complete verse (Acts 5:7)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 5:7:

  • Uma: “About three hours after that, the wife of Ananias also came to Petrus. But she did not know what had happened earlier.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “After about three hours, the wife of Ananiyas arrived but she did not know what had happened.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “About three hours after that, the wife of Ananias came in. She did not yet know what happened to Ananias.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “After three hours went by, his spouse also arrived, but she did not yet know what had happened.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Well, before long, about three hours, the wife of Ananias arrived who was following-later. She had no idea what had happened to her husband.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 5:7

There is a subtle difficulty in the rendering of came in since the previous paragraph does not specify where the apostles were at the time that Ananias presented the money and died. In some languages it is necessary to make the indication of place quite specific and therefore must sometimes be rendered as “came into the room where Peter was” or “came to the place where Peter was.”

Such a general phrase as what had happened must often be made more specific, for example, “what had happened to her husband” or “that Ananias had died.”

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 .