complete verse (Acts 28:6)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 28:6:

  • Uma: “The townspeople said his hand would swell up, or perhaps he would suddenly fall over and die. Yet after waiting a long time, nothing happened to him. From there, their thinking changed again, they said: ‘Paulus is a person of power!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “What they waited for was that his hand would swell or that he would suddenly just fall down dead. But when they had waited a long while and they did not see anything happen to Paul, then the mind of those people of Malta changed. They said that he was a god.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “They thought that then and there immediately Paul’s hand would swell up and he would fall over and he would suddenly stiffen up dead. However when some time passed and nothing happened to Paul, they changed their minds and they said, ‘So he must be a god!'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “They expected that his hand would swell-up or he would fall-over to die, but when they had waited for-a-long-time and they saw nothing happen, they changed their minds saying, ‘Why obviously then he is a god.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Those taga Malta continued to wait for Pablo to swell up or fall down suddenly and die. But no. When they had been observing for a long time now and they could observe no change in the appearance of Pablo, they changed their mind. ‘Ah,’ they said, ‘this person really isn’t just an ordinary person. He is one of the gods.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 28:6

Waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead may need to be somewhat recast in some languages—for example, “they were expecting him to soon swell up or suddenly fall down dead.” In some languages this may even be expressed as direct discourse “they kept thinking, He will certainly soon swell up or suddenly fall down dead.”

Not seeing anything unusual happening to him may be translated as “they did not see that Paul was suffering anything” or “they saw that Paul was not in any way suffering anything.”

Just as to be bitten by a snake was considered to be an indication of divine punishment, so to be protected from the bite of the snake was considered to be an indication of divine protection; and so they changed their minds and said, “He is a god!” It is known from other Greek sources that persons who underwent divine protection were called “friends of the god,” but it is not known where people were themselves called gods because of some act of divine protection.

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 .