Adopted literally means “to lift up” (in 2.23 it means “to kill”), and may be translated either as the Good News Translation (see New English Bible, Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, Phillips) or literally, that is, “to take up (from the river),” which is the meaning it has in the narrative of Exodus 2.5 (see Zürcher Bibel “the daughter of Pharaoh lifted him out of the water”).

The term adopted may be rendered as “made him her son” or “treated him just like her own.” Under such circumstances it may be necessary to coalesce, adopted … brought … up, for example, “took care of him just as her own son and called him her child.”

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 .