The specific content of “praise” may need to be introduced in some languages, for example, “they said, God is very good.”

Enjoying the good will of all the people means that the believers were liked by all the people in Jerusalem; but the expression “enjoying the good will of all the people” must often be semantically restructured so that the persons who experience the attitudes toward the believers are put into focus, for example, “all the people regarded the believers favorably,” “all the people thought of the believers as being good,” or “all the people felt warm in their hearts about the believers.”

It may be necessary to introduce “Jesus” with Lord in order to make the reference clear at this point.

To their group translates the expression which first appeared in 1.15 (and was discussed also in 2.1, 44). Although some scholars have raised questions regarding the meaning of the phrase in this context, it seems best to translate it with a meaning similar to that of the Good News Translation (see New English Bible, Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible). Added to their group may be expressed in a number of different ways, for example, “caused the group to be bigger by these,” “put them into the group,” “made them a part of the group,” or “counted them also as part of the group.”

Those who were being saved must be understood in light of every day. The meaning of the verb phrase were being saved is temporal and not theological, that is, Luke is not concerned in this passage to present a theory of salvation as a progressive experience; rather he is saying that day after day the Lord kept adding to their group those people who became believers. Those who were being saved may be shifted into the active, for example, “those whom God was saving.”

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 .