ACTs 16:16 Parallel Verse View

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Text critical issues=small word differences Clarity of original=clear Importance=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) One time as we were walking to the prayer meeting, we met a female slave who was possessed by a spirit that enabled her to tell fortunes, and thanks to that, to earn a lot of money for her masters.

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor, cyan:dative/indirect object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT And it happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain young female slave having a Python spirit met us, who, divining, was bringing much gain to her masters.

UST Another day, as we were going to the place where people gathered to pray, we met a young woman who was a slave. An evil spirit was giving her the power to tell what would happen to people in the future. People paid a lot of money to the men who were her owners so that she would tell them what was going to happen to them.

BSB § One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl with a spirit of divination,[fn] who earned a large income for her masters by fortune-telling.

16:16 Greek a spirit of Python; that is, a spirit of divination named after the mythical serpent slain by Apollo

BLB Now it happened of us going to the place of prayer, a certain girl, having a spirit of Python, met us, who was bringing her masters much gain by fortune-telling.

AICNT Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave girl having a spirit of Python[fn] met us, who provided much profit to her masters by fortune-telling.

16:16, fortune-telling: Or divination.

OEB One day, as we were on our way to the place of prayer, we were met by a girl possessed by a divining spirit, who made large profits for her masters by fortune-telling.

WEBBE As we were going to prayer, a certain girl having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by fortune telling.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future by supernatural means. She brought her owners a great profit by fortune-telling.

LSV And it came to pass in our going on to prayer, a certain maid, having a spirit of Python, met us, who brought much employment to her masters by soothsaying;

FBV One day when we were going down to the place of prayer we met a slave girl possessed by an evil spirit.[fn] She earned her masters a great deal of money by fortune-telling.

16:16 Literally, “python spirit,” a spirit of divination.

TCNT One day, as we were on our way to prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination. She had brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.

T4T Another day, while we (exc) were going to the place where people regularly gathered to pray, we met a young woman who was a slave. An evil spirit was enabling her to be a ventriloquist and to tell people what would happen to them. People paid a lot of money to the men who were her owners, in return for her telling them things that she said would happen to them.

LEB And it happened that as[fn] we were going to the place of prayer, a certain female slave who had a spirit of divination[fn] met us, who was bringing a large profit to her owners by[fn] fortune-telling.

16:16 *Here “as” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“were going”)

16:16 Literally “a spirit of Python”; Python was the name of the serpent or dragon that guarded the Delphic oracle at the foot of Mt. Parnassus and the word eventually came to be used for a spirit of divination

16:16 *Here “by” is supplied as a component of the infinitive (“fortune-telling”) which is understood as means

BBE And when we were going to the place of prayer, we came across a girl with a spirit which gave knowledge of the future, whose masters made great profit from her power.

Moff No Moff ACTs book available

Wymth One day, as we were on our way to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who claimed to be inspired and was accustomed to bring her owners large profits by telling fortunes.

ASV And it came to pass, as we were going to the place of prayer, that a certain maid having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by soothsaying.

DRA And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain girl, having a pythonical spirit, met us, who brought to her masters much gain by divining.

YLT And it came to pass in our going on to prayer, a certain maid, having a spirit of Python, did meet us, who brought much employment to her masters by soothsaying,

Drby And it came to pass as we were going to prayer that a certain female slave, having a spirit of Python, met us, who brought much profit to her masters by prophesying.

RV And it came to pass, as we were going to the place of prayer, that a certain maid having a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying.

Wbstr And it came to pass as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination, met us, who brought her masters much gain by sooth-saying:

KJB-1769 ¶ And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:

KJB-1611 ¶ [fn]And it came to passe, as we went to prayer, a certaine Damosell possessed with a spirit of diuination, met vs: which brought her masters much gaine by soothsaying.
(¶ And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain Damosell possessed with a spirit of diuination, met us: which brought her masters much gaine by soothsaying.)

16:16 Or, of Pythom,

Bshps And it came to passe, as we went to prayer, a certayne damsell, possessed with a spirite of southsaying met vs: which brought her maisters much vantage with southsaying.
(And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel, possessed with a spirit of southsaying met us: which brought her masters much vantage with southsaying.)

Gnva And it came to passe that as we went to prayer, a certaine maide hauing a spirit of diuination, mette vs, which gate her masters much vantage with diuining.
(And it came to pass that as we went to prayer, a certain maid having a spirit of diuination, mette us, which gate her masters much vantage with diuining. )

Cvdl It fortuned whan we wente to prayer, yt there met vs a damsel, which had a sprete of soythsayenge, and broughte hir master and mastresse greate vauntage with soyth sayenge:
(It fortuned when we went to prayer, it there met us a damsel, which had a spirit of soythsayenge, and brought her master and mastresse great vauntage with soyth sayenge:)

TNT And it fortuned as we went to prayer a certayn damsell possessed with a sprete that prophesied met vs which brought her master and mastres moche vauntage with prophesyinge.
(And it fortuned as we went to prayer a certayn damsel possessed with a spirit that prophesied met us which brought her master and mastres much vauntage with prophesyinge. )

Wycl And sche constreynede vs. And it was don, whanne we yeden to preier, that a damysel that hadde a spirit of diuynacioun, mette vs, which yaf greet wynnyng to her lordis in dyuynynge.
(And she constrained us. And it was done, when we went to prayer, that a damsel that had a spirit of diuynacioun, mette us, which gave great wynnyng to her lords in dyuynynge.)

