Acts 4:12

salvation

The Greek that is translated with “salvation” in English is translated in the following ways:

San Blas Kuna: “receive help for bad deeds” (“this help is not just any kind of help but help for the soul which has sinned)
Northwestern Dinka: “help as to his soul” (“or literally, ‘his breath'”) (source for this and the one above: Nida 1952, p. 140)
Central Mazahua: “healing the heart” (source: Nida 1952, p. 40)
Tzeltal: col: “get loose,” “go free,” “get well” (source: Marianna C. Slocum in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 49f. )
Aari: “the day our Savior comes” (in Rom 13:11) (source: Loren Bliese)

in Mairasi its is translated as “life fruit” or “life fruit all mashed out.” Lloyd Peckham explains: “In secret stories, not knowable to women nor children, there was a magical fruit of life. If referred to vaguely, without specifying the specific ‘fruit,’ it can be an expression for eternity.” And for “all masked out” he explains: “Bark cloth required pounding. It got longer and wider as it got pounded. Similarly, life gets pounded or mashed to lengthen it into infinity. Tubers also get mashed into the standard way of serving the staple food, like the fufu of Uganda, or like poi of Hawaii. It spreads out into infinity.” (See also eternity / forever)

In Lisu a poetic construct is used for this term. Arrington (2020, p. 58f.) explains: “A four-word couplet uses Lisu poetic forms to bridge the abstract concrete divide, an essential divide to cross if Christian theology is to be understood by those with oral thought patterns. Each couplet uses three concrete nouns or verbs to express an abstract term. An example of this is the word for salvation, a quite abstract term essential to understanding Christian theology. To coin this new word, the missionary translators used a four-word couplet: ℲO., CYU. W: CYU (person … save … person … save). In this particular case, the word for person was not the ordinary word (ʁ) but rather the combination of ℲO., and W: used in oral poetry. The word for ‘save’ also had to be coined; in this case, it was borrowed from Chinese [from jiù / 救]. These aspects of Lisu poetry, originally based on animism, likely would have been lost as Lisu society encountered communism and modernization. Yet they are now codified in the Lisu Bible as well as the hymnbook.”

save

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The Greek term that is translated as a form of “save” in English is translated in Shipibo-Conibo with a phrase that means literally “make to live,” which combines the meaning of “to rescue” and “to deliver from danger,” but also the concept of “to heal” or “restore to health.”

In San Blas Kuna it is rendered as “help the heart,” in Laka, it is “take by the hand” in the meaning of “rescue” or “deliver,” in Huautla Mazatec the back-translation of the employed term is “lift out on behalf of,” in Anuak, it is “have life because of,” in Central Mazahua “be healed in the heart,” in Baoulé “save one’s head” (meaning to rescue a person in the fullest sense), in Guerrero Amuzgo “come out well,” in Northwestern Dinka “be helped as to his breath” (or “life”) (source: Bratcher / Nida), and in Noongar barrang-ngandabat or “hold life” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In South Bolivian Quechua it is “make to escape” and in Highland Puebla Nahuatl, it is “cause people to come out with the aid of the hand.” (Source: Nida 1947, p. 222.)

appoint

The Greek that is often translated as “appoint” in English has the option of various terms in Luang with different shades of meaning.

For Mark 13:20, naliri-natoha (“choose-move”) was chosen. This is used if “choosing something to set aside for future use, with the additional idea that there are a large number of objects being chosen as opposed to only one and connoting separating/sifting of the good from the bad.”

For Acts 4:12, ntutmata-nkewra’a (“point eyes-lift chin”) was chosen. This is used when “appointing one special person to do a very special job that no one else can do. The focus is also on a special person doing the choosing. This is often the term used in verses that speak of what Jesus Christ was appointed to do and of how Paul was an apostle chosen by God.”

For Acts 14:23 and Titus 1:5, rana (“lift up”) was chosen. This is used for “people choosing people to be over them. This is often the term used for the appointing of elders of the church.”

Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.

in the name of, on the account of his (or: my) name

Some of the Hebrew and Greek phrases that are translated in English in association with “name,” including “in the name of,” “in my name,” “in your name,” “on the account of my name,” “on the account of your name” (according to a classification by Robert Bratcher in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 72ff. , phrases that belong to the categories of “Agency or instrumentality” and “Representation”) present a number of challenges in other languages.

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Eugene Nida (1947, p 178ff.) explains this way:

“The biblical attitudes toward human personality are of great theological importance. There is, however, only one word which produces any considerable difficulty in other languages. This is the word ‘name.’ The great difference attached to the significance of the name of a person in the Bible times in contrast with our own culture is very important. Note such phrases as ‘whatsoever ye shall ask in my name,’ John 14:13, ‘believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God,’ John 3:18, and ‘life through his name,’ John 20:31. These expressions are generally difficult for us to understand, for the word ‘name’ does not mean the same to us as it meant to those of Bible times. To them the name was the symbolization of the authority and personality of the individual who possessed the name. To us a name is far less important. It may be changed whenever one can convince a judge that another name might be more economically advantageous. The name is also a legal method of giving one’s written assent to certain business transactions, but to us it is not the symbol of the personality.”

