Text and Translations
34 Ἀνοίξας δὲ Πέτρος τὸ στόμα εἶπεν, Ἐπ’ ἀληθείας καταλαμβάνομαι ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν προσωπολήμπτης ὁ θεός, 35 ἀλλ’ ἐν παντὶ ἔθνει ὁ φοβούμενος αὐτὸν καὶ ἐργαζόμενος δικαιοσύνην δεκτὸς αὐτῷ ἐστιν.
CEV – Peter then said: “Now I am certain that God treats all people alike. God is pleased with everyone who worships him and does right, no matter what nation they come from.”
ESV – So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and hdoes what is right is acceptable to him.”
HCSB – Then Peter began to speak: “In truth, I understand that God doesn’t show favoritism, but in every nation the person who fears Him and does righteousness is acceptable to Him.”
NET – Then Peter started speaking: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism in dealing with people, but in every nation the person who fears him and does what is right is welcomed before him.”
NIV – Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.”
NLT – Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God doesn’t show partiality. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right.”
D&T – Then, opening his mouth, Peter said, “In accordance with reality, I grasp the notion that God is not one who shows favoritism, rather, in every people group, the person who profoundly respects God and who engages justice is acceptable (to God).”
Notes
1. Some translations try to hammer out this more formal speech introduction (“opening the mouth”), most do not. Why is it that the NET Bible can have awful translations and fantastic notes?
2. The prepositional phrase Ἐπ’ ἀληθείας complements the following verb καταλαμβάνομαι. BDAG p43 offers, under the heading “3. an actual event or state, reality“, “επ’ ἀληθείας in accordance w. the truth“.
3. The verb καταλαμβάνο(μαι) is only used 15x in the GNT. Other uses with the preposition επι include Jn 8.3, 4 and Phil 3.12. This use of the verb with the PP επ ἀληθείας refers to a mental process of having come to an understanding about the way God is in reality. Most translations present a different, muddled picture in English wherein Peter really realizes something. Our reading and translation does not understand Peter as saying that he truly understands (or really realizes) God’s relationship with gentiles, but rather understands God’s relationship with gentiles according to what is true/reality. Peter was previously not totally operating in God’s reality, but in his racist ethnocentrism.
4. Some translations go plural (God accepts men/those who…) as opposed to representing the singular Greek participles (the one who fears and the one who does justice).
5. Our translation of φοβούμενος is meant to weed out scared as an option to an English reader (BDAG p1061).
6. “He who does what is right” is a very weak translation of ἐργαζόμενος δικαιοσύνην. Right lacks the judicial connection to δικαιοσύνην.
UPDATE: Mike Aubrey has more info on whether or not (not) the speech introduction is formal. Thanks to Mike for his further inquiry.
The D&T translation is wonderful also because there’s the chaimus of Luke’s Greek rendered into English:
οὐκ ἔστιν προσωπολήμπτης ὁ θεός,
ὁ … καὶ … δεκτὸς αὐτῷ ἐστιν.
God is not one who …
who … and who … is acceptable (to God).
And both your English translation and Luke’s Hellene report have that crisscrossing hinge on the very personal prepositional phrase (i.e., viewing people as not only objects but also as subjects):
ἐν παντὶ ἔθνει
in every people group
Wonderful!
Do you think it might have something to do with the beginning of a Jewish homily–the petichtah? Not so much in the starting and target verses, but the reason this type of homily received its name: “R. So-and-So opened (patach)…”
We didn’t think that, but we’re pondering it now.
Another interesting question is whether Peter (or anyone) is assisting Luke in reconstructing Peter’s speech. Is he speaking Aramaic, Latin, or Greek? And does it matter (really) that Luke (the reporter, as perhaps translator) is using some clever Greek to get this across?