Luke uses the verb “to testify” with the extended meaning of “to show one’s approval of”: God … showed his approval of the Gentiles (so also New English Bible and Jerusalem Bible). This