the authority to look after the poor Grecian believing widows. Some languages must explain the purpose of the laying on of hands. For example:

laid their hands on them ⌊and commissioned them to that task
-or-
laid their hands on them ⌊and gave to them the authority to look after those widows

The apostles probably placed their hands on the heads of each of the seven men.

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