34But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time.
Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 5:34:
Uma: “But there was one from their midst, named Gamaliel. That Gamaliel was a Parisi person, and a teacher of religion that was honored by all the people. He stood and ordered people to carry those apostles outside for a while.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But one councilor got up. His name was Gamaliel. He was a Pariseo and a teacher very well versed in the Yahudi religious law, and he was respected by all the people. He requested that those men being investigated be taken outside for a while.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “However there was one of their companions named Gamaliel. He was a Pharisee, a teacher of the law, and respected by all the people. He stood up and commanded that the apostles be taken outside for a while. And when they were already outside,” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But there was a Fariseo who was a teacher of the law whom the many-people respected/acknowledged. His name was Gamaliel. He stood-up and said, ‘Have-them -go-out for a little-while.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But when it was like that now, there stood up a person who was a Pariseo who was one of the members of that Sanedrin. His name was Gamaliel. He was a teacher of the laws written by Moises and he was respected by all the people. He ordered that the apostles be first taken outside.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
The Greek that is a transliteration of the Hebrew Pərūšīm and is typically transliterated into English as “Pharisee” is transliterated in Mandarin Chinese as Fǎlìsài (法利賽 / 法利赛) (Protestant) or Fǎlìsāi (法利塞) (Catholic). In Chinese, transliterations can typically be done with a great number of different and identical-sounding characters. Often the meaning of the characters are not relevant, unless they are chosen carefully as in these cases. The Protestant Fǎlìsài can mean something like “Competition for the profit of the law” and the Catholic Fǎlìsāi “Stuffed by/with the profit of the law.” (Source: Zetzsche 1996, p. 51)
In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the sign signifying “prayer shawl”. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Scot McKnight (in The Second Testament, publ. 2023) translates it into English as Observant. He explains (p. 302): “Pharisee has become a public, universal pejorative term for a hypocrite. Pharisees were observant of the interpretation of the Covenant Code called the ‘tradition of the elders.’ They conformed their behaviors to the interpretation. Among the various groups of Jews at the time of Jesus, they were perhaps closest to Jesus in their overall concern to make a radical commitment to the will of God (as they understood it).”
The Pharisees were the largest, most important, and most influential religious group of the Jews; they were very faithful in their observation of the Law of the Moses. Gamaliel, mentioned here and in 22.3, is Gamaliel I, a noted and respected Jewish teacher. The expression highly respected by all the people may be rendered in some languages as “all the people thought he was very great” or “all the people honored him very much.”
Ordered the apostles to be taken out may be shifted into an active form “ordered the guards to lead the apostles out.”
The Greek includes an adverb with the verb phrase to be taken out. Although the adverb may mean either “a little distance” or “a little while,” most translations follow the latter interpretation. In 27.28 the Good News Translation renders this same adverb by a little later.
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 .
Pharisee: The Pharisees were one group within the Jewish religion. They were very careful to follow all the Jewish traditions, as well as obeying the laws that God had given to Moses. Here are some ways to translate this word:
• Spell the word Pharisee according to the sounds of your language and indicate that it refers to the people of that group. For example:
Farisi members -or-
Parise adherents
• Spell the word Pharisee according to the sounds of your language and indicate that it refers to a group of people with certain beliefs. For example:
people belonging to the Farise religious sect/group -or-
members of the religious group called the Farasi
See how you translated this word in Matthew 3:7, Mark 2:16, Luke 5:17, or John 1:24.
You may also want to explain the word Pharisee in a footnote or glossary. Here is an example footnote:
The Pharisees were a conservative Jewish religious group. They carefully followed the Old Testament laws and added other rules as well. They were the dominant religious group among the Jews and were highly respected by other Jews.
a teacher of the law: This phrase refers to a man who studied, interpreted, and taught the law of Moses. Here are some ways to translate this phrase:
a teacher of the Law ⌊of Moses⌋ -or-
an expert in religious law (New Living Translation (2004)) -or-
expert on the laws ⌊that Moses wrote⌋
See how you translated this phrase in Matthew 2:4, Mark 1:22, Luke 5:17, or John 8:3.
5:34b
who was honored by all the people: This further describes Gamaliel. It does not separate this Gamaliel from other men named Gamaliel. For the correct meaning in some languages, translators must avoid the word who. For example:
and he was honored by all the people -or-
and all the people honored him
5:34c
stood up in the Sanhedrin: This clause implies that Gamaliel was a member of the Sanhedrin. Gamaliel was already there among the other members of the Sanhedrin. Their custom was to sit while listening and stand to speak.
Sanhedrin: See how you translated this word in 5:27.
5:34d
and ordered that the men be put outside for a short time: The word ordered indicates that Gamaliel commanded someone, probably the temple guards (5:26), to take the apostles out of the room where the Sanhedrin was meeting. Here are some other ways to translate this:
and told ⌊the guards⌋ to take the men/apostles out of the room for a short time -or-
and said, “Take(plur) these men outside for a little while”
the men be put outside: This clause is passive. Probably Gamaliel told the temple guards to take the apostles out of the room. Some languages must use an active clause. For example:
⌊someone⌋ put the men outside -or-
⌊the guards⌋ put the men outside
If you use “someone,” as in the first example, it should not imply someone other than the temple guards. If it does, use the second example.
a short time: This probably refers to some minutes less than an hour.
General Comment on 5:34d
This clause implies that the guards did take the apostles out of the room. In some languages a literal translation would imply that the apostles were still in the room. If that is true in your language, add the implied information here. For example:
and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. ⌊And they did.⌋
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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