The translation in Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl typically is “in someone’s authority” (for instance “I have come in my Father’s name” in John 5:43 becomes “I have come on my Father’s authority”) (source Nida 1947, p. 179), or in Highland Puebla Nahuatl with the more paraphrastic equivalent “as though on orders from you” or in Tzeltal as “by your authority, so he said” (both examples for Mark 9:38 and 39, see Bratcher / Nida).

In Guhu-Samane, Mark 11:9 (in English: “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord”) is translated as “Blessed is the Lord’s namesake who comes.” “In the name of the Lord” caused “puzzlement [because] “has he just assumed the name of the Lord, valid or otherwise? [But] with ‘blessed is the Lord’s namesake who comes’ the strong bond between the namesake and the important ancestor for whom named entitles the namesake to the deference due the ancestor. Thought very proper in this context.” (Source: Ernest L. Richert in Notes on Translation December 1963: p. 4-7; reprinted in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 198ff. )

Barclay Newman (see The Bible Translator 1974, pp, 432ff. ) reports on different solutions for the translation of the Today’s Malay Version (Alkitab Berita Baik, 1987):

In Malay “the phrase ‘in my name’ is problematic (…) since it sounds like the use of magic. For this reason [the English] Today’s English Version (Good News Bible) was followed at such passages as John 5:43 and 10:25, where ‘in the name of my Father’ is translated as ‘with my Father’s authority’ and ‘by my Father’s authority’ [respectively]. In John 12:13 ‘in the name of the Lord’ has become ‘in his (the Lord’s) behalf,’ following the common language German translation Die Gute Nachricht. In John 14:13, ‘because you are my followers’ is used, in John in 15:16, 16:23 and 24 ‘as my followers,’ in John 17:11 ‘by your own power, the power you gave me,’ and in John 14:26 ‘in my place.'”

Other translations for “in the name of Jesus Christ” include “in the authority of Jesus Christ” (Isthmus Mixe), “calling on Jesus Christ” (Teutila Cuicatec), “calling the name of Jesus Christ over you” (Ayutla Mixtec), “because of Jesus” (Tepeuxila Cuicatec), “by the power of the name of Jesus Christ” (Chichimeca-Jonaz), or “the word of Jesus Christ is strong” (Lalana Chinantec). (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.).

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Acts 4:12)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including all mankind).

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

complete verse (Acts 4:12)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 4:12:

Uma: “There is no other way to receive salvation from God, only Yesus. Because in all the world there is no other person, only Yesus whom God provided for man, only he has power to lift us from the punishment of our sin.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “And really he is the only one who can save us (incl.). Because here in this whole world, there is no other/nothing else given by God that can save us (incl.) except only Isa.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “It is only Jesus who can set us free from punishment,’ said Peter, ‘because here in all the world there is no other person who is able to do it which God has given.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “It is only Jesus who can save us. Because there is no other in the entire world that God has sent to save us except him.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “It’s true, there really is no-one at all from whom salvation can be gotten from the punishment for sin, except this Jesu-Cristo only. For there is no-one else here under the heavens who has been given by God who can save us, but on the contrary this one only.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Chuj: “‘There is no other person who can save us; because there is no other person whom God has shown to people on this earth who can save us. Only Jesus,’ said Peter.”
Lalana Chinantec: “‘Only Jesus is able to save people. Only Jesus did God give. All over the world there is no one else who is able to save people.’ That’s what Peter said.”
Isthmus Mixe: “Another person cannot save us. But Jesus Christ can. For no other person in this world has been appointed to save us.”
Totontepec Mixe: “No one else is able that he forgive the sins of the earth people. Jesus alone is able to forgive our sins. God has sent no one else to forgive sins.”
Teutila Cuicatec: “There is not a single person who can save us apart from him, the one who has the authority to save the people on this earth.” (source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

Translation commentary on Acts 4:12

Salvation, a word which can also mean “healing,” represents a play on words that is difficult to reproduce in English: (Christian) salvation and/or the healing (of the lame man) are possible only through the name of Jesus. The strong double negative expression in the Greek text (not … in no one) is represented in the Good News Translation by a positive (a completely legitimate equivalent), and one which forms a much more frequent basis for transfer into other languages. However, the use of a nominal construction such as salvation is to be found is difficult since normally salvation must be expressed by a verb, for example, “you can only be saved through him alone” or “he alone is able to save you.” (See also 2.21.)

As can be clearly seen, verse 12b is simply an elaboration of the statement in verse 12a, stated in a slightly different form.

In all the world literally translates “under the heaven.” For some languages there is a problem involved in two relative clauses being attributive to such an expression as no one else in all the world. Moreover, these two relative clauses are not coordinate. The first is restrictive before the second. In some languages it means that the first restriction must be stated as a preposed clause, with the second restriction coming in the next clause, for example, “God has given his name to men and there is no one else in all the world by whom we can be saved.”

Whose name God has given to men represents another one of the passive constructions in Greek in which God is the implicit subject, “name … which God has given to men.”

By whom we can be saved is the meaning of the Greek expression “by whom (i.e. by which name) it is necessary for us to be saved” (see Jerusalem Bible “by which we can be saved” and New English Bible “by which we may receive salvation”). The passive expression by whom we can be saved can be shifted to an active “who can save us.”

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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Verse: Acts 4:12