4As they went from town to town, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.
San Blas Kuna: “witnesses to God” (meaning “those who speak up and out for God” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida, except Balanta-Kentohe: Rob Koops)
Mairasi: sasiri atatuemnev nesovnaa or “sent witnesses” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Khmer: Christtout (“messenger representing Christ”) or when Jesus addresses them: Tout robas Preah Ang (“his messengers-representatives”) (source: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1996, p. 233ff.)
Pwo Karen: “eyeballs” (i.e., “right-hand men”) (source: David Clark)
Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “one who goes about preaching the good word” (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Noongar: Moorta Ngany Waangki-Koorl or “People I (Jesus) Send” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Ayutla Mixtec: “those who bore the word of God’s mouth”
Chichimeca-Jonaz: “elders messengers” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as commissioner.
In American Sign Language it is translated with a combination of the signs for “following” plus the sign for “authority” to differentiate it from disciple. (Source: RuthAnna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“apostles” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
The Greek that is translated as “elder” in most English versions (“presbyter” in The Orthodox New Testament, 2000) is translated as “Old-Man Leader” in Eastern Highland Otomi (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22) and in Bacama as mi kpan-kpani vɨnə hiutə: “big/old person of house of prayer” (source: David Frank in this blog post ).
Other translations include:
“the people who command among the people of Jesus” in Lalana Chinantec
“the old men who watched over the believers” in Morelos Nahuatl
“the ones guarding the brethren” in Isthmus Mixe (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 16:4:
Uma: “From there, Paulus and his companions left again, and in every town that they passed, they always announced to the followers of Yesus the decision of the discussion of the apostles of the Lord Yesus and the elders in Yerusalem the other day. And they taught them to follow the commands that had been specified.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Then Paul and company travelled and went to different places and they told the ones trusting in Isa the commands from the commissioned ones and the elders in Awrusalam. They told them to obey those commands.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “They left again, and in all the villages that they passed through they told the Gentile believers the orders of the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem. And they told them that it was necessary that they keep that.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then they went and visited the towns there to go make-known to the Gentiles what the apostles and leaders in Jerusalem had decided that they follow.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Well, on that journey of theirs, at each place they came to, they told to all the believers there, so that they would follow/obey also, those things which had been agreed upon by the apostles and overseers of the believers in Jerusalem, which was their advice to the believers who weren’t Jews.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The name that is transliterated as “Jerusalem” in English is signed in French Sign Language with a sign that depicts worshiping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:
While a similar sign is also used in British Sign Language, another, more neutral sign that combines the sign “J” and the signs for “place” is used as well. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Jerusalem” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
By translating literally, the King James Version (see also Phillips) misrepresents the meaning of the Greek text: “as they went on their way through the cities, they delivered them the decrees.” The meaning of this English would be that they delivered to the cities the decisions which had been reached by the apostles and elders. However, in Greek the word “cities” is feminine gender while “to them” is masculine. For this reason the Good News Translation has made the meaning explicit: as they went through the towns they delivered to the believers. In many languages one cannot deliver … rules. One can, however, say “they told the believers what the apostles and elders in Jerusalem had decided should be done.” It may even be necessary to characterize the rules as “how believers should behave.”
They delivered … the rules … and told them to obey these rules translates “they delivered to them to obey the rules.” The meaning of this Greek clause is precisely as the Good News Translation has rendered it, and the same type of translation has been followed by several others (see New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible, Barclay).
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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