With his strong arguments he defeated the Jews is literally “powerfully he defeated (by argument) the Jews.” With his strong arguments is rendered in a number of languages as a clause with a principal verb “because he argued so strongly with them.”

He defeated the Jews in public debates may be translated as “before the people he showed that the Jews were wrong.”

Proving from the Scriptures may be translated as “by citing the Scriptures he proved,” “he quoted the Scriptures in order to prove,” or “he quoted the Scriptures and in this way showed clearly.”

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 .