The first sentence of this verse in Greek is in the form of a question which suggests the answer “yes.” However, it is not easy to have two questions in a row, the first implying an affirmative answer and the second being neutral. This is why in the Good News Translation the first question has been shifted to a statement. However, if in a particular receptor language the question expecting an affirmative answer is more effective, this first sentence should certainly be employed in the form corresponding most closely to the Greek expression.

The phrase the money was yours translates a Greek expression “was in your power.” In some languages this is rendered as “you could say what you wanted to do with it” or “you could do anything you wanted.”

Decide in your heart (see also Luke 21.14) is literally “place on your heart,” an expression which occurs in the Septuagint (1 Samuel 21.13; 29.10; Jeremiah 12.11).

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 .