complete verse (Acts 7:50)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 7:50:

  • Uma: “Seeing that I am the one who made everything!’ Thus are the Words of the Lord.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “‘For I am the one who made the sky and the world/earth.’ ‘” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “because I am the one who created this earth and all the things that are in it.’ ‘” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because it is I who made all that exists.’ That’s what God caused-to-be-written back then,’ said Esteban.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “since I indeed am the one who created all these things?”” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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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.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Acts 7:50

If the form of the question is to be retained in verse 50, it must be so structured as to imply a strong affirmation that God had himself made all such things. If this cannot be brought out clearly in the question, then one may shift to an emphatic statement. After all, the question is merely rhetorical even as the preceding two questions are, and in some languages such expressions must be restructured as emphatic statements. God is obviously not asking for information, but by means of the question form is emphasizing his lack of dependence upon what man has built.

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 .