The phrase which the Good News Translation has rendered Jason and some other brothers is literally “Jason and some of the brothers” (see Jerusalem Bible). The question is whether Jason was or was not a Christian. Considered solely upon the basis of the Greek text of this verse, one would conclude that Jason was not one of the “brothers.” However, when other passages are taken into consideration, there is sufficient evidence to indicate that Luke may have intended Jason to have been included among the “brothers.” For example, 1.14 mentions the women, and … Mary the mother of Jesus, with the evident indication that Mary is not to be excluded from among the women. Again, the expression the believers and the widows in 9.41 does not imply that the widows were not believers. One may also argue, from the casual way in which Luke has introduced Jason, that he probably should be considered as one of the believers. Otherwise, one would have expected that Luke would have indicated clearly Jason’s relationship to the believing community.

The city authorities (in Greek, the word appears only here and in 17.8) is a technical term used to describe the five or six members of the city council in a Macedonian city. These men have caused trouble everywhere is more literally translated by the New English Bible as “men who have made trouble all over the world.” The word translated “world” by the New English Bible is a word which refers to the civilized world (more specifically the Roman Empire) and is here used in an exaggerated sense. In the idiom of today everywhere seems much more natural.

The our in our city is, of course, inclusive since the Jews were addressing the city authorities.

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 .