Luke uses the verb “to testify” with the extended meaning of “to show one’s approval of”: God … showed his approval of the Gentiles (so also New English Bible and Jerusalem Bible). This verb stem is from the same root as the adjective in 14.17 and is used with a very similar meaning.

The idiom knows the hearts of men is in many languages equivalent to “knows exactly what men think,” “knows men’s thoughts,” or even “knows just what men are.” The phrase his approval of the Gentiles may require certain semantic modifications in some languages—for example, “showed that the Gentiles could also believe” or “showed that it was right for Gentiles also to become believers.”

The phrase by giving the Holy Spirit to them may be rendered as “by causing them to have the Holy Spirit” or “by causing the Holy Spirit to come upon them.”

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 .