complete verse (Acts 21:33)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 21:33:

  • Uma: “The head of the soldiers went and arrested him and commanded his soldiers to tie both his hands with chains. After that he asked: ‘Who is this person? What has he done?'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “The colonel went near and seized Paul and commanded his soldiers to chain him with two chains. Then he asked the people, he said, ‘Who is this man and what is his sin?'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Now as for the captain, he went to Paul and grabbed him and he commanded that he be tied up with two chains. And then he asked the people who this man was and what was his sin.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Then the commander arrested him, and had-him-bound with two chains. He then said to the many-people, ‘Who is this person? What has he done?'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When that highest-ranking-officer arrived, he at once arrested Pablo and caused him to be tied up with two chains. And then he asked who he was and what he had done.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 21:33

That the commander ordered Paul to be tied up with two chains perhaps means that Paul was ordered to be chained to a Roman soldier on either side of him (see 12.6). The commander’s question, Who is this man, and what has he done? is addressed to the crowd, not to Paul as one might conclude from a literal rendering (“he inquired who he was and what he had done”). With the exception of the Good News Translation and Barclay, all translations apparently use indirect discourse rather than direct discourse for the commander’s question. In such a setting direct discourse seems much more forceful for the English reader than does indirect discourse. In fact, in many languages direct discourse would be obligatory in this type of context.

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 .