Verses 9-11 are linguistically a part of the statement made by the people in the crowd to each other. In reality, however, they are an explanation of the author in order to identify the backgrounds of the crowd. In many languages it is better to preserve the strict linguistic setting, as in the case of the Good News Translation, in which the appropriate references to the first person plural are introduced. In other languages, such an explanatory statement fits better as a kind of parenthesis, from verses 9 through 11a. The list of nations from which the Jews had come is probably intended to indicate every country in the world (v. 5).

As for the names of these regions and countries, all major languages have well-established forms, but for minor languages it is usually better to make the necessary phonological adaptations, so as to facilitate pronunciation, on the basis of the major languages of the area, rather than to attempt to go back to the Greek forms.

In general, the introduction of classifiers is warranted, for example, “from the countries of Parthia, Media, ….” But in any event, no text of Acts, or of the New Testament, should be published without some maps to indicate the locations of these countries.

In the Greek text certain of these place-names are grouped together, as in the Good News Translation text, but this is not necessary in all translations. In fact, in some receptor languages such grouping might suggest a connection between some of the countries which would simply not be accurate.

The phrase the regions of Libya near Cyrene may need to be more specific, for example, “from the regions in the country of Libya which are near the town of Cyrene.”

From Rome translates a Greek word which is normally used to indicate a person who is a citizen of the Roman Empire rather than a person who is from the city of Rome, but Luke seems to have used it in the latter sense in this passage. These persons from Rome were temporary residents of, or visitors to, Jerusalem rather than permanent residents.

Gentiles converted to Judaism is a phrase indicating persons of non-Jewish birth who had become full converts to Judaism. In order to become a full convert it was necessary for a person to be baptized and to offer sacrifice in the temple; if he were a man he would also have to accept circumcision.

For Gentiles many languages employ simply “non-Jews.” In many ways this is a very convenient solution, for it avoids a number of wrong denotations and connotations implicit in expressions such as “the other people,” “the different ones,” or “the outsiders.”

The phrase Gentiles converted to Judaism may be rendered in many languages as “people who have become Jews” or “people who have changed their religion and are now considered Jews.”

If verses 9-11a are rendered as parenthetical (using third-person references), it is usually necessary to introduce another verb of speaking so that 11b may be properly related to the preceding direct discourse, for example, “they said, But we all hear them speaking….”

In a number of instances it is necessary to break verse 11b into two parts, for example, “yet all of us hear them speaking in our own languages; they are telling about the great things God has done.” In some languages the last clause must itself be in the form of direct discourse, for example, “… speaking in our own languages. They are saying, God has done very great things.”

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 .