lame

The Greek that is translated as “lame” in English is translated in various ways:

complete verse (Acts 14:8)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 14:8:

  • Uma: “In the town of Listra, there was a man who had been lame from the first of his birth. He always just sat, for his feet/legs were not strong and he was really not able to walk.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “There in Listara there was a man crippled from birth (lit. from inside the abdomen) and he had never been able to walk.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And there in Lystra they saw a person who was sitting whose feet were crippled. Starting from his birth he was not able to walk.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “There was at Listra a man whose feet/legs were crippled who absolutely couldn’t walk since he was born (lit. came-out).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “At Listra there was a lame person. What he would do was just be sitting, for he couldn’t walk. He had been lame since birth.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Lystra

The name that is transliterated as “Lystra” in English is translated in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) with a combinations of rock (the city is close to or on top of a hill) and a depiction or “refuge” (the city and/or the surroundings were used as a place of refuge). (Source: Missão Kophós )


“Lystra” in Libras (source )

More information on Lystra .

Translation commentary on Acts 14:8

He had been lame from birth translates the same expression as was used in 3.2 who had been lame all his life. The full details of the man’s situation are given, whose feet were crippled … lame from birth … never been able to walk, in order to emphasize the greatness and reality of the cure.

By means of the device there was it is possible to introduce the lame man in Lystra as “new information” in this story. In Greek the same kind of information is indicated by the indefinite pronoun tis sometimes translated “a certain” or “one.”

Terms for crippled vary widely, for example, “twisted,” “weak,” or “shriveled”; but in all languages there are satisfactory equivalents since this is a universal experience.

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 .