complete verse (Acts 19:19)

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

  • Uma: “Many who had magic carried their magic books, they gathered them and burned them in the eyes of the masses. The cost of those magic books if it were gathered, was around 50,000 silver moneys.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Many of them who had ‘practiced medicine’ (tawal), they brought and gathered the booklets (kitab-kitab) where they had written their words-for-medicining and they burned them in the sight of the people. They counted the cost of those booklets, it was five thousand pesos.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And those who did sorcery, they brought their books on magic, and they burned them there in front of everybody. And they counted the value of these books, and it was about fifty thousand pieces of silver that they were worth.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “while some, they gathered-together their books and burned them with the many-people spectating. When they counted the value of what was burned, it was about fifty thousand in their money.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “There were many of them who, although they had already believed in the Lord, still had something else they trusted in, like charms, incantations, and other skills/acquired-knowledge (usually supernatural). Well, without anything further, as for the rolled up writings on which were written those skills of theirs, they assembled them all, and then burned them before the eyes of everyone. Someone estimated the cost of all those writings and it came to the sum of over fifty thousand.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Isthmus Mixe: “Many of the ones who practised magic brought the books of magic. Then they burned them before everyone. Then they figured out how much the books were worth. They were found to be worth 50,000 pieces of silver money.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

large numbers in Angguruk Yali

Many languages use a “body part tally system” where body parts function as numerals (see body part tally systems with a description). One such language is Angguruk Yali which uses a system that ends at the number 27. To circumvent this limitation, the Angguruk Yali translators adopted a strategy where a large number is first indicated with an approximation via the traditional system, followed by the exact number according to Arabic numerals. For example, where in 2 Samuel 6:1 it says “thirty thousand” in the English translation, the Angguruk Yali says teng-teng angge 30.000 or “so many rounds [following the body part tally system] 30,000,” likewise, in Acts 27:37 where the number “two hundred seventy-six” is used, the Angguruk Yali translation says teng-teng angge 276 or “so many rounds 276,” or in John 6:10 teng-teng angge 5.000 for “five thousand.”

This strategy is used in all the verses referenced here.

Source: Lourens de Vries in The Bible Translator 1998, p. 409ff.

See also numbers in Ngalum and numbers in Kombai.

Translation commentary on Acts 19:19

Since in one way or another magic is a universal phenomenon, it is not difficult to find some expression which is adequate to translate practiced magic. In some instances it is necessary to describe certain kinds of magic since there are so many varieties and no general term to cover them all. One may, for example, use a phrase such as “hurt (or healed) people by using dark words” or “caused harm by using secret objects.”

It is essential to indicate that their books are those which refer to magical practice—for example, “the books which told them how to do this.”

In the presence of everyone may be rendered as “while all the people were watching” or “while everyone was looking on.”

Fifty thousand dollars is literally “fifty thousand (pieces) of silver.” The reference is to some silver coin, though the commentators are not in agreement as to which one Luke had in mind. The point is that the amount of money was very large, and so the Good News Translation has rendered this as fifty thousand dollars, probably the closest dynamic equivalent.

In translating fifty thousand dollars into some other language there are a number of possibilities. One may, for example, use a somewhat general term: “fifty thousand valuable silver coins.” This would carefully represent the Greek text, and since the particular size of coin is not stipulated, devaluations would not render the text meaningless, as has so often happened in various parts of the world where strictly local currencies were stipulated. It is perfectly legitimate to introduce the term “valuable” since any silver coin in ancient time had considerable more buying power than the equivalent sized coin would have today. One can also translate the fifty thousand dollars into some local currency (provided it is relatively stable); but in making all such adjustments in quantities, it is important to use rounded-off figures rather than attempt some precise or detailed calculations.

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 .