The officials (see 13.5) are either officers of the Jewish Council or Levites of the temple guard under the officer in charge of the temple guards (see v. 24). In some languages the term officials is equivalent to “policemen.” In other instances the closest equivalent is “soldiers.”

To the Council has been added to the verb they returned in order to indicate to what place they returned.

The verb reported may be rendered as “said to the men in the Council.”

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 .