Balinese: “put on a new behavior” (compare “repentance“: “to put on a new mind”)
Tzeltal: “cause one’s heart to return to God” (compare “repentance”: “to cause one’s heart to return because of one’s sin”)
Pedi: “retrace one’s step” (compare “repentance”: “to become untwisted”)
Uab Meto: “return” (compare “repentance”: “to turn the heart upside down”)
Northwestern Dinka: “turn oneself” (compare “repentance”: “to turn the heart”) (source for this and all above: Bratcher / Nida)
Central Mazahua: “change the heart” (compare “repentance”: “turn back the heart”) (source: Nida 1952, p. 40)
In Elhomwe, the same term is used for “conversion” and “repentance” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Western Kanjobal: “molt” (like a butterfly) (source: Nida 1952, p. 136)
Latvian: atgriezties (verb) / atgriešanās (noun) (“turn around / return”) which is also the same term being used for “repentance” (source: Katie Roth)
Isthmus Mixe: “look away from the teaching of one’s ancestors and follow the teachings of God”
Highland Popoluca: “leave one’s old beliefs to believe in Jesus” (source for thsi and above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 28:27:
Uma: “Because their hearts are unmoving/stiff, they have made-themselves-deaf and made-themselves-blind: they refuse to see with their eyes, they refuse to hear with their ears, they refuse to have their hearts made to understand. In the end, they will not return to me, and I will not give them salvation/goodness.’ ‘” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Because the people of this tribe their heads are hard (hard-headed). They stop/close their ears, they close their eyes. If their eyes would see and their ears could hear and their minds/thoughts would understand, they would come back/return to me,’ God said, ‘and I would heal them.’ ‘” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Therefore I speak these words because as for this people their minds are hard. They stop up their ears and they shut their eyes, because if they didn’t they would be able to see and they would be able to hear, and they would understand what is right, and they would trust me and I would heal them.’ ‘” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “because those people, their mind/thoughts have already become-stubborn (lit. hard). They turn-a-deaf-ear-to the truth while-simultaneously they close-their-eyes lest they be-able-to-see, able-to-hear and able-to-understand and turn-to-face me so that I will heal them.’ says the written word of God.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Really as for these people, they have hardened their heads. They cause their ears to let things go right through and they are closing their eyes. For if it wasn’t like that, they may indeed be able to see, able indeed to hear, able indeed to understand, and they would indeed return to me, that I would indeed make them well, however they won’t.”” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
In Greek, verse 26 begins a participle (literally “saying”), which the Good News Translation has rendered for he said. The Old Testament passage cited in these verses is Isaiah 6.9-10, and, as quoted here, it is in almost word-for-word agreement with the Septuagint. Both in Isaiah and in its use in Acts the phrase to this people is a specific reference to the Jewish people.
Listen and listen … look and look (Jerusalem Bible “hear and hear … see and see”) translate Hebraic idioms which indicate intensive action. The contrast between listening and understanding, and between looking and perceiving, may be rendered in some languages as “though you listen and listen you will not understand, and though you look and look you will not perceive.” However, in certain languages emphasis cannot be indicated by a mere repetition of a verb in phrases such as listen and listen or look and look. It is necessary to indicate that this is an intensive action—for example, “You will listen very intently but not understand; you will look very hard but not really see.”
The word rendered minds is literally “hearts,” but in Hebrew thought the heart was the center of the intellectual activity. One should not translate the term dull in this type of context to mean that the people’s minds are simply below normal in intelligence. It is not their lack of intellectual capacity, but their stubborn refusal to understand what their senses tell them. In some languages one must translate “because the minds of this people are hard,” while in other languages precisely the opposite idiom would be employed “because the minds of this people are soft.” Basically what is required here is an idiom which indicates refusal to comprehend. In some languages this is rendered as “because these people do not wish to understand.”
The Hebraic idiom “they hear with ears of heaviness” has been transformed into an English idiom: they have stopped up their ears. This expression stopped up their ears may be rendered as “covered over their ears,” “have put something in their ears,” or even “have closed their ears.”
Two other Semitic idioms, “lest they should see with their eyes … hear with their ears,” have also been transformed into more natural English expressions: otherwise, their eyes would see, their ears would hear. In a number of languages one cannot say “their eyes see,” but one can say “they see with their eyes and they hear with their ears.”
In some languages it is necessary to specify the relationship of the last two lines of verse 27 to what has preceded. This can be indicated as “and as a result they might turn to me.”
The verb heal should be understood in the broadest possible sense, since it should include not just physical healing but spiritual transformation as well—for example, “cause them to be well again.”
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 pronoun changes from “you” in 28:26 to “they” in 28:27, because in 28:26 God commanded Isaiah to say those words to the Jewish people but in 28:27 God talked about them.
