for about two hours

The Greek in Acts 19:34 that is translated as “for about two hours” or similar in English is translated in Ankave with a repetition that marks ongoing duration: “nɨra nuro nɨra nuro” means “ceasing they went along saying and went along saying.” (Source: Richard Speece in Notes on Translation 1989. p. 1ff.)

complete verse (Acts 19:34)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 19:34:

  • Uma: “But instead, when the people saw that he was a Yahudi, they kept on cheering/shouting for two hours in length, they said: ‘Praise Artemis, the anitu of us Efesus people!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “But when the people recognized that he was a Yahudi, they kept calling out in unison for two hours always repeating their words, they said, ‘Greatly honored is Artemis, the god of the people of Epesus.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “However when they discovered that he was a Jew, they began shouting again, ‘Great is Artemisa whom we Ephesians worship!’ And for two hours they shouted this.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But when they identified that he was a Jew, they shouted in unison (lit. caused-to-be-one what they shouted) for almost two hours saying, ‘Honored be Artemis who is our god here in Efeso.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But since they knew already that he was a Jew, they certainly didn’t listen but all the more determinedly they were shouting, saying, ‘Extremely praiseworthy is Diana whom we taga Efeso worship!’ That’s what they kept on repeating for the space of two hours.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 19:34

The pronoun they refers, of course, to the mob or crowd—for example, “when the crowd recognized that he was a Jew.” This recognition might be based upon appearance, put it could have also been derived from his accent or the manner in which he spoke in defense of himself and his fellow Jews.

This verse would indicate that the Jews were not too well received in Ephesus. “There came one voice from them all” means, as the Good News Translation has translated, they all shouted together the same thing.

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 19:34

19:34a

when they realized that he was a Jew: People in the crowd recognized that Alexander was a Jew, perhaps by his clothing or his appearance or his way of speaking. These people probably started the chant of 19:34c and everyone else in the crowd immediately joined in. The people of Ephesus would not be happy to listen to a Jew. Other ways to translate this clause are:

when they recognized that he was a Jew (Good News Translation)
-or-
Knowing he was a Jew

19:34b

they all shouted in unison: The people realized Alexander was a Jew and therefore did not worship Artemis. So they started shouting so he would not be able to speak to them.

in unison: This phrase indicates that the crowd spoke each word at the same time.

19:34c

Great is Artemis of the Ephesians: See how you translated this clause in 19:28.

© 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.