complete verse (Acts 8:9)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 8:9:

  • Uma: “In that town, there was a man named Simon. That Simon was a magician / sleight-of-hand-expert [topobali’mata]. For a long time he had shown his magic that surprised the Samaritans. He said that he was a man with big power.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “There was a person living in that town whose name was Simon. He was a diviner (landungan) and the people of Samariya were very amazed about his doings. That Simon said that he was a person with (supernatural) power.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There was a Samarian person who was a magician, and his name was Simon. For how many years had he surprised the people with his work. He caused the people to believe that he was not just a common person.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “But there was someone who had for-a-long-time practiced-divination in that town who was named Simon of-whom-all the residents in Samaria -were-amazed. He had-been-boasting-about himself saying that he had importance/greatness (lit. highness).” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “But in that city there was a person whose name was Simon. He was a powerful-spirit-medium. For a long time already, all the taga Samaria were amazed by him because of the big-size of his knowledge/aquired-skill. He kept on saying that he was a very-far-from-ordinary person.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Teutila Cuicatec: “In that town there lived a man called Simon who had been a Witch doctor formerly. He had really deceived the people who lived throughout all the land of Samaria, claiming that there was no one else like him.” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

Translation commentary on Acts 8:9

The main verb in this sentence (literally, “to be for some while”) has two participles dependent upon it, “practicing magic” and “astounding.” The meaning is that Simon had been in the city for some time and all the while had been practicing magic and astounding the people. The rendering “who had previously practiced magic” (Revised Standard Version) might suggest that at the time that Philip came to Samaria Simon was no longer practicing magic, but the force of the Greek indicates that Simon had been doing this for a long time and was still doing it at the time of Philip’s arrival in the city. The Greek literally says “the nation of the Samaritans” (see Revised Standard Version), but the meaning of the expression is simply “the Samaritan people,” that is, the Samaritans (see New English Bible, Phillips, Jerusalem Bible). He claimed that he was someone great is very similar to what was said of Theudas in 5.36.

The Greek term translated “practicing magic” is a technical expression relating to the use of sorcery. It is not a term for “performing miracles.” Since magic in one form or another, whether “white” (beneficial) or “black” (harmful), is of common occurrence in most cultures, there is usually no difficulty in finding some closely corresponding terms.

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 .