complete verse (Acts 20:3)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 20:3:

  • Uma: “He dwelt there for three months. After those three months, there was an intention of his to board a ship back to the land of Siria. But at that time, there was news that said: the Yahudi people planned to kill him. That’s why he said: ‘It is better if I go by land, retracing my journey to the province of Makedonia.’ So, he indeed when to Makedonia.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “He stayed there three months. Then he got ready to sail soon for Siriya. But when he learned/knew that the Yahudi planned to kill him, he decided/thought to go home by way of Makedoniya again.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “He lived there for three months, and then he decided that he would ride on a ship because he would go to Syria. The Jews decided also at that time that they would seize him as he left. Therefore he changed his mind because he decided again that he would return back the way he came going to Macedonia.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “He stayed there for three months, then he thought he would ride a ship going to Syria. But when he would have set-out, he came-to-know that Jews had made-an-agreement to kill him, so he took-another-route by walking-through Macedonia.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Three months is how long he was there in Grecia, and then he wanted to travel again, intending to sail to go to Siria. But since he happened to hear that apparently, the Jews had agreed together to lie in wait for him, he decided not to sail after all. Therefore he turned back and went again to Macedonia.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 20:3

The three months period was probably the winter season. Paul tried to avoid sea travel during wintertime (see 27.12; 28.11; Titus 3.12). It was customary for many Jews to travel back to Jerusalem each year to celebrate the Passover, and for this purpose there were many pilgrim ships which carried them from the cities of this region to Jerusalem. It was probably Paul’s intention to go by one of these ships, but since it would have been easy for the Jews aboard ship to stir up others against Paul and to have had him killed, he decided it would be better to travel by land.

In some languages the relationship between the two clauses involving preparations to go to Syria and the discovery that the Jews were plotting against him must be somewhat altered in their temporal relationships—for example, “while he was getting ready to go to Syria, he discovered that the Jews…” or “he was getting ready to go to Syria, but then he discovered that the Jews….”

In this type of context discovered may be rendered in some languages as “heard” or “learned from some people.” In most receptor languages one cannot translate this term discovered by the same word which may be used to describe the finding of some unusual object.

Plotting against him may simply be translated as “planning to kill him.”

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 .