Especially may be taken either as a modifier of true or as a modifier of the verb know (see Revised Standard Version “because you are especially familiar”; Lake “especially since you are expert”). Know so well translates a noun meaning “expert.”

Questions (Jerusalem Bible “[matters of] … controversy”; New English Bible “disputes”) is the same word translated arguments in 25.19; here it refers to the questions regarding theological issues that were often discussed within Judaism. Jewish customs and questions may be translated as “the way the Jews live and their differences” or “the ways in which they differ from one another.”

I ask you, then, to listen to me with patience serves the same purpose in this present address as I beg you to be kind and listen to our brief account did in the speech of Tertullus (24.4). Patience may be rendered as “with your heart open” or, in some languages, with an expression which is more or less equivalent to “sympathetically.” The focus here is upon the patience which is required because of the presumed length of the account which is to follow.

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 .