complete verse (Acts 2:6)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 2:6:

  • Uma: “When they heard that noise that was like wind, they came in throngs to gather-together. They were confused, because they each heard their own language being used by those apostles of Lord Yesus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When they heard the noise (going on) inside that house where the disciples of Isa were gathered, a great number of them went there gathering. They were greatly surprised, because they heard the disciples of Isa speak like the language of each one of them.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when they heard this noise, they all gathered together there, and they were very surprised because each one of the people who gathered there, he could hear his very own language being spoken by the believers.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When they heard that-aforementioned noise, many were those who went to go see. They were open-mouthed (with surprise), because when they heard what the believers in Jesus were telling, each-one heard in his own (lit. proper) language.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When they heard that sound, many approached there. On arriving, they were bewildered for they heard being spoken by those believers the languages of those lands they had come from.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 2:6

The pronoun they must refer back in some way to the Jews who have been introduced in the preceding verse, for example, “when these men heard.”

This noise may have a reference either to the noise accompanying the arrival of the Holy Spirit (v. 2) or to the talking in other languages (v. 4). The word itself is a different word for noise from the one which is used in verse 2, though this is no argument against identifying this noise with the noise mentioned in that verse. However, the nearest antecedent is the sound of the believers talking in other languages (v. 4), for example, “when they heard the believers talking in strange languages.” It is also possible to preserve a measure of ambiguity, for example, “when they heard what had happened” or “… what was happening.”

A large crowd (the Greek has only plēthos “crowd,” but this normally refers to a “large gathering”) must, in some languages, be semantically redistributed, for example, “many people gathered together.”

The Greek sentence continues through verse 6a and 6b, but the Good News Translation has introduced a break, since the causal clause goes more appropriately with the event of being excited.

This is the excitement of amazement and bewilderment, not the excitement of good news or of some thrilling spectacle. It is important, therefore, that insofar as possible the appropriate term be selected.

The causal clause may need some greater clarification of roles and events, for example, “because then each person heard the believers speak; they were speaking in that person’s own language.” In some instances one must specify “own language” as “the language which he spoke in his own town.”

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 .