34But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time.
The Greek that is a transliteration of the Hebrew Pərūšīm and is typically transliterated into English as “Pharisee” is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as Fǎlìsài (法利賽 / 法利赛) (Protestant) or Fǎlìsāi (法利塞) (Catholic). In Chinese, transliterations can typically be done with a great number of different and identical-sounding characters. Often the meaning of the characters are not relevant, unless they are chosen carefully as in these cases. The Protestant Fǎlìsài can mean something like “Competition for the profit of the law” and the Catholic Fǎlìsāi “Stuffed by/with the profit of the law.” (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 51)
In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “prayer shawl”. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as Observant. He explains (p. 302): “Pharisee has become a public, universal pejorative term for a hypocrite. Pharisees were observant of the interpretation of the Covenant Code called the ‘tradition of the elders.’ They conformed their behaviors to the interpretation. Among the various groups of Jews at the time of Jesus, they were perhaps closest to Jesus in their overall concern to make a radical commitment to the will of God (as they understood it).”
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 5:34:
Uma: “But there was one from their midst, named Gamaliel. That Gamaliel was a Parisi person, and a teacher of religion that was honored by all the people. He stood and ordered people to carry those apostles outside for a while.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But one councilor got up. His name was Gamaliel. He was a Pariseo and a teacher very well versed in the Yahudi religious law, and he was respected by all the people. He requested that those men being investigated be taken outside for a while.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “However there was one of their companions named Gamaliel. He was a Pharisee, a teacher of the law, and respected by all the people. He stood up and commanded that the apostles be taken outside for a while. And when they were already outside,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But there was a Fariseo who was a teacher of the law whom the many-people respected/acknowledged. His name was Gamaliel. He stood-up and said, ‘Have-them -go-out for a little-while.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But when it was like that now, there stood up a person who was a Pariseo who was one of the members of that Sanedrin. His name was Gamaliel. He was a teacher of the laws written by Moises and he was respected by all the people. He ordered that the apostles be first taken outside.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The Pharisees were the largest, most important, and most influential religious group of the Jews; they were very faithful in their observation of the Law of the Moses. Gamaliel, mentioned here and in 22.3, is Gamaliel I, a noted and respected Jewish teacher. The expression highly respected by all the people may be rendered in some languages as “all the people thought he was very great” or “all the people honored him very much.”
Ordered the apostles to be taken out may be shifted into an active form “ordered the guards to lead the apostles out.”
The Greek includes an adverb with the verb phrase to be taken out. Although the adverb may mean either “a little distance” or “a little while,” most translations follow the latter interpretation. In 27.28 the Good News Translation renders this same adverb by a little later.
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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