angel's voice vs. God's voice

In the translation into Kahua, it needs to be specified whose voice is mentioned in Acts 10:13 and 15. Many commentaries assume it is God’s voice but it could also be the angel mentioned in verse 3, since God is referred to in the third person in verse 15. The translators decided for God’s voice.

Peter

Following is a Armenian Orthodox icon of Peter (found in the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shusha, Azerbaijan).

Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )

Following is a hand colored stencil print on momigami of Peter by Sadao Watanabe (1970):

Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe. For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.

In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “key” (referring to Matthew 16:19). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Peter” or “Cephas” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with the sign for “rock,” referring to the meaning of the Greek word for “Peter.”


“Peter” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

See also Peter – rock.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Peter .

complete verse (Acts 10:13)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 10:13:

  • Uma: “After that, Petrus heard there was someone speaking to him, he said to him: ‘Ee, Petrus! Come here, slaughter those animals there and eat them!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Then he heard a voice saying to him, ‘Get up, Petros. Butcher and eat.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And there was someone who said to Peter, ‘Oh, Peter, butcher so that you can eat.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And he heard a voice which said, ‘Pedro, get-up to butcher something to eat-as-meat-viand.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And then he heard speech saying, ‘Go ahead, Pedro. Butcher and eat.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 10:13

The voice which said to him is obviously God. In languages in which one cannot speak of “a voice saying anything” one can introduce the obvious agent of the speaking, “God said to him.”

The verb translated kill originally meant “to kill as a sacrifice,” but commentators and translators agree that in the present context it has lost its specialized meaning and simply means kill, not “offer as a sacrifice.” In a number of languages some grammatical goal of kill and eat must be introduced for example, “kill and eat these animals” or “kill and eat these living things.”

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 .