complete verse (Acts 7:22)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 7:22:

  • Uma: “So Musa was schooled in all the skill of the Mesir people, with the result that he was very powerful in his speech and actions.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Musa was taught all the learning of the tribe of Misil, and he was famous because of his speech and his deeds.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And she had Moses taught all of the customs of the Egyptians, and he became famous because of his wisdom in causing to understand and because of his work.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “He was taught with all the learning of the residents in Egipto, and what he said and did, it had weight.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Therefore, when Moises grew up, he was taught all which had been studied by the wise-people/thinkers who were taga Egipto. He was praiseworthy in speech and deed.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Morelos Nahuatl: “That’s why Moses studied all that the people of Egypt knew Moses was very smart for talking and for working.”
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “He, Moses studied all the teachings of the citizens of Egypt. And he had power in what he said and there was much that he could do.” (Source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

Moses

The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Moses” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).

In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:


“Moses” in French Sign Language (source )

The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).


“Moses” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)


“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL

In Estonian Sign Language Moses is depicted with a big beard. (Source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff. )


“Moses” in Estonian Sign Language, source: Glossary of the EKNK Toompea kogudus

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Moses .

Translation commentary on Acts 7:22

In Exodus 4.10 Moses indicates that he was not a capable speaker (in fact, he stuttered!), but later Jewish tradition made him out to be a powerful speaker; and the phrase a great man in words is most naturally taken to mean “one who has a great ability to speak.” Some, however, interpret this phrase as being a reference to the importance of what he said, that is, “a great man in what he said and in what he did.”

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 .