10and rescued him from all his afflictions and enabled him to win favor and to show wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.
Ixcatlán Mazatec: “with your best/biggest thinking” (source: Robert Bascom)
Noongar: dwangka-boola, lit. “ear much” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018 — see also remember)
Kwere “to know how to live well” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Dobel: “their ear holes are long-lasting” (in Acts 6:3) (source: Jock Hughes)
Gbaya: iŋa-mgbara-mɔ or “knowing-about-things” (note that in comparison to that, “knowledge” is translated as iŋa-mɔ or “knowing things”) (source: Philip Noss in The Bible Translator 2001, p. 114ff. )
Chichewa: nzeru, meaning both “knowledge” and “wisdom” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Kako: “heart thinking” (source: Reyburn 2002, p. 190)
In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with a hand gesture referring to God to indicate a human quality to communicate that wisdom does not originate from man but is linked to and connected with the fear of God (source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group):
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 7:10:
Uma: “and in the end he freed him from all his suffering. God gave him skill that gladdened the heart of Firaun the king in the land of Mesir, with the result that Firaun raised him to be the governor of the land of Mesir and to be the commander in his house.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “God delivered him from all the troubles that came to him. God also gave him knowledge, and when he went to face the king of Misil, the king was pleased with him. Therefore the king gave him the title governor of that country Misil and he was given charge of the people in his palace.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “and rescued him out of all the difficult things that happened to him. The Lord blessed Joseph. That’s why the king there in Egypt liked Joseph because he saw that great wisdom had been given to him. And as for the king, he made Joseph governor of all his kingdom, and the one who would be in charge of all of his possessions.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “and he saved/rescued him from all his sufferings. He gave him intelligence and a good behavior that was the cause-of-the Faraon or king of Egipto’s -liking him. Therefore, the Faraon appointed him to-be-governor of all the towns in Egipto and to also be-in-charge of all his possessions.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Proof is, he freed him from all the hardships which happened to him, and also gave him far-from-ordinary wisdom/understanding, that being why the king of Egipto was pleased with him. And then what that king did was, he set Jose up as governor who had authority over the whole land of Egipto, including the household of the king.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The term that is used for monarchs in ancient Egypt and is transliterated as “Pharaoh” in English is translated in Finnish Sign Language with the sign signifying the “fake metal beard (postiche)” that was word by Pharaohs during official functions. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:
Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))
Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:
“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”
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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 Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, atae-rare-ru (与えられる) or “give” is used.
The clause brought him safely through all his troubles may be rendered in some languages as “helped him whenever he was in trouble,” “caused him to be safe even when he was in difficulties,” or “caused him to be safe even when people tried to harm him.”
When Joseph appeared before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, God gave him a pleasing manner and wisdom does not necessarily refer to one formal appearance that Joseph made before Pharaoh. The Greek simply says, “He [God] gave to him [Joseph] grace and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt.” This statement may mean that Joseph’s pleasing manner and wisdom (perhaps a specific reference to his ability to interpret dreams) was such as to attract the attention of Pharaoh (see Jerusalem Bible “by making him wise enough to attract the attention of Pharaoh king of Egypt”). Pleasing manner translates the word “grace,” which here refers not to the grace of God but rather to the impression that Joseph made before Pharaoh. The royal household is taken by most to be the meaning of the words, “his [Pharaoh’s] house,” though in light of Genesis 41.43 some understand this to refer to Pharaoh’s property. The subject of the verb made is not explicitly stated; some understand it to be God, but most understand it to be Pharaoh, which seems to go better with over … the royal household.
The equivalent of royal household is in many languages “all the houses that the king had.”
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 .
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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