foot’s length

The Greek that is translated as “(not even a) foot’s length” or “(not even enough to) set a foot on” is translated in Paicî with an existing local idiom: “(not even) the dirt from under one of our fingernails.” (Source: Ian Flaws)

In Teutila Cuicatec it is translated as “not even so much as enough to place one of his feet on.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

complete verse (Acts 7:5)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 7:5:

  • Uma: “At that time, God gave no land to Abraham, not even a house-plot. However, God promised to Abraham, he said: ‘This land I will give to you (sing.), arriving to your (sing.) descendants.’ But at that time, he did not-yet even have any children.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Ibrahim had not yet been given even a square hand-span of land of this country. But God promised that he would give this country to him, and it would be his and his descendants. When God promised at that time, Ibrahim had no child yet.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And at that time God had not given to Abraham even a little bit only of this land, however God promised that he would give to Abraham the land, and this would be owned by Abraham and by his descendants. And when this was promised to Abraham, Abraham didn’t yet have any children.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When he came here, he had absolutely no land that God had given him, not even one hand-span. But God promised that in the future he would give him this country so-that that is what he would bequeath to his descendants. When he said that, plural Abraham (i.e., Abraham and his wife) had no children yet.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But even though Abraham was caused to move here, God didn’t give him even one handful (lit. touched-with-flat-hand) of ground/soil for his own. But, even though it was like that, God promised that he really would cause it to be his own, being inherited by his descendants, even though he had no children yet at that time.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Lalana Chinantec: “But God did not permit that Abraham should have any land. God didn’t give Abraham a place to stand, but God said his descendants should have land. God said that even though Abraham didn’t have a son back then. This is what God said to Abraham.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

Honorary "are" construct denoting God (“promise”)

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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 are (され) 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, yakusokus-are-ru (約束される) or “promise” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

give (Japanese honorifics)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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.

In these verses, the verb that is translated as “give” in English is translated in the Shinkaiyaku Bible as o-atae (お与え), combining “to give” (atae) with the respectful prefix o-. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also respectful form of “give” (kudasaru), respectful form of “give” (tamawaru).

Translation commentary on Acts 7:5

A square foot of ground in Greek is technically a linear measurement (see Revised Standard Version “a foot’s length”), but for English speakers it is more common to measure ground in square feet than in linear feet (see Jerusalem Bible “a single square foot of this land”). This phrase occurs in Deuteronomy 2.5 of the Septuagint. The measurement of a square foot of ground must, of course, be adjusted. It may be rendered by a rather general expression such as “not even a very small piece of ground.” But in some languages there is a corresponding idiomatic expression, “not even a piece of ground where a cooking pot could be placed.”

The promise referred to in the last half of this verse is based on Genesis 17.8. That it would belong to him translates the Greek expression “for a possession”; the meaning is that God would give the land to Abraham and to his descendants as a permanent possession.

In some societies personal possession of land is rather unusual, since land is not normally possessed by individuals but belongs to a tribal group. It may, therefore, be necessary to make such possession rather explicit, often by means of direct discourse, for example, “God did not give Abraham any part of the land so that Abraham could say, This land belongs just to me.”

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 .