choose (Japanese honorifics)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.

In these verses, the verb that is translated as “choose” or similar in English is translated in the Shinkaiyaku Bible as o-erabi (お選び), combining “choose” (erabi) with the respectful prefix o-. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

know (Japanese honorifics)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God or a person or persons to be greatly honored, the honorific prefix go- (御 or ご) can be used, as in go-zonji (ご存じ), a combination of “know” (zonji) and the honorific prefix go-.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Honorary "are" construct denoting God (“do/make”)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, s-are-ru (される) or “do/make” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Acts 15:7

The term for debate should not imply a serious dispute. It simply indicates a long discussion where differences of opinion were expressed.

On my brothers see 1.16. A long time ago is taken by some translators to mean “in the early days (of the Christian faith).” Peter is here referring to the events narrated in Chapter 10, which had taken place some ten years before. God chose me … to preach is obviously the meaning of the Greek expression “God chose through my mouth … for the Gentiles to hear” (see Revised Standard Version “God made choice … that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear”). As in so many instances, it may be necessary to supply some goal to the verb believe, for example, “believe in the Lord.”

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Acts 15:7

15:7a

After much discussion: This indicates that the people in this meeting talked for a long time about whether or not Gentile believers must be circumcised and obey all the law of Moses. But even After much discussion, they still did not agree with each other.

The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as discussion is the same word translated as “debate” in 15:2. See how you translated this word there. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

after a long debate (New Century Version)
-or-
after debating/arguing for a long time

15:7b–c

God made a choice among you that the Gentiles would hear from my lips the message of the gospel:
This probably refers to God choosing Peter from among the apostles and elders to tell Gentiles about Jesus. Other ways to translate this clause are:

God chose me from among you to preach the Good News to the Gentiles… (Good News Translation)
-or-
God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news (New Revised Standard Version)

15:7b

Brothers: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Brothers is literally “Men, brothers.” This address was a polite way to begin speaking to the leaders. The word Brothers indicates that Peter was also a believer. Other ways to translate this Greek phrase are:

Men, my brothers/relatives ⌊in Jesus/Christ⌋
-or-
My fellow believers

See how you translated this Greek phrase in 1:16, but remember that the leaders here were probably only men.

in the early days: In Greek, this is literally “from days of long ago” or “from the days of the beginning.” Here it refers to when God directed Peter to speak to Cornelius (Acts chapter 10). Scholars estimate this phrase to indicate ten or perhaps fifteen years here. For example:

in the years soon after Jesus’ resurrection
-or-
many/some years ago

among you: Peter was an apostle. He was speaking to the apostles and elders (15:6). In some languages, for him to say that God chose among you will imply that Peter was not an apostle or an elder. If that is true in your language, you may want to indicate that he is an apostle. For example:

among the apostles and elders
-or-
among us(incl)

15:7c

that the Gentiles would hear from my lips the message of the gospel: This clause indicates the purpose for which God chose Peter. Other ways to translate this are:

that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
in order that the Gentiles hear the message of the Gospel by/from my lips
-or-
(chose) me to preach to the Gentiles so they would hear the message of the gospel (NET Bible)

Gentiles: The word Gentiles here refers to non-Jewish people in general.

from my lips: In Greek, this is literally “by my mouth.” This is an idiom that means “by my speech/talking.” Here it indicates that God sent Peter, and Peter himself told the gospel to the Gentiles. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

by my voice/speaking
-or-
from me personally/myself
-or-
by me

the message of the gospel: This phrase refers to what the gospel says. In some languages it is more natural to omit the phrase the message of. For example:

the Good News (Good News Translation)

gospel: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as gospel means “good news.” In the New Testament this word refers to the good news that Jesus is the person whom God sent to be our Savior and whom God raised from the dead. Other ways to translate this word are:

good/sweet news
-or-
good news ⌊about Jesus⌋
-or-
good news ⌊from God⌋
-or-
message/report that causes joy

Be sure that the word or phrase you choose does not refer only to a story that is not true or to a news report. If you have translated Matthew or Mark, see how you translated this word in Matthew 4:23 or Mark 1:1.

and believe: After hearing the gospel, some people believe it. Believing is the implied result of hearing the gospel. In some languages it will be more natural to make the idea of result explicit. For example:

and ⌊so⌋ believe
-or-
and ⌊then⌋ believe

In some languages a literal translation of and would clearly imply result here.

believe: This word refers to believing the gospel about Jesus. In some languages what is believed must be explicit. For example:

believe ⌊it⌋
-or-
accept it as true
-or-
believe/trust ⌊in Jesus⌋

See how you translated this word in 4:4 or a similar word in 2:44 (“believers”).

© 2001, 2021 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.