Publicly admitting is taken by some commentators to mean “openly confessing (one’s sins).” Some translators combine the two verbs which the Good News Translation has translated separately, publicly admitting and revealing, and understand them to mean “openly confess” (New English Bible; see Phillips).

What (they) had done (so most translations) translates a noun which frequently refers to evil deeds; however, the noun is also used in the specialized sense of “magic spells,” and some translations reflect this interpretation (New English Bible, Moffatt, Jerusalem Bible).

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 .