San Blas Kuna: “witnesses to God” (meaning “those who speak up and out for God” (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida, except Balanta-Kentohe: Rob Koops)
Mairasi: sasiri atatuemnev nesovnaa or “sent witnesses” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Khmer: Christtout (“messenger representing Christ”) or when Jesus addresses them: Tout robas Preah Ang (“his messengers-representatives”) (source: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1996, p. 233ff. )
Pwo Karen: “eyeballs” (i.e., “right-hand men”) (source: David Clark)
Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “one who goes about preaching the good word” (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
Noongar: Moorta Ngany Waangki-Koorl or “People I (Jesus) Send” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Ayutla Mixtec: “those who bore the word of God’s mouth”
Chichimeca-Jonaz: “elders messengers” (source for this and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Yakan: “commissioned ones” (source: Yakan Back Translation) — note that Scot McKnight in the EnglishThe Second Testament (publ. 2023) translates it as commissioners
Tenango Otomi: “(Jesus’) representatives” (source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Tsamakko: “ones-who-work-for-Christ” (source: Chris Pluger)
Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as commissioner.
In American Sign Language it is translated with a combination of the signs for “following” plus the sign for “authority” to differentiate it from disciple. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“apostles” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
The Greek that is translated as “elder” in most English versions (“presbyter” in The Orthodox New Testament, 2000) is translated as “Old-Man Leader” in Eastern Highland Otomi (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation November 1964, p. 1-22) and in Bacama as mi kpan-kpani vɨnə hiutə: “big/old person of house of prayer” (source: David Frank in this blog post ).
Other translations include:
“person who commands among the people of Jesus” in Lalana Chinantec
“supervisor of the creed” in Guhu-Samane (source for this and three above: Ellis Deibler in Notes on Translation July, 1967, p. 5ff.)
“older person” with an implication of that being a leader-like person in Matumbi (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
“person who has taken on responsibilities in the congregation” in German (das Buch translation by Roland Werner, publ. 2009-2022)
The German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) chooses for the occurrences in Revelation the translation of Würdenträger or “dignitary.” Elsewhere (for instance in 1 Peter 5:1) it has “elders, your congregational leadership.”
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 15:6:
Uma: “That is why the apostles of the Lord Yesus and other elders gathered to judge [lit., sit on] that matter.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Then the commissioned ones and the elders gathered to think/decide what to do about that matter.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Then the apostles and the elders met together so that they might discuss this.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “That being so, the apostles and leaders had-a-meeting to talk-about-that.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Therefore the apostles and overseers gathered together to discuss those things.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Met together may be taken either in the reflexive sense as the Good News Translation has done (see Jerusalem Bible, Phillips “met”) or in a passive sense (“were gathered” Revised Standard Version). The Greek idiom (literally “to look concerning this word”) has been rendered by the Good News Translationto consider this question and by most other translations “to look into this matter.”
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 .
After the challenge in 15:5, there was then an official meeting of the church leaders to discuss this argument and make a decision about it. Connect 15:5 to 15:6 in a way that is natural in your language. For example:
Then -or-
So (New Living Translation (2004))
In some languages it is not necessary to use a conjunction here.
So the apostles and elders met to look into this matter: The apostles and elders were the ones who had the authority to make a decision about this matter. So only they are mentioned here. However, the meeting probably was open for other believers to attend, as indicated by “the whole assembly” (15:12) and “the whole church” (15:22). In some languages, it will be more natural to mention them here. For example, at the end of 15:6, you could say:
Other believers were there listening.
to look into this matter: In Greek, this is literally “to see about this matter.” It refers to discussing and deciding whether or not Gentile believers must be circumcised and obey all the law of Moses. Other ways to translate this are:
to decide about this dispute -or-
to discuss this problem about Gentiles (Contemporary English Version) -or-
to decide about circumcising Gentile believers and making them obey the laws of Moses -or-
to look into the matter (New Jerusalem Bible)
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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