The James referred to here is presumably the brother of the Lord (Galatians 1.19; Mark 6.3; see also 12.17), but this is general background information and should not be made explicit in the text. Spoke up is literally “answered,” but the verb is quite often used in this more general sense.

On the expression brothers, see 1.16.

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 .