Realized what had happened to him is taken by most to mean “came to himself,” as though he had been in a trance, and by others to signify “came to his senses,” as though he had been unconscious. This rather difficult expression may be rendered in some languages as “knew that what had happened to him was true” or “knew that it was really true that he had come out of the prison.”

The Lord in this verse probably refers to God rather than to the Lord Jesus.

From Herod’s power translates the Semitic expression “from the hand of (Herod),” in which “hand” symbolizes the power (of someone). The noun phrase “from all the expectation of the people of the Jews” has been transformed into a verb clause by the Good News Translation from all the things the Jewish people expected to do, which makes a much more intelligible English sentence structure (see also Dios Habla Hoy, La bible mame des jeunes, La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée). In translating rescued me from Herod’s power it may, however, be necessary to restructure the semantic relationships: “rescued me so that Herod cannot harm me” or “rescued me so that I will not be under Herod’s authority.” Similarly, the last phrase from all the things the Jewish people expected to do may be related to the “rescuing” as “rescued me from having to suffer what the Jewish people were going to cause me to suffer.”

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 .