saint

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The Greek that is translated as “saint” in English is rendered into Highland Puebla Nahuatl as “one with a clean hearts,” into Northwestern Dinka as “one with a white hearts,” and into Western Kanjobal as “person of prayer.” (Source: Nida 1952, p. 146)

Other translations include:

widow

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “widow” in English is translated in West Kewa as ona wasa or “woman shadow” (source: Karl J. Franklin in Notes on Translation 70/1978, pp. 13ff.) and in Newari as “husband already died ones” or “ones who have no husband” (source: Newari Back Translation).

The etymological meaning of the Hebrew almanah (אַלְמָנָה) is likely “pain, ache,” the Greek chéra (χήρα) is likely “to leave behind,” “abandon,” and the English widow (as well as related terms in languages such as Dutch, German, Sanskrit, Welsh, or Persian) is “to separate,” “divide” (source: Wiktionary).

See also widows.

Mourning for and healing Tabitha

The following is a stained glass window depicting Peter healing Tabitha from 1867 for the Southwark Cathedral, London:

Photo from Southwark Cathedral website

The top scene bears the inscription ‘Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life’; below St Peter is shown healing Tabitha at Joppa, and below again is the inscription ‘O that I had wings like a dove’ (Psalm 55) with a small boy and his kite. (Source: Southwark Cathedral website )

Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )

complete verse (Acts 9:41)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 9:41:

  • Uma: “Petrus held her hand and pulled her until she was standing. After that, he called back all the followers of Yesus and the widows that he had ordered out earlier, and he said to them: ‘Here is your friend, she lives again.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Petros stretched forth his hand and helped her get up. Then he called the disciples of Isa and the widows and he handed-over/presented Dorkas to them alive already.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Peter took hold of her hand, and he caused her to stand. And then Peter called her companion believers and the widow women and he caused them to see Tabitha.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Pedro took-her-by-the-hand to cause-her-to-stand. Then he called those-aforementioned widows and the other believers, and he showed her alive again.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Pedro took hold of her hand and caused her to stand. And then he called the widows and those other believers to come in again, for he presented (her) to them really alive again.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 9:41

Helped her get up is “helped her stand up.”

The believers translates the same word as was translated God’s people in verse 32 (see also v. 13). The phrase the believers and the widows does not imply that the widows were not Christians (see 1.14 the women … and Mary; also Mark 16.7). In a number of languages one must indicate clearly the inclusion of “the widows” in the group of “believers,” therefore “the believers, including the widows.”

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 .