confess (sin)

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The Hebrew and Greek that is typically translated as “confess” in English in the context of these verses is translated in a variety of ways. Here are some (back-) translations:

  • Highland Puebla Nahuatl, Tzeltal: “say openly”
  • San Blas Kuna: “accuse oneself of one’s own evil”
  • Kankanaey: “tell the truth about one’s sins”
  • Huastec: “to take aim at one’s sin” (“an idiom which is derived from the action of a hunter taking aim at a bird or animal”) (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Tabasco Chontal: “say, It is true, I’ve done evil” (source: Larson 1998, p. 204)
  • Central Pame: “pull out the heart” (“so that it may be clearly seen — not just by men, but by God”) (source: Nida 1952, p. 155)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “say, It is true I have sinned” (source: Nida 1964, p. 228)
  • Obolo: itutumu ijo isibi: “speak out sin” (source: Enene Enene).
  • Tagbanwa: “testify that one would now drop/give-up sin” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Kutu: “speak sin” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Acts 19:18)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 19:18:

  • Uma: “From there also, many believers in Yesus confessed in the eyes of the masses their deeds that were not appropriate.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Many also of those who trusted in Isa went, confessing openly the evil doings of theirs.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There were many new believers there who told in front of all about the bad things which they had given up.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And many were the believers who confessed to their companions what they had been doing as spirit-mediums,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “From that time, many were the believers who were like awakened. Therefore they exposed and repented of their sins in the presence of everyone.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 19:18

Publicly admitting is taken by some commentators to mean “openly confessing (one’s sins).” Some translators combine the two verbs which the Good News Translation has translated separately, publicly admitting and revealing, and understand them to mean “openly confess” (New English Bible; see Phillips).

What (they) had done (so most translations) translates a noun which frequently refers to evil deeds; however, the noun is also used in the specialized sense of “magic spells,” and some translations reflect this interpretation (New English Bible, Moffatt, Jerusalem Bible).

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 .