It is important to have some kind of transitional device represented in the Good News Translation text by then. In other the languages the equivalent may be more appropriately “as a result” or “so” since what follows refers to the preceding discussion.

It may be somewhat awkward to introduce the expression together with the whole church, but is important to indicate that this action was not merely the decision of the apostles and the elders. In some instances one may translate as “the apostles and the elders decided, and all the believers together also decided” or “the apostles and the elders as well as all the church decided.”

Although the word translated decided (so also Moffatt, Barclay, Jerusalem Bible) may have the technical sense of “voted” (see Lake “it was voted by the apostles and elders with the whole church”), most translations are not so specific and prefer to have a more general term (An American Translation*, New English Bible “resolved”; Phillips “agreed”). To choose is in reality a participle rather than an infinitive, and so the expression may be rendered “decided to send chosen men”; but most translators prefer to take the participle as active rather than passive and therefore refer it back to the apostles and elders, the apostles and the elders … decided to choose some men. Some men from the group may be limited to the apostles and the elders, though it seems more natural to assume that the whole church is indicated.

Some persons have conjectured that Judas, called Barsabbas is the brother of Joseph Barsabbas mentioned in 1.23, and may New Testament scholars are of the opinion that Silas is to be equated with the Silvanus mentioned in the Pauline Epistles. In some languages there are complications in an expression such as Judas, called Barsabbas, and Silas. This might imply that Judas had two different names, Barsabbas and Silas. Therefore, in some instances it is necessary to reverse the order of names and say “Silas and Judas, who was also called Barsabbas.”

Highly respected translates a participle which has been rendered “leading men” by most other translations. Although “leading men” or simply “leaders” appears to be a more natural translation of the participle, highly respected is possible if one assumes that the participle is passive rather than middle. The passive sense, reflected in the use of respected, may be made active by “the fellow believers regarded these two men very highly” or “the fellow believers thought these two men were very good.”

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 .