In the UBS Greek text these verses comprise one sentence, although in some manuscripts they consist of two. This long, involved structure has been divided by the Good News Translation into several sentences, three of them beginning with the main verb you know which appears in the Greek sentence only in verse 37. In Greek the structure is complicated and may, as suggested above, be two sentences rather than one. If it is two sentences, then the first one in verse 36 should be rendered something like “he sent his message to the people of Israel, proclaiming the Good News of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all men.” One the other hand, if these verses are to be understood as only one sentence; then you know is the main verb in the sentence. The Good News Translation assumes that the Greek structure best supports the thesis of one sentence; and in order to carry through the force of the main verb, this verb has been repeated in each of three shorter sentences (v. 36, 37, 38).

The phrase through Jesus Christ is best understood with peace, though it is possible to understand this as a reference to Jesus Christ being the agent for proclaiming the Good News. In such a context peace is a reference to peace with God or the reconciliation which has been made possible through Jesus Christ. In some translations this second clause in verse 36 is rendered as “announcing the Good News that we may have peace with God through Jesus Christ.”

Lord of all men must be translated with a certain amount of caution, for normally one cannot imply a possessive construction. The men do not possess the Lord; rather, he is “the Lord over all men.” This is made explicit in some languages as “the Lord who commands all men.”

The great event translates “the thing that happened” (New English Bible “what happened”), but from Luke’s point of view this is not just “something that happened,” it is “an event,” that is, a great event. To translate as does An American Translation*, “you know the story that has gone all over Judea,” could leave the intimation that these things did not really happen, since in many languages a word such as “story” often suggest something unreal.

In some languages the great event that took place is simply equivalent to “what happened” or perhaps “what happened that was so important.” In many languages there is simply no noun corresponding to event. The only equivalent is a verb meaning “to happen.”

After the baptism that John preached may be a reference to the specific baptism of Jesus Christ by John, since it is then that the Gospels emphasize how the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus with power.

God poured out on him the Holy Spirit and power is rendered in most other translations as “God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power,” which represents a more literal translation of the Greek text. However, the problem is that most English readers do not understand “anoint” in the biblical sense of “to choose (someone) for a special task.” In a number of languages, however, one cannot speak of poured out … the Holy Spirit for the Holy Spirit is not regarded as a kind of liquid. One can, however, introduce the meaning of “anoint” by a double verb “chose him and caused the Holy Spirit to come into him.”

It is equally impossible in many languages to speak about “pouring out power upon.” One can “cause someone to be powerful” or in some languages “give a person power,” or even “cause a person to have power.” In other instances the expression must be somewhat more specifically related to strength (though in a general sense) “he caused him to have strength to do…,” in which case the complement of “having strength” may be the actions specified in the final sentence of verse 38, namely, doing good and healing all.

Doing good may be rendered as “doing good to people” or “causing good to come to people.”

Under the power of the Devil may be equivalent to “whom the Devil controlled” or “whom the Devil had in his power.”

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 .