The Greek and Latin that is translated as “resurrection” in English is translated in Chicahuaxtla Triqui and Pohnpeian as “live-up” (i.e. return to life) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel) and in Iloko as panagungar: a term that stems “from the word ‘agungar,’ an agricultural term used to describe the coming back to life of a plant which was wilting but which has been watered by the farmer, or of a bulb which was apparently dead but grows again.” (Source: G. Henry Waterman in The Bible Translator 1960, p. 24ff. )
In Estado de México Otomi, it is translated as “people will be raised from the dead,” in Teutila Cuicatec as “the dead having to come to life again,” in San Mateo del Mar Huave as “arose from the grave” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), and in Kriol as gidap laibala brom dedbala or “get up alive from the dead” (source: Sam Freney in this article .)
Apali: “God’s one with talk from the head” (“basically God’s messenger since head refers to any leader’s talk”) (source: Martha Wade)
Michoacán Nahuatl: “clean helper of God” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
Noongar: Hdjin-djin-kwabba or “spirit good” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Wè Northern (Wɛɛ): Kea ‘a “sooa or “the Lord’s soldier” (also: “God’s soldier” or “his soldier”) (source: Drew Maust)
Iwaidja: “a man sent with a message” (Sam Freney explains the genesis of this term [in this article): “For example, in Darwin last year, as we were working on a new translation of Luke 2:6–12 in Iwaidja, a Northern Territory language, the translators had written ‘angel’ as ‘a man with eagle wings’. Even before getting to the question of whether this was an accurate term (or one that imported some other information in), the word for ‘eagle’ started getting discussed. One of the translators had her teenage granddaughter with her, and this word didn’t mean anything to her at all. She’d never heard of it, as it was an archaic term that younger people didn’t use anymore. They ended up changing the translation of ‘angel’ to something like ‘a man sent with a message’, which is both more accurate and clear.”)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 23:8:
Uma: “Because according to the Saduki people, people who die do not live again, and there is no soul of mankind that lives on-and-on, and there are no angels. But the Parisi people [emphatic], they believe all that.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “(Because the Sadduseo, they say that the dead will not ko’ be made alive again and that there is no angel ko’ nor soul/spirit but the Pariseo they believe all of this.)” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The reason they were disputing is because as for the Sadducees, they teach that the dead will not be raised. They say that there are no spirits that come from God and there are also no messengers which come from heaven. But as for the Pharisees, they believe that there will be a resurrection and that there are spirits and that there are messengers of God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “(Because the Saducees, they say that the dead will not live again. They also say that there are no angels or human-spirits. But the Pharisees, they believe all those-things.)” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Because according to the perception of the Saduceo, there is no coming alive again, also none of what are referred to as angels, and neither is there a spirit in man. But as for the Pariseo, they believe there are all of these.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Since this verse is an explanatory comment, the Good News Translation (see also New English Bible) has placed it in parenthesis. For the Sadducees say that people will not rise from death translates “for the Sadducees say there is no resurrection.” But in the context the reference is certainly to their denial of a general resurrection (see New English Bible “The Sadducees deny that there is any resurrection”) rather than to the specific denial of Jesus’ resurrection, and for this reason the Good News Translation has made this explicit.
All three (see also Jerusalem Bible) is literally “both” (so King James Version), but this word may also be used in the sense of “all in a series” (see Revised Standard Version “them all”).
There are complications in some languages in the final phrase in all three, since this type of counting would combine not only an event such as the resurrection but angels and spirits, which would be in quite different classes as far as counting is concerned. In fact, some languages have quite different systems of counting, depending upon the types of objects which are being counted. In some languages, therefore, one may have to translate “believe in all of these” or it may be even necessary to repeat the three: “the Pharisees believe in people being raised from the dead, and in angels, and in spirits.” On the other hand, one may express the contrast by saying “but the Pharisees believe in these things that the Sadducees do not believe in.”
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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