I did my work as the Lord’s servant is in the stressed position of the Greek clause.

In Greek a single preposition appears before all humility, many tears, and hard times. The meaning of this preposition when used with all humility is clear: either “with all humility” or “in all humility” (so New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible). The question is whether tears should be taken along with all humility as an expression of Paul’s inner attitude, or whether it should be taken with hard times as an expression of the difficulties that were brought upon Paul because of the plots of the Jews. The Good News Translation takes with all humility and many tears as an expression of Paul’s inner attitude (see also Phillips), while others take tears and hard times together as an indication of the difficulties brought upon Paul because of the plot of the Jews: “in all humility amid the sorrows and trials that came upon me” (New English Bible; see also Jerusalem Bible).

The expression with all humility and many tears is extremely difficult to translate satisfactorily in some receptor languages. In the first place, one cannot conveniently combine such features as humility and tears. Humility must frequently be translated as “I was always very humble” or, in a negative fashion, “I was never proud.” On the other hand, tears must refer to the sorrow or grief which Paul suffered. This cannot imply that all the time he was working he was also crying. One may, however, combine tears with the following expression I did my work, as “while I was doing my work as a servant for the Lord I was often caused to cry.”

There are additional problems in the translation of hard times, for in many languages one cannot speak of “hard occasions.” Rather, the term hard is equivalent to the suffering which Paul endured on various occasions. Therefore the last clause of verse 19 may, in some languages, be rendered as “by their plots the Jews caused me to suffer much.”

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 .