prison

The Greek that is translated in English as “prison” is translated in Dehu as moapokamo or “house for tying up people” (source: Maurice Leenhardt in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 97ff. ) and in Noongar as maya-maya dedinyang or “house shut” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

complete verse (Acts 5:22)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 5:22:

  • Uma: “Those who were ordered [to go] did go. However when they arrived at the jail, they did not find them any more. Those that were ordered returned to the judges, they said:” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But when the police arrived there, they did not find them in the prison. So they went back to the councilors to tell them. The policemen said,” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when the police arrived at the prison, they didn’t see anything, and they returned and told this, they said,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But when they arrived there, they weren’t-there, so they returned to report-the-bad-news.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But their personnel whom they sent were just frustrated, for on their arrival, none of those apostles was there. They returned at once and made it known.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 5:22

The officials (see 13.5) are either officers of the Jewish Council or Levites of the temple guard under the officer in charge of the temple guards (see v. 24). In some languages the term officials is equivalent to “policemen.” In other instances the closest equivalent is “soldiers.”

To the Council has been added to the verb they returned in order to indicate to what place they returned.

The verb reported may be rendered as “said to the men in the Council.”

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 .