complete verse (Acts 7:21)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 7:21:

  • Uma: “In his being thrown out, the young-woman daughter of Firaun picked him up, and cared for him like her own child.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “After three months he was put out of the house. But he was found by the daughter of the king and she made him her son.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when they placed him far away, the daughter of the king found him. She adopted Moses, and he grew up with her as if he were her own son.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When they were forced to abandon him outside, a woman who was the child of Faraon came-upon him, and she cared-for him like he was her child.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But when they could no longer hide him inside the house, they took him a distance and then left him. But there was someone who found him and he was adopted by the daughter of that king. Her treatment of that child was really just like she was-his-natural-mother.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Acts 7:21

Adopted literally means “to lift up” (in 2.23 it means “to kill”), and may be translated either as the Good News Translation (see New English Bible, Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, Phillips) or literally, that is, “to take up (from the river),” which is the meaning it has in the narrative of Exodus 2.5 (see Zürcher Bibel “the daughter of Pharaoh lifted him out of the water”).

The term adopted may be rendered as “made him her son” or “treated him just like her own.” Under such circumstances it may be necessary to coalesce, adopted … brought … up, for example, “took care of him just as her own son and called him her child.”

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 .