In all languages there are ways of speaking about “getting sick” but there are a number of different idioms employed: “fever grabbed her,” “sickness entered her,” and even in some languages “God took her” (a reference to mysterious divine power overcoming an individual).

The passive expressions was washed and laid may readily be made active—for example, “people washed her body and laid it.”

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 .