unleavened bread

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “unleavened bread” in English is translated in various ways:

  • Chichimeca-Jonaz: “bread that doesn’t have its medicine that makes it puff up”
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “bread without its sour”
  • Tepeuxila Cuicatec: “bread that has no mother” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
  • Mairasi: “bread without other ingredient” (source: Enggavoter 2004)

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 12:3)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 12:3:

  • Uma: “When Herodes saw that the Yahudi people liked that deed of his, he added again: he ordered people to arrest Petrus. That happened at the time of the Yahudi big day called Feast of Bread that is not Yeasted.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “And when he saw that what he had done pleased the Yahudi, he also commanded Petros to be seized. The time when Petros was seized was the time of the celebration of the Yahudi when they ate bread not mixed with leaven (lit. for-rising).” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when Herod understood that the Jews were very pleased with his killing James, he had Peter arrested also. (This happened during the Feast of Bread That Has No Yeast.)” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When he came-to-know that that pleased the Jews, he intensified-it by also having-Pedro -arrested. That happened at the fiesta called Passed-By which is when-they -eat bread that has no yeast.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When he observed that what he had done pleased the Jews who weren’t believers in Cristo, Pedro was the one he next caused to be arrested. But because the Fiesta of Bread Without Raising-agent had been reached,” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 12:3

Pleased the Jews may be rendered as “caused the Jews to be happy about this.”

He went ahead and had Peter arrested (literally, “he added to arrest Peter also”) reflects a Semitic idiom (“he added [to something]”) which appears quite frequently in the Old Testament (see also Luke 19.11; 20.11-12), and most translators have employed various types of restructuring, as in the Good News Translation. The concept of adding one crime to another may be expressed in some languages as “he did something else bad. He had Peter arrested” or “he did further evil; he ordered soldiers to arrest Peter.”

From the mention of the Feast of Unleavened Bread in this verse and of Passover in the following verse one might conclude that the Feast of Unleavened Bread preceded Passover. However, this is not the case, for the Passover was celebrated on the 14th day of the month Nisan (March-April) and the Feast of Unleavened Bread was celebrated from the 15th to 21st day of the same month. Luke, a Gentile, seems to have identified these two terms as synonymous, for in Luke 22.1 he writes the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover.

An appropriate rendering of the expression Feast of Unleavened Bread is difficult in a number of languages. One can scarcely say “time when the people feasted on bread that did not rise,” although this is possible in some languages. In general the relationship of the Feast to Unleavened Bread is expressed as the name of the feast, for example, “during the time when people had a feast called the Feast with bread that did not rise.” Even the expression “unleavened” must be carefully selected for it might mean simply that someone had forgotten to put in the yeast. This is “bread in which no yeast has been placed” or, as in some languages, “bread without yeast.” In some areas of the world the equivalent of yeast is “beer foam” or “sourdough,” but in other areas it is “medicine that makes bread get large.” (Under such circumstances “medicine” is simply a general designation for any type of potent substance, whatever its origin or purpose.)

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 .