In Greek this verse is one sentence, but it has been broken into two by the Good News Translation. With great pomp and ceremony depicts the great fanfare with which oriental kings would have entered a public gathering. The phrase with great pomp and ceremony may be translated in some languages as “and were honored very much with ceremonies” or “and people honored them very much by what they did.”

The audience hall was used not only for times such as this, but could also be used as a place for public trial. In some languages, the audience hall would be “a large hall” or “a large building for people to assemble in.”

Military chiefs translates a word which may be rendered as “men in charge of a thousand soldiers,” while leading men may be taken in the sense of “the most prominent men.”

Festus gave the order is literally a participial clause: “Festus having given the order.” It may, however, be necessary to stipulate “and soldiers brought Paul in.”

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 .