That the commander ordered Paul to be tied up with two chains perhaps means that Paul was ordered to be chained to a Roman soldier on either side of him (see 12.6). The commander’s question, Who is this man, and what has he done? is addressed to the crowd, not to Paul as one might conclude from a literal rendering (“he inquired who he was and what he had done”). With the exception of the Good News Translation and Barclay, all translations apparently use indirect discourse rather than direct discourse for the commander’s question. In such a setting direct discourse seems much more forceful for the English reader than does indirect discourse. In fact, in many languages direct discourse would be obligatory in this type of context.

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 .