19:19a–b

And a number of those who had practiced magic arts: The Greek is literally “a number of the ones having practiced sorcery.” The Greek is the normal past tense (called “aorist”). There are two ways to interpret the Greek past tense here:

(1) It indicates that this group of people stopped practicing sorcery at some time in the past. It would imply that they stopped when they began believing in Jesus. For example:

A good many of those who formerly practised magic (Revised English Bible)

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version, Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition, English Standard Version, New Living Translation (2004), Contemporary English Version, NET Bible, Revised English Bible , New Century Version)

(2) It indicates that this group of people stopped practicing sorcery at this time. It could be that this group began believing in Jesus at this time, or that they believed earlier and only stopped at this time. For example:

a number of those who practiced magic arts (Revised Standard Version)

(Revised Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, King James Version)

Two other decisions about the context affect which interpretation to choose:

(a) Does Luke imply that the believers stopped practicing sorcery immediately upon believing in Jesus?

(b) Is this part of the group Luke mentions in 19:18, a separate group that believed earlier, or a separate group that believed at this time?

Interpretation (1) assumes that the believers stopped practicing when they believed and that this group began believing earlier. Interpretation (2) assumes either that this group began believing at this time, or that they believed earlier and only on this day stopped practicing magic.

The Greek seems to imply that this group is separate from the group in 19:18, but it could be some of that group. If it was the same group, this author would have expected “a number of them” here. But whether this group believed earlier or on this day is not clear at all. Both interpretations are possible.

And a number of those who: The word number refers to an unknown amount. It is less than “all” but more than “a few.” Other ways to translate this phrase are:

Many of those who (Good News Translation)
-or-
Some of them who (New Century Version)

had practiced: Here the word practiced refers to doing something regularly. Other ways to translate this word are:

did
-or-
used (New Century Version)

magic arts: This word refers to the use of secret sayings and rituals that are supernaturally powerful. People would use these sayings and rituals to cause things to happen that they could not do by their own power. Other ways to translate this word are:

magic (Good News Translation)
-or-
witchcraft (Contemporary English Version)

brought their books and burned them in front of everyone: These clauses probably imply that all who became believers and who had scrolls of magic burned them. In some languages a literal translation would not have the correct meaning. If that is true in your language, translate the correct meaning. For example:

A number who had practiced sorcery had scrolls of magic. They ⌊all⌋ gathered those scrolls and burned them publicly.

books: This word refers to strips of papyrus paper or animal skin (leather or parchment) which people have written on. They were rolled around a stick. Magic scrolls were usually small.

The difference between a scroll and a book is not important here. In some languages to translate the word “scrolls” would need a long descriptive phrase. If that is true in your language, you may want to translate this word as books, as the Berean Standard Bible does.

19:19c

When the value of the books was calculated: The word calculated probably refers to adding the value of all the scrolls. Or someone may have estimated the number of scrolls and multiplied that number by a typical value for those kinds of scrolls. For example:

they counted the value of them (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
They added up the price of the books (Good News Translation)
-or-
The value of these was calculated to be (New Jerusalem Bible)

value: Here this word refers to the price or cost of something.

19:19d

fifty thousand drachmas: This phrase in Greek is literally “fifty thousand (pieces of) silver.” For example:

fifty thousand silver pieces (New Jerusalem Bible)

These “pieces of silver” were probably the Greek silver coins called “drachma.” For example:

fifty thousand silver coins (Good News Translation)

But a “drachma” was the wage of a farm worker for one day. It has the same value as a Roman denarius coin (Matthew 18:28, Mark 12:15, Luke 7:41). In some languages using the word “coin” or “pieces” would imply a small value. If that is true in your language, you may want to:

• Translate “pieces of silver” as “denarii” or “drachma.” For example:

fifty thousand drachma/denarii

Then you may want to explain the value of this coin in a footnote. An example footnote is:

The drachma/denarius was the wage of a farm worker for one day.

• Translate using “pieces of silver” or “coins” and explain the value in a footnote. An example footnote is:

These coins were very valuable. One coin was equal to the wage of a farm worker for one day.
-or-
These silver pieces were very valuable. One piece was equal to the wage of a farm worker for one day.

• Indicate in your translation that fifty thousand pieces of silver was a lot of money. For example:

⌊the large/huge amount of⌋ fifty thousand drachma/denarii

• Translate the value using the wages of a farm worker. For example:

the same amount of money as the wages of about 160 farm workers working for a year

You may then want to indicate the literal words in a footnote. An example footnote is:

Literally “fifty thousand pieces of silver.” These “pieces of silver” were probably the Greek silver coins called drachma. One drachma was the wage of a farm worker for one day.

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