The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is transliterated as “Joel” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language in two different ways. The first is with a sign depicting “Pentecost flame,” referring to Peter’s speech on Pentecost in which he quotes Joel in Acts 2:16 and following. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 2:16:
Uma: “What has happened here, is the fulfillment of what the Lord God foretold ahead-of-time long ago, with the lips of Nabi Yoel, like this its sound:” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But this that you see now,’ he said, ‘has been foretold by Nabi Joel and now it is fulfilled. He said,” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “This is what was prophesied long ago by the one inspired by God, Joel, because he said,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “What was-done to us (excl.) a short-while-ago, that was what Joel prophesied long ago saying,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “On the contrary, this which has happened today is the fulfilling of the written word of the prophet Joel, saying,” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Eugene Nida wrote the following about the translation of the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek terms that are typically translated with “prophet” in English:
“The tendency in many translations is to use ‘to foretell the future’ for ‘prophesy,’ and ‘one who foretells the future’ for ‘prophet.’ This is not always a recommended usage, particularly if such expressions denote certain special native practices of spirit contact and control. It is true, of course, that prophets of the Bible did foretell the future, but this was not always their principal function. One essential significance of the Greek word prophētēs is ‘one who speaks forth,’ principally, of course, as a forth-teller of the Divine will. A translation such as ‘spokesman for God’ may often be employed profitably.” (1947, p. 234f.)
Following is a list of (back-) translations from other languages (click or tap for details):
Ayutla Mixtec: “one who talks as God’s representative”
Isthmus Mixe: “speaker for God” (source for this and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Mezquital Otomi / Paasaal: “God’s messenger” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff. and Fabian N. Dapila in The Bible Translator 2024, p. 415ff.)
Noongar: Warda Marridjiny or “News Traveling” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Kutu: mtula ndagu or “one who gives the prediction of the past and the future” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ebira: ọnịsẹ, a neologism that combines the prefix ọn for “a person” with ịsẹ for “prediction” (source: Scholz /Scholz 2015, p. 49)
French 1985 translation by Chouraqui: inspiré or “inspired one” (“someone in whom God has breathed [Latin: in + spiro]) (source: Watson 2023, p. 45)
In Ixcatlán Mazatec a term is used that specifically includes women. (Source: Robert Bascom)
“In some instances these spiritual terms result from adaptations reflecting the native life and culture. Among the Northern Grebo people of Liberia, a missionary wanted some adequate term for ‘prophet,’ and she was fully aware that the native word for ‘soothsayer’ or ‘diviner’ was no equivalent for the Biblical prophet who spoke forth for God. Of course, much of what the prophets said referred to the future, and though this was an essential part of much of their ministry, it was by no means all. The right word for the Gbeapo people would have to include something which would not only mean the foretelling of important events but the proclamation of truth as God’s representative among the people. At last the right word came; it was ‘God’s town-crier.’ Every morning and evening the official representative of the chief goes through the village crying out the news, delivering the orders of the chief, and announcing important coming events. ‘God’s town-crier’ would be the official representative of God, announcing to the people God’s doings, His commands, and His pronouncements for their salvation and well-being. For the Northern Grebo people the prophet is no weird person from forgotten times; he is as real as the human, moving message of the plowman Amos, who became God’s town-crier to a calloused people.” (source: Nida 1952, p. 20)
In British Sign Language it is is translated with a sign that depicts a message coming from God to a person (the upright finger) and then being passed on to others. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Prophet” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
The quotation which is introduced in this verse, and which is given in the verses following, comes from Joel 2.28-32, and follows the Septuagint with some changes.
The total shift of viewpoint at the beginning of verse 16 should be made quite explicit. In English the word rather serves this function well, but in other languages it may be necessary to be even more explicit, for example, “you must think differently” or “the truth is very different.”
The pronoun this in the first clause must refer to the speaking in tongues and not to the presumed drunkenness. In many languages one must make this reference somewhat more specific, for example, “this that has happened” or even “this that you see and hear.”
Many languages require some supplementary verb of speaking to introduce direct discourse, for example, “spoke about, when he said,” while other languages never employ such doublets of speaking.
Though in English we may employ two different orders, the prophet Joel or “Joel the prophet,” in many languages only one order is regarded as correct for combining a proper noun (the name) and a function. More often than not, the proper name comes first and the function is treated as a qualifier, for example, “Joel, who was a prophet.” Prophet should focus attention on the fact that such a person “spoke for God” rather than on his function of foretelling the future. In other words, the focus is upon his function as a revealer of God’s will and word, rather than his role as a foreteller of the future.
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 .
No: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as No is often translated as “but” (as in the Revised Standard Version). It indicates contrast between Peter saying “these men/people are not drunk, as you suppose” (2:15a) and what they should understand. Other English versions translate the conjunction as:
Instead (Good News Translation) -or-
Rather (God’s Word)
However, Peter said that the believers were not drunk in 2:15. In some languages 2:15 does not contrast with 2:16–21. If that is true in your language, you may want to:
• Translate this Greek word as emphasis. For example:
Indeed
• Restate what 2:16 contrasts with. For example:
⌊You say they are drunk⌋ but
this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: The Greek is literally “this is the (thing) spoken through the prophet Joel.” The word this refers to the believers speaking in other languages. For example:
what happened is what was spoken through the prophet
The clause is passive. Some languages must use an active clause. For example:
what happened was spoken about through the prophet Joel -or-
God spoke about what happened through the prophet Joel. ⌊He said:⌋
was spoken: Joel spoke (and wrote) the words of 2:17–21 more than seven hundred years before the time Peter spoke here.
prophet: A prophet is a person who speaks on behalf of God. God speaks to the prophet through words and visions. Then the prophet tells God’s message (the prophecy) to the people or writes it down for their use. Here are some other ways to translate this word:
a spokesman for God -or-
a man who spoke God’s words -or-
God’s message-speaker
This particular prophet, Joel, lived over 400 years before the book of Acts was written. If your translation uses tense, indicate or imply that he was a prophet who lived long ago.
While prophets did foretell the future, this was not their only function. Avoid using a word that focuses on telling the future. But Joel did foretell the future in this case.
Joel: There is a textual issue here.
(1) Many early Greek manuscripts have the name Joel.
(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, English Standard Version, King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Contemporary English Version, God’s Word, NET Bible, New Living Translation (2004), Revised English Bible, New Century Version, New American Bible, Revised Edition)
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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