5But the Jews became jealous, and with the help of some ruffians in the marketplaces they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. While they were searching for Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly, they attacked Jason’s house.
Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
The Greek that is transliterated as “Silas” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign depicting “chains falling off,” referring to Acts 16:26. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
The term that is transliterated as “Paul” in English is translated in American Sign Language with a sign that signifies the many letters he wrote. (Source: RuthAnna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Paul” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting putting away a sword, referring to his conversion from a persecutor of Christians to a Christian leader. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 17:5:
Uma: “But the Yahudi people who did not believe were jealous of Paulus and Silas. That is why they incited the wicked people who were being-lazy in the town. When many had gathered, they walked along making a disturbance in the town. In this walk of theirs, they arrived at Yason’s house, because that was the dwelling-place of Paulus and Silas. They entered that house, intending to grab and carry them before the masses.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But the other Yahudi were jealous, so they called some bad (dupang) people from the streets and gathered them and-then they caused an uproar in that city. They attacked the house of Jason for the purpose of searching for Paul and Silas so that they would bring them out to the people.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Then the Jews were jealous of Paul and company, and they gathered together many lazy people without value, and they ran through all the town causing rioting. They went to the house of Jason because they were going to force their way in to get Paul and Silas so that they might take them to the people.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Whereupon the Jews who didn’t believe were jealous, and they gathered some trouble-makers who just stood-around-loafing to make-a-racket until all the inhabitants were in-a-state-of-disorder. Then they went and forced the door of Jason’s house where-plural Pablo -were-staying, in order to bring-them -outside koma to take (them) to the meeting-place of the many-people.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But as for the other Jews, they emph. got jealous. What they did was, they rounded up some people who were badly-behaved and lazy. When there were now many of them, they then troubled the city. Then they went to the house of Jason for they mistakenly-thought that that’s where Pablo-and-co were. The motive in their mind was to get them and put them in the presence of the crowd.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
In some languages there is no term for jealous which covers this particular area of meaning. Therefore one may have to describe the basis for their feeling—for example, “the Jews were angry that so many people joined with Paul and Silas.”
Loafers from the streets is literally “men of the market place.” Commentators agree that this expression is used in a bad sense, referring either to persons who were “lazy” or to “trouble makers.” The Good News Translation has taken this term in combination with the word worthless (literally “evil”), and renders the whole phrase worthless loafers from the streets. Formed a mob (see An American Translation*, Moffatt, Barclay) appears much more in keeping with the context than the more generic statement “gathered a crowd” (Phillips). In some languages a mob is rendered as “noisy crowd” or “angry crowd.”
The subject they of the second part of verse 5 must include not only the worthless loafers but also the Jews who had formed them into a mob. In some languages this must be specified as “the Jews and the rest of the mob.” Otherwise it may imply that only the worthless loafers … attacked the home of Jason.
Set the whole city in an uproar is equivalent to “caused a riot.” In some languages this is simply “made a lot of noise” or “caused much angry noise.”
It is necessary in some languages to specify the particular way in which the home of Jason was attacked. Most languages have a number of words for attacking a person, but not so many for attacking a house. One can say “they threw rocks on the house,” but under the circumstances it is probably better to say “they broke down the doors of the house,” since this was apparently what happened in their attempt to find Paul and Silas and to bring them out to the people.
Jason was a common name in Greek and was often used by Jews in place of the more Jewish sounding “Joshua.” Nothing further is known about Jason; he may have been a believer, or he may have been the person for whom Paul was working in the city. The phrase to the people may refer either to the mob that had been gathered or to “the town assembly” (New English Bible; see Jerusalem Bible “People’s Assembly”), by which is meant the citizens assembled for judicial purposes. This same phrase is translated to the people in 12.21.
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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