A Handbook on the Acts of the Apostles
Overview
What if you were responsible for translating God's Word into a language that never had a Bible before? Can you imagine the burden you would feel to do a good job?
God takes His Word pretty seriously, and you would certainly do everything in your power to make sure that you were not putting words into God's mouth, but that you were providing a text that clearly communicated God's Word as closely to the original as possible.
This challenge to understand the heart of the original Scriptures, in order to put the original text into a new language, was the impetus for the United Bible Societies to create handbooks for Bible translators working on this very thing. The United Bible Societies' Handbook Series is a comprehensive verse-by-verse guide to understanding exactly what is being communicated by the author in the original Scriptures.
Key Features
- Exegetical, historical, cultural, and linguistic information on the original text
- Verse-by-verse guides
- An essential tool for Bible translators
Top Highlights
“The laying of hands was a gesture taken over by the Christian community from the Jewish community. It symbolized not only the giving of a responsibility but, what is more important, the imparting of strength and of the community’s blessing.” (Page 137)
“In the last days is a typical Jewish expression used to describe the time of the Messianic age in which God would fully accomplish those promises that he had made to his people. It was taken over by the first Christians and applied to the period that began when Jesus came into the world, especially from the time of his resurrection onward. It is quite significant that these words are not in the Hebrew or Greek texts of Joel but are supplied by Peter.” (Page 43)
“Candace (transliterated as Kandake in the NEB) is not the name of the queen but rather the title of the queens of Ethiopia, as Pharaoh was the title of the kings of Egypt.” (Page 181)
“The essence of Paul’s message to the Athenians may be summed up in the following way: (1) this unknown god whom you worship is the true God though you do not know it; (2) you can learn much about this unknown God by observing what he has done in the creative order; (3) this true God will remain unknown to you until you meet him in the person of Jesus Christ.” (Page 340)
“Although almost all translations say that Paul spoke to them in Hebrew, actually Paul would have been speaking in Aramaic, the language which the Jews of that day used (see NEB ‘in the Jewish language’). Spoke to them in Hebrew may be rendered as ‘spoke to them; the words he used were Hebrew words,’ ‘spoke to them, using the Hebrew language,’ ‘spoke to them in their own Jewish language,’ or ‘… in the language used by the Jews.’” (Page 418)
Product Details
- Title: A Handbook on the Acts of the Apostles
- Authors: E. A. Nida, B. M. Newman
- Series: The United Bible Societies' Handbook Series (UBSHS)
- Publisher: United Bible Societies
- Pages: 534