Holy and good would also have been understood both by Peter and by his Jewish listeners as a Jewish Messianic title. Good (or “righteous”) as a Messianic title probably had its origin in Isaiah 53.11, and in the present context it has specific reference to Jesus’ perfect obedience to the will of God and to his innocence in contrast to those who put him to death.

Rather than attempt to reproduce the Messianic title, “the holy and righteous one,” as a goal of the verb “reject,” this semantically heavy substantive phrase has been restructured in two clauses in the Good News Translation, where the first clause indicates that Jesus was holy and good and in the second clause the rejection is specified.

In many languages one of the most difficult terms is a word for holy. This is especially true in a context such as this, where holy is not in any sense related to “taboo.” Here the emphasis is certainly upon the dedication of Christ to the will of God, and therefore in many languages one must translate “he was dedicated to God,” “he gave himself to God,” or “he served God only.” This is much more likely to convey the meaning of the biblical concept of “holy” than any term which means “separation” or “isolation.” In fact, the translation of holy by a term for “separated” is almost always erroneous since it is the dedication to the service of God which then requires separation, rather than separation which results in dedication to God. This is particularly true in a religious system in which positive taboo is a significant factor in the concept of “holy.”

In many languages a translation of good or “righteous” may be rendered as “straight,” in the sense of “conforming to a standard.” This standard is naturally that which God expects. Sometimes this must be expressed as “did right before God,” “did that which was good in God’s eyes,” or “did what God said was good.”

You asked Pilate to do you the favor of turning loose a murderer properly gives the meaning of the Greek, “you asked for a man who was a murderer to be given to you” (see also New English Bible “you begged as a favor the release of a murderer”).

A clause such as asked Pilate to do you the favor must in many languages be expressed as direct discourse, for example, “you pleaded with Pilate, Instead of Jesus let a murderer loose” (with possibly a specific reference to Barabbas).

The idea of favor may be indirectly expressed in some languages by a form of direct discourse, including an expression such as “please,” “do us a kindness,” or “be good to us.”

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 .