complete verse (Acts 25:13)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 25:13:

  • Uma: “Not long after that, King Agripa with Bernike went to the town of Kaisarea to greet Festus on his being raised to become Governor.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Some time after that, King Agarippa and Bernike, his sister arrived there in Kesarea. They went to visit Pestus to pay him respect (lit. for their-respecting him).” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “A few days after that King Agrippa and his wife Bernice arrived in Caesarea because they wanted to greet Festus.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When how-many days passed-by, the King of the Jews who was Agrippa and his younger-sibling Bernice went to Cesarea to go visit Festus.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “When a few days had passed, king Agrippa arrived in Cesarea together with Bernice, for they wanted to greet the new governor, Festo.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

king

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Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:

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  • Piro: “a great one”
  • Highland Totonac: “the big boss”
  • Huichol: “the one who commanded” (source for this and above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • Ekari: “the one who holds the country” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Una: weik sienyi: “big headman” (source: Kroneman 2004, p. 407)
  • Pass Valley Yali: “Big Man” (source: Daud Soesilo)
  • Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
  • Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))

Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:

“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”

(Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. )

See also king (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on Acts 25:13

The King Agrippa mentioned here is Agrippa II, son of Herod Agrippa I. He actually ruled over only a few small territories north of Palestine, though he did have the authority, given him by the Roman Emperor, to appoint the Jewish High Priest. Bernice, the oldest daughter of Herod Agrippa I, was not without her faults. She had been given by her father to his brother as a wife, and when he died she lived for a while in the home of her own brother, Agrippa II. After this she married the king of Cilicia, but then left him and came back to live with her brother. Later she became the mistress of the Roman general Titus, who felt it necessary to leave her when he was made Emperor.

The temporal expression some time later can probably be best interpreted as “some months later” or perhaps “several weeks later,” but it is certainly neither a matter of years nor of days.

To pay a visit of welcome translates a term which is used of general greetings, though it is also used in a specialized sense of “to pay an official visit of welcome to someone” (see New English Bible “on a courtesy visit to Festus”).

A visit of welcome to Festus may be rendered as “to visit Festus and to say to him, Welcome” or “… We are glad you have come.”

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 25:13

Paragraph 25:13–16

25:13a

King Agrippa: This is the son of King Herod (Agrippa) mentioned in Acts 12.

Bernice: This is the daughter of King Herod Agrippa mentioned in Acts 12. At this time she lived with her brother, King Agrippa II. In some languages, people will not know who Bernice was. If so, you may want to:

• Explain it in your translation. For example:

⌊his sister⌋ Bernice

• Include a footnote to explain. An example footnote is:

Bernice was the ⌊younger⌋ sister of King Agrippa.

See how you spelled this name in Acts 12.

25:13b

to pay their respects to Festus: Here the phrase pay…respects refers to officially greeting a leader and beginning a relationship with him. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

to ⌊officially⌋ welcome Festus
-or-
a courtesy visit to Festus (Revised English Bible)

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