The verb which is translated when they came together may have two different meanings. It may be derived from a stem meaning “eat salt together with” and thereby have reference to a meal: “while he was eating a meal with them.” On the other hand, it may come from a root meaning “camp out with” or “stay with,” and so be translated “while he was staying with them.” The most generic manner of dealing with this verb is to translate it as “while he was with them.” It may be necessary to employ some temporal modifier, for example, “still” or “yet,” as in “while he was still with them.”
The original manuscripts were left without any type of punctuation. For this reason, translations many times differ in details of punctuation. For example, the Good News Translation places in direct discourse everything beginning with do not leave Jerusalem down to the end of verse 5. Other punctuation alternatives are possible, and one may compare, for example, the Revised Standard Version and the New English Bible, both of which punctuate differently. However, it is very useful to introduce the direct discourse as in the Good News Translation, so that the relationship may be quite explicit. The phrase gave them this order may be variously rendered, for example, “he ordered them in this way,” “he commanded them with these words,” “he ordered them,” or “he told them strongly.”
The Good News Translation translates “to wait for the promise of the Father” by wait for the gift my Father promised. This has been done since the meaning is clearly that the disciples are to wait for that which the Father had already promised, namely, the Holy Spirit. They were not told to wait for the Father to promise them something.
Some translators have wanted to introduce “Father God” here, but it is not necessary—certainly not at this point in the development of the New Testament narrative. The addition of “God” would seem to remove some of the personal character of the expression.
The clause that I told you about may be rendered as an independent (but closely linked) sentence, for example, “I have told you about it.” If it is advisable in the receptor language to keep the disciples in focus, one may translate as “which you heard me mention” or “you heard me speak about this.”
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 .