28:27a
The command to speak ended at 28:26c. Now God described the people. In some languages, it is more natural to indicate clearly the change from command to description. For example:
⌊The Holy Spirit continued⌋ -or-
⌊The Holy Spirit said further⌋
For: This conjunction introduces the reason for the people not understanding what they see and hear. For example:
because (Good News Translation)
If it is not natural in your language to start a sentence with For, you may want to:
• Continue the sentence from 28:26 as the Good News Translation does.
• Add a statement that refers to 28:26 in a general way. For example:
⌊These things are true⌋ because -or-
⌊They are like that⌋ because
• Allow the context to imply the connection and do not translate the conjunction.
this people’s heart has grown callous: This clause is a metaphor. Their heart being callous indicates that they were slow to learn or did not want to understand. They were that way because they were unwilling to believe what God told them. Here is another way to translate this:
For the hearts of these people are hardened (New Living Translation (2004))
In some languages a literal translation would not have that meaning. If so, you may want to translate the meaning without the figure of speech. For example:
the heart of this people has become dull (New American Standard Bible) -or-
the heart of this people has become closed -or-
these people have become stubborn (New Century Version) -or-
this people’s minds are dull (Good News Translation)
this people’s heart: The word heart refers figuratively to the center and source of inner life, so the word refers to thinking, feeling, and the will.
In some languages a literal translation would not refer to this inner life. If that is true in your language, you may want to use the word or phrase that has the right meaning. For example:
this people’s insides -or-
this people -or-
this people’s minds and will
28:27b
they hardly hear with their ears: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as hardly hear means “hear with difficulty.” Here the Greek phrase indicates that they refuse to listen. It does not indicate that they are partly deaf. Other ways to translate this clause are:
they refuse to listen -or-
they have plugged/covered their ears
The phrase with their ears is already included in the meaning of the verb hear. In some languages it may be more natural not to translate the phrase with their ears (as in the first example above).
28:27c
they have closed their eyes: This clause indicates that they refused to see or understand. Other ways to translate this clause are:
they refuse to see -or-
they have closed their eyes ⌊to the truth⌋ -or-
they have closed their eyes ⌊to what is true⌋
28:27d–f
Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them: The Greek word the Berean Standard Bible translates as Otherwise expresses negative purpose: “in order not to.” It indicates that the deeds in 28:27a–c were done in order to have the things in 28:27d–f not happen. These people did not want to see, hear, understand or repent. Some examples are:
to avoid using their eyes to see… (New Jerusalem Bible) -or-
so that they might not look with their eyes… (New Revised Standard Version) -or-
in order to not look…
28:27d
see with their eyes: The verb see refers to more than just physical seeing, it also refers to understanding here.
In some languages a literal translation would wrongly refer only to physical seeing. If so, you may want to make the meaning of understanding clear. Some examples are:
see ⌊and understand⌋ -or-
perceive with their eyes (Revised Standard Version)
The phrase with their eyes is already included in the meaning of the verb see. In some languages it is more natural not to translate the phrase with their eyes (as in the first example above).
hear with their ears: The phrase with their ears is already included in the meaning of the verb hear. In some languages it is more natural not to translate the phrase with their ears.
28:27e
understand with their hearts: In Greek culture, the “heart” was the center and source of inner life, so the word refers to thinking, feeling, and the will. So the phrase understand with their hearts refers to truly understanding something. Some examples are:
their mind understand (Revised English Bible) -or-
truly understand -or-
understand completely/deeply
The things to be understood are not stated. Here Paul probably used this message from God to refer to Jesus being the savior. In some languages an object for the verb understand is needed. If so, two examples are:
understand with their hearts ⌊what I do and say⌋ -or-
understand with their hearts ⌊what I am doing in front of them⌋
turn: This verb refers figuratively to repenting. Use a term for repenting that is natural in your language. Some examples are:
repent -or-
turn to me (Good News Translation) -or-
changing their ways (New Jerusalem Bible)
General Comment on 28:27a–e
In 28:27a–c, the order is heart, ears, eyes. In 28:27d–e, the order is eyes, ears, heart. This is a Hebrew (and Greek) poetic structure. In some languages it is more natural to use the same order in both places. For example:
For this people’s heart has become callused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might understand with their hearts, hear with their ears, see with their eyes and turn, and I would heal them.
28:27f
I would heal them: This clause refers figuratively to God forgiving their sins and changing them from sinning to following Him. This clause also had not actually happened, similar to 13:15d–e. They had not repented, so God had not healed them.
In some languages a literal translation would wrongly refer only to healing sicknesses. If so, you may want to:
• Include some implied information. For example:
I would heal them ⌊spiritually⌋ -or-
I would heal their ⌊evil ways⌋ -or-
I would save them ⌊from sinning⌋
• Translate the meaning without the figure of speech. For example:
I would forgive them and change how they think
General Comment on 28:26a–27f
28:26a–27f is a quote from Isaiah 6:9–10. If you footnote the location of quotes from the Old Testament, you may want to do so here.
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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