Moreover, since God has created everything, he is not in need of anything that men can do for him. In most languages it is impossible to continue the negative expression merely by a conjunction such as nor. The equivalent would be “in addition to this he does not need.”

The phrase gives life and breath may be equivalent in some languages to “causes all creatures to live.” In many languages one simply cannot distinguish between life and breath; they are simply synonymous expressions. Where both may be employed, it is possible to say “causes all creatures to live and causes them to breathe.” But it is obvious that this type of terminology is quite redundant.

To all men, that is, “to all mankind,” may also be taken in the sense of “to all living things.” The context suggests that the first is to be preferred. The phrase everything else to all men may be rendered as “everything that all people need” or “whatever any person may need.”

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 .