complete verse (Acts 5:10)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 5:10:

  • Uma: “Upon hearing those words of Petrus, she also fell down immediately died. When the people returned from burying Ananias, what should they see but that there also was his wife dead. So they picked her up also and went and buried her next to her husband’s grave.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Immediately the woman fell down at the feet of Petros and died. When the young men entered, they found the woman already dead. So they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And immediately Sapphira fell down and died. And when the men came in, they saw her that she was dead, and they carried her out and buried her next to the grave of her husband.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And she fell-down dead. Those young-men entered, and when they saw that she had died, then they took her out to go put-her-next-to where-her husband -was-buried.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well, what else but when that woman heard, she fell down at once because she also died, just like her husband. Without anything further, when those who had gone burying had entered, what met their eyes was that one who had died next. Therefore they buried that one too. Where they buried her was right beside her husband.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 5:10

The phrase she fell down at his feet can mean in some languages “to implore” or to “ask a great favor of.” In this context, however, she collapsed in death, or, as in some languages, “died and fell down in front of him.”

In this verse the Greek term translated young men is not the same word as occurs in verse 6; and came represents a different Greek expression from the corresponding term in verse 6. This may or may not suggest that the same persons were referred to in both instances; but in either case it supports the earlier judgment that the phrase young men is not a technical term for a church office or function.

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 .