2:16

No: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as No is often translated as “but” (as in the Revised Standard Version). It indicates contrast between Peter saying “these men/people are not drunk, as you suppose” (2:15a) and what they should understand. Other English versions translate the conjunction as:

Instead (Good News Translation)
-or-
Rather (God’s Word)

However, Peter said that the believers were not drunk in 2:15. In some languages 2:15 does not contrast with 2:16–21. If that is true in your language, you may want to:

• Translate this Greek word as emphasis. For example:

Indeed

• Restate what 2:16 contrasts with. For example:

⌊You say they are drunk⌋ but

this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: The Greek is literally “this is the (thing) spoken through the prophet Joel.” The word this refers to the believers speaking in other languages. For example:

what happened is what was spoken through the prophet

The clause is passive. Some languages must use an active clause. For example:

what happened was spoken about through the prophet Joel
-or-
God spoke about what happened through the prophet Joel. ⌊He said:⌋

was spoken: Joel spoke (and wrote) the words of 2:17–21 more than seven hundred years before the time Peter spoke here.

prophet: A prophet is a person who speaks on behalf of God. God speaks to the prophet through words and visions. Then the prophet tells God’s message (the prophecy) to the people or writes it down for their use. Here are some other ways to translate this word:

a spokesman for God
-or-
a man who spoke God’s words
-or-
God’s message-speaker

This particular prophet, Joel, lived over 400 years before the book of Acts was written. If your translation uses tense, indicate or imply that he was a prophet who lived long ago.

While prophets did foretell the future, this was not their only function. Avoid using a word that focuses on telling the future. But Joel did foretell the future in this case.

Joel: There is a textual issue here.

(1) Many early Greek manuscripts have the name Joel.

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, English Standard Version, King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Contemporary English Version, God’s Word, NET Bible, New Living Translation (2004), Revised English Bible, New Century Version, New American Bible, Revised Edition)

(2) Some Greek manuscripts do not have the name.

(New Jerusalem Bible)

It is recommended that you follow option (1).

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