The Greek that is often translated as “evil” in English has the option of various terms in Luang with different shades of meaning.
For Acts 24:9 and Gen. 6:11, yata-hala (“bad-wrong”). “This term refers to evil behavior.”
For Acts 27:12, yota-yata (“bad-bad”). “This term refers to the evil results of behavior or to objects of poor quality. (In Acts 27:12 it refers to a bad harbor).”
For Acts 12:11 and 13:50, yatyatni (“its badness”). “This term is often used when evil comes on a person from an outside force.”
Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 24:9:
Uma: “All the Yahudi people who were there also joined in accusing and strengthening Tertulus’ words.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “The Yahudi also chimed-in/joined-in accusing him and they said that all that was true.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then the Jews who were with Tertullus, they affirmed all that he said.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “His companions also who were Jews, they confirmed that all he was-saying to accuse Pablo was true.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “When Tertulo had said that, he was backed up by those Jews who were accompanying him. They were saying, ‘All that which he said really is true.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Joined in has been rendered by Phillips as “kept joining in,” an attempt to bring out the continuous force of the Greek imperfect tense. The verb rendered said that indicates the making of an assertion to challenge the truth of what someone else has said; in Phillips and the Jerusalem Bible it appears as “asserting,” and in the New English Bible as “alleging.” Jews joined in the accusation may be rendered as “Jews also made the same accusations against Paul” or “the Jews also accused Paul of the same things.”
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 .
The Jews concurred: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as concurred originally referred to soldiers joining an attack. Here the word refers to the Jewish leaders agreeing with what Tertullus said. Other ways to translate this clause are:
The Jews also joined in the verbal attack (NET Bible) -or-
The Jews supported him (New Jerusalem Bible)
The Jews: Here the word Jews refers to the Jewish leaders who were with Tertullus. In some languages it is more natural to clearly refer to the leaders. For example:
The Jewish ⌊leaders⌋
24:9b
asserting that these charges were true: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as asserting indicates that Luke, the writer, did not agree with what they were asserting. Other ways to translate this phrase are:
claiming that these things were true (NET Bible) -or-
alleging that the facts were as he stated (Revised English 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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