By his use of we, the author of Acts evidently includes himself among those who went with Paul from Caesarea to Rome. But, as in other instances of the so-called “we” passages in Acts, the form should be exclusive for those languages which make a distinction between inclusive and exclusive first person plural. This use of the exclusive form is necessary, since Luke is addressing this entire account to Theophilus.

Neither the subject of the passive verb it was decided nor the subject of the impersonal third person plural they handed … over is made explicit by Luke. Perhaps Governor Festus is intended to be the subject of the verb it was decided, while the Roman authorities were the ones who handed Paul … over to Julius. Accordingly, if is necessary to stipulate who does the deciding and who hands Paul over, one can employ Festus in the first instance and “Roman officers” in the second instance. To translate handed … over one may say: “put Paul and some other prisoners in the charge of Julius,” “gave Julius authority over Paul and some other prisoners,” or even “said to Julius, You are responsible to see that Paul and some other prisoners get to Rome.”

The Emperor’s was an honorary title frequently given to auxiliary troops. An army regiment is in some languages simply “a large number of soldiers,” though in most parts of the world a group of soldiers such as a regiment is relatively well known. However, it is important to indicate that this army regiment did not necessarily consist of Romans. It was simply an army regiment under the command of Rome or which “fought for Rome.” The expression The Emperor’s Regiment may be translated as “the regiment which belonged to the Emperor.”

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 .