The house servants were in a rather special category of servants or slaves in that they were closely related to the affairs of the household and were obviously trusted individuals. It would be important, therefore, to avoid using some general term for slaves or servants, for Cornelius was obviously very particular in the choice of persons to whom he would commit this important task. It might even be possible to employ an expression such as “personal servants.”

One of his personal attendants (An American Translation*, Phillips; New American Bible “from among those whom he could trust”) describes a man who must have been “a military orderly” (New English Bible).

The term religious is the same as is used to describe Cornelius in verse 2. The equivalent of this in a number of languages is simply “one who worships God.”

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 .