complete verse (Acts 5:33)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 5:33:

  • Uma: “When the leaders heard their words, their hearts became irritated, and they wanted to kill them.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “When the councilors heard this, they were very angry that’s why they wanted the commissioned ones to be killed.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when the leaders heard this, they were very angry, and they decided that they would kill the apostles.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When they heard that, their anger was extreme and they wanted to kill the apostles.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well, when those leaders heard, their anger really became very severe. They wanted to kill those apostles.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 5:33

Members of the Council and the apostles have been substituted in place of the pronouns “they” … “them” in order to make the pronominal referents explicit (see, for example, Jerusalem Bible “this so infuriated them that they wanted to put them to death”). They were so furious translates a verb which appears only here and in 7.54 in the New Testament; it literally means “to saw through,” and is used in both passages in Acts in a figurative sense.

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 .