The Greek that is translated as “wrap your cloak around you” or similar in English is translated in Lalana Chinantec a “put on your warm cloth,” in Morelos Nahuatl as “put on your other clothing,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “put on your outer shirt,” and in Chichimeca-Jonaz as “put on your blanket well.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “sandal” in English is illustrated for use in Bible translations in East Africa by Pioneer Bible Translators like this:
Image owned by PBT and Jonathan McDaniel and licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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.”)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 12:8:
Uma: “The angel also said to him: ‘Get your (sing.) clothes and put on your (sing.) shoes!’ Petrus obeyed his commands. After that the angel said again: ‘Put-on-your (sing.)-shirt, and follow me.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “The angel said to him, ‘Put your belt on and put your shoes on.’ Petros put his belt on and put his shoes on. Then the angel said, ‘Get into your jacket and follow me.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And the angel said to him, ‘Put on your belt and put on your shoes,’ and Peter obeyed. And then the angel said to him again, ‘Wrap yourself and come with me.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “and the angel said, ‘Arrange your (sing.) clothes, put-on-your -sandals.’ When he had obeyed, the angel said, ‘Wrap-around your (sing.) outer garment to follow me.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “And then the angel said next, ‘Belt on your clothes and put on your foorwear.’ Pedro obeyed, and then the angel said next, ‘Dress in that outdoor garment of yours and come with me.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tighten your belt is of course a reference to the girdle which was worn around relatively loose clothing.
Cloak is the outer garment (sometimes translated “coat”); and come with me is literally “follow me,” but the verb “to follow” is often used in the sense of “go with” or “accompany.”
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 .
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