In speaking of the Mount of Olives it is most important to avoid a name which may be misleading. For example, in some languages a literal rendering of this phrase name would imply that the mountain consisted of olives. In other languages, such a rendering suggests that the mountain consisted of olive trees. A more appropriate rendering suggests that the “mountain called ‘Olive Grove’,” “mountain on which there were olive groves,” “mountain known for its olive trees,” or “mountain with olive trees.” One or another of these basic structures is almost always represented in the structure of place-names in various languages.

In some languages it is useful to employ a classifier, for example, “city,” with a proper name such as Jerusalem, but this should normally be done at the first occurrence of a name in a discourse, such as in verse 4, and it is not necessary to repeat the classifier at this point.

Although the Greek does not make the subject of went back explicit, it is evident that the apostles are meant.

About half a mile away from the city translates “which is near Jerusalem the distance of a Sabbath day’s journey.” The expression “a Sabbath day’s journey” is regarded as having originated during the time Israel was wandering through the desert. The calculation was ostensibly based on the distance from the place of worship to the tent in the camp farthest from it. In later times the phrase was often used merely as an expression of distance, and that is how Luke has used it in this passage. For this reason, the Good News Translation translates the phrase as about half a mile away from the city (of Jerusalem). In metric measurements this is “about one kilometer.”

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 .