complete verse (Acts 26:26)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 26:26:

  • Uma: “As for King Agripa, he also knows all that I said earlier. That is why I dared to speak plainly. For I said/thought, that there was nothing that the King had not-yet known, because all of that which happened did not happen in a hidden-place.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “The king understands these my words,’ Paul said. ‘The reason I have dared to speak to him is, because I am sure that he knows everything that has happened. After all, all these doings were really not hidden/secret.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “You, King Agrippa, I am not hesitant to talk to you because I know that you already know all that I have said to you. It is true that you know these because all these things that happened were not hidden.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “I also know that King Agrippa has already come-to-know all these-things, because they certainly haven’t been kept-hidden. So I know that I can say-directly this that I will say to him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “All of this is really clear to king Agripa. I am sure that he has kept abreast of (lit. not allowed to be lost to him) these things, for it wasn’t in concealment. That’s why I don’t hesitate to speak in his presence.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

king

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Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:

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  • Piro: “a great one”
  • Highland Totonac: “the big boss”
  • Huichol: “the one who commanded” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Ekari: “the one who holds the country” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Una: weik sienyi: “big headman” (source: Kroneman 2004, p. 407)
  • Pass Valley Yali: “Big Man” (source: Daud Soesilo)
  • Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
  • Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))

Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo was determined:

“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”

(Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )

Translation commentary on Acts 26:26

This verse has been completely restructured in the Good News Translation. For a rather literal rendering of the Greek see Revised Standard Version.

With all boldness, in this type of context, is sometimes rendered as “without holding back anything” or “with complete openness.”

In a corner is a good Greek expression, and not a Semitism. In many languages one cannot refer to an event by an expression such as this thing. Therefore, one may say “what has happened did not take place in a corner.” However, the phrase in a corner may be relatively meaningless in some languages. The closest equivalent would therefore be “in some dark place” or “in some unknown place”—for example, “what happened did not take place in an unknown location.”

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 .