With the money that Judas got for his evil act translates the ambiguous phrase “reward of wickedness.” It may mean money which is undeserved, or else it may mean money which is gotten for doing something evil. Most translations understand it in this latter sense. A field or a piece of land seems to be what Judas purchased with his money; that he would have been able to have purchased a farm or an estate, as some translations render it, seems quite unlikely. The word translated field is used elsewhere in 4.34; 5.3, 8; 28.7.

Although there is considerable doubt regarding the meaning of he fell to his death (this may mean “his body swelled up”; see Phillips, Moffatt, An American Translation*), the majority of translations reflect the same interpretation of the text as that given in the Good News Translation.

There is, of course, no way in which in the translation one can harmonize this description of events with the record in Matthew 27.6-8. The reconciliation of such accounts involves quite a different level of biblical scholarship from what is involved in the translator’s faithful rendering of what is said in this specific context.

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 .

The pronoun you of verse 27 refers to God, and in many languages this must be made explicit, “you, God.”

As used in this context, the term for soul should identify that part of the individual which is regarded as going on to the next world—the immaterial portion of man, in contrast to his body, referred to in verse 27b.

For David the meaning of this verse was that God would save him from death, that is, God would not let him die and go down into the world of the dead. Peter has applied the verse to Jesus, and has given the meaning that God will not abandon the soul of Jesus in the world of the dead, that is, God will not let Jesus stay there.

Your devoted servant translates “your holy one,” which is used in the sense of one who belongs to and serves God. The translation of Greek hosion “holy one” is difficult, since it involves in this possessed form two principal components: (1) dependency and (2) dedication to. The Good News Translation has attempted to indicate these two components in the phrase devoted servant. In other languages, one may have “your loyal servant” or “the one who is dedicated to worship you.”

In many languages one cannot speak of a servant suffering decay. Rather, it is the body of such a person which decays; it is the person who dies and the body which rots. This means that in some languages this final clause would be rendered as “you will not permit the corpse of your devoted servant to decay.”

“Decay” is variously expressed in different languages. In some it is specifically associated with worms and maggots, for example, “you will not permit maggots to eat the corpse.”

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 .

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is a phrase which goes back to Exodus 3.6, 15. It is a familiar Old Testament way of addressing God as the God of those men who were the founders of the Jewish nation. In many languages, however, it is difficult to speak of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob since it might imply that these three men owned God. Moreover, in some languages a term for God is very close to “ancestor spirit” and therefore there is real confusion at this point since God would be nothing more than the ancestor spirit of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Accordingly, it may be important to make the relation much more specific by translating “the God whom Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob worshiped.”

The phrase the God of our ancestors has, of course, the same basic problems as the phrase the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is quite naturally in apposition to the preceding phrase and therefore this must be made perfectly clear in some languages by some kind of marker, for example, “that is to say,” “that is,” or “he is.”

The phrase our ancestors is rendered in a number of different ways “our fathers,” “our grandfathers,” “our forefathers of many years ago,” “those who began our clan,” or “those from whom we have all come.”

God … has given divine glory (literally “God glorified”) may be taken as referring to the resurrection of Jesus that is explicitly mentioned in verse 15 (so Good News Translation); while others believe it refers to the act of healing that had just been performed on the lame man.

A translation of given divine glory to, or “glorified,” is extremely difficult to translate effectively in this kind of context, for there is not enough of the specific involvement of Jesus Christ to help the reader understand just how Jesus is “glorified.” In some languages, however, the concept of “giving glory to” can be expressed as “caused him to count for something,” “caused him to be very important,” or “caused people to look at (or remember) Jesus as being very great.” In other languages it is possible to say “God showed how really wonderful his Servant was” or “God demonstrated how great his Servant was.”

The Greek word translated Servant may either mean “child” or “servant”; the meaning here, however, is determined by the sense of the word as used in the Septuagint translation of Isaiah 52.13 and other related passages where “the servant of the Lord” was a Jewish Messianic title (see Isaiah 41.8; 42.1; 44.1, 2, 21).

Terms for “servant” are normally related to two aspects of serving: (1) the obeying of orders and (2) performing specific tasks on behalf of someone. In the first instance, a term for servant may be “one who obeys” (and this may require some direct goal such as “Jesus who obeyed God”). In other instances one can simply have “one who did what God said.” When the focus is upon performing some service, an idiom may be “one who worked for” or “one who helped.” It is rare that one can employ a term which will combine not only the concept of serving but also the prestige which comes from serving an eminent person. This is certainly part of the implication of the term Servant in this Semitic expression.

With the process of “handing over” (which contrasts with what precedes) the implied goal, the authorities, is supplied, while the act of “rejection” is related to what took place before Pilate. In a number of languages it is important to make clear that the authorities are “those who rule the Jews” or “the leaders of the Jews.” Some may object that the people (referred to as you) did not themselves participate directly in the handing over of Jesus, but one cannot alter this involvement of the people, as clearly stated by Luke in his report of Peter’s message.

A translation of rejected or “denied” is not always easy. In some languages one may render this as “spoke bad about him before Pilate,” “would have nothing to do with him when he was in front of Pilate,” or “you accused him of being bad when he was before Pilate.” In one translation this is rendered as a direct discourse: “you said, He is a liar.” This is the local equivalent of denial.

The problem of sequence of tenses in the last clause of 3.13b may cause some difficulties since the decision by Pilate was prior to the rejection of the people. This time relation may need to be made quite specific, for example, “you did this even when Pilate had decided beforehand to set Jesus free” or “you did this even after Pilate had decided….”

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 .

A phrase such as cannot stop speaking is equivalent in some languages to “we must continue speaking.” In other instances it is equivalent to “there can be no end to our speaking” or “our speaking will not finish.”

What we ourselves have seen and heard refers to the deeds and words of Jesus, especially to his resurrection.

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 .

Arrested represents the same phrase (literally “lay hands on”) as appears in 4.3. Public jail (or “common jail”) is the translation accepted by most, though it is possible that the phrase may be taken to mean “they publicly put them in custody.” Three other times this phrase occurs in the New Testament (without being joined with the word “jail”) and each time it has an adverbial force and is translated something like “in public” (see 16.37; 18.28; 20.20).

In an number of languages the equivalent of “common” is “jail where bad people are kept.” This contrasts with jails for political prisoners.

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 .

A man richly blessed by God translates the Greek expression “full of grace.” In the biblical sense to be “full of grace” means that God’s grace and blessing are uniquely present and perceptible in the life of a person; whereas in contemporary English “full of grace” might suggest that a person is full of charm and persuasiveness. Power must be taken to mean “the power to perform miracles.”

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 .

God was going to use him to set them free translates “God through his (Moses’) hand is giving them freedom”; “through one’s hands” is merely a Semitic way of “through one’s power.”

The rendering of set … free in some languages is “caused to escape” or “caused them not to be slaves any longer.”

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 .

In order to avoid defilement by even hearing the blasphemous things that Stephen was saying, the members of the Jewish Council do two things, they shout and cover their ears. All … together … at once translates the same Greek word as appeared in 1.14; it is translated “as one man” by New American Bible and “like one man” by Moffatt.

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 .