The King Agrippa mentioned here is Agrippa II, son of Herod Agrippa I. He actually ruled over only a few small territories north of Palestine, though he did have the authority, given him by the Roman Emperor, to appoint the Jewish High Priest. Bernice, the oldest daughter of Herod Agrippa I, was not without her faults. She had been given by her father to his brother as a wife, and when he died she lived for a while in the home of her own brother, Agrippa II. After this she married the king of Cilicia, but then left him and came back to live with her brother. Later she became the mistress of the Roman general Titus, who felt it necessary to leave her when he was made Emperor.

The temporal expression some time later can probably be best interpreted as “some months later” or perhaps “several weeks later,” but it is certainly neither a matter of years nor of days.

To pay a visit of welcome translates a term which is used of general greetings, though it is also used in a specialized sense of “to pay an official visit of welcome to someone” (see New English Bible “on a courtesy visit to Festus”).

A visit of welcome to Festus may be rendered as “to visit Festus and to say to him, Welcome” or “… We are glad you have come.”

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 .