Luth Es geschah aber, da wir zu dem Gebet gingen, daß eine Magd uns begegnete, die hatte einen Wahrsagergeist und trug ihren Herren viel Genieß zu mit Wahrsagen.
(It happened but, there we/us to to_him Gebet gingen, that one Magd us/to_us/ourselves begegnete, the had a Wahrsagergeist and wore your Lorden many Genieß to with Wahrsagen.)

ClVg Factum est autem euntibus nobis ad orationem, puellam quamdam habentem spiritum pythonem obviare nobis, quæ quæstum magnum præstabat dominis suis divinando.
(Done it_is however euntibus us to orationem, puellam quamdam habentem spiritum pythonem obviare nobis, which quæstum magnum præstabat dominis to_his_own divinando. )

UGNT ἐγένετο δὲ, πορευομένων ἡμῶν εἰς τὴν προσευχὴν, παιδίσκην τινὰ ἔχουσαν πνεῦμα Πύθωνα, ὑπαντῆσαι ἡμῖν, ἥτις ἐργασίαν πολλὴν παρεῖχεν τοῖς κυρίοις αὐτῆς μαντευομένη.
(egeneto de, poreuomenōn haʸmōn eis taʸn proseuⱪaʸn, paidiskaʸn tina eⱪousan pneuma Puthōna, hupantaʸsai haʸmin, haʸtis ergasian pollaʸn pareiⱪen tois kuriois autaʸs manteuomenaʸ.)

SBL-GNT Ἐγένετο δὲ πορευομένων ἡμῶν εἰς ⸀τὴν προσευχὴν παιδίσκην τινὰ ἔχουσαν πνεῦμα ⸀πύθωνα ⸀ὑπαντῆσαι ἡμῖν, ἥτις ἐργασίαν πολλὴν παρεῖχεν τοῖς κυρίοις αὐτῆς μαντευομένη·
(Egeneto de poreuomenōn haʸmōn eis ⸀taʸn proseuⱪaʸn paidiskaʸn tina eⱪousan pneuma ⸀puthōna ⸀hupantaʸsai haʸmin, haʸtis ergasian pollaʸn pareiⱪen tois kuriois autaʸs manteuomenaʸ;)

TC-GNT Ἐγένετο δὲ πορευομένων ἡμῶν εἰς [fn]προσευχήν, παιδίσκην τινὰ ἔχουσαν πνεῦμα [fn]Πύθωνος [fn]ἀπαντῆσαι ἡμῖν, ἥτις ἐργασίαν πολλὴν παρεῖχε τοῖς κυρίοις αὐτῆς, μαντευομένη.
(Egeneto de poreuomenōn haʸmōn eis proseuⱪaʸn, paidiskaʸn tina eⱪousan pneuma Puthōnos apantaʸsai haʸmin, haʸtis ergasian pollaʸn pareiⱪe tois kuriois autaʸs, manteuomenaʸ. )

16:16 προσευχην ¦ την προσευχην CT

16:16 πυθωνος ¦ πυθωνα CT

16:16 απαντησαι ¦ υπαντησαι CT

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs, red:words differ (from our SR-GNT base).

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: writing-newevent

ἐγένετο δὲ

˱it˲_became and

Luke is using this phrase to introduce a new event in the story. Use a word, phrase, or other method in your language that is natural for introducing a new event.

Note 2 topic: writing-participants

παιδίσκην τινὰ ἔχουσαν πνεῦμα Πύθωνα, ὑπαντῆσαι ἡμῖν

/a/_servant_girl certain having /a/_spirit Python /to/_meet ˱with˲_us

Luke is using the phrase a certain young female slave to introduce this woman as a new participant in the story. If your language has its own way of introducing new participants, you could use it here in your translation. Alternate translation: “there was a certain young female slave who had a Python spirit and who met us”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

πνεῦμα Πύθωνα

/a/_spirit Python

Luke is describing the spirit that enabled this woman to tell fortunes by association with the Pythian serpent that the ancient Greeks believed to have guarded the oracle at Delphi. This was not an actual god named Python; it was a demonic spirit. If it would be helpful in your language, you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “a spirit of divination” or “a demonic spirit that enabled her to tell fortunes”

Note 4 topic: translate-names

Πύθωνα

Python

The word Python is the name of a pagan god. However, Luke is using the name here by association to mean a demonic spirit of divination.

Parallel ACTs 16:16