The first guard station can be rendered as “the first group of soldiers who were guarding.” The second can, of course, be “the second group of soldiers who were guarding.”

The mention of the iron gate that opens into the city has caused most commentators to assume that Peter was being held prisoner in the tower of Antonia, located at the northwest corner of the temple area, with gates leading into the temple area and into the city itself.

The iron gate that opens into the city may cause certain difficulties since people will not understand the nature of the prison (or palace) in which Peter had been imprisoned. In some languages the only reasonable equivalent is “door,” but in other instances one can speak of “the iron gate in the wall.” One cannot, however, employ the word opens in a number of languages since this would imply opening into a room but not into the city. One must, therefore, use an expression such as “leads out into the city” or “opens and one may go into the city.”

The gate opened for them by itself may be rendered as “the gate became open but no one had moved it.”

It is held by some that a street (Greek “one street”) may possibly have the meaning of “a certain street.”

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 .