prison

The Greek that is translated in English as “prison” is translated in Dehu as moapokamo or “house for tying up people” (source: Maurice Leenhardt in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 97ff. ) and in Noongar as maya-maya dedinyang or “house shut” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

complete verse (Acts 16:23)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 16:23:

  • Uma: “They were beaten many times, and after that they were jailed. They said to the head of the jail: ‘You (sing.) guard those two well!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “After they were badly whipped, they were imprisoned. The officials commanded the guard to close the prison doors very tightly/firmly.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “When Paul and Silas were thoroughly beaten, they were put in prison. And as for the watcher of the prison, they told him that he should carefully watch these two.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When they had severely whipped them, then they imprisoned them, and they commanded the guard to carefully watch them.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “They really kept on beating them and then imprisoned them. They emphatically told the overseer of the jail to guard them well.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 16:23

A severe beating is literally “with many blows,” the meaning of which is accurately rendered by the Good News Translation (see also Phillips, New English Bible). It may be necessary to indicate who did the beating and who put Paul and Silas in prison. One may therefore translate: “after the soldiers had beaten Paul and Silas very severely they threw them into jail,” or, as in some languages, “… they tied them up in jail,” or “… they locked them into the jail.” One should avoid a term such as “throw” if this means literally throwing through the air.

The subject of ordered is obviously the officials, and therefore one may render this second clause of verse 23 as “the officials ordered the jailer to lock them up securely.” It may even be necessary to place this in the form of direct discourse: “the officials said to the jailer, You must lock these men up securely.” Even the term “securely” may need to be specified as “so that they cannot possibly escape.”

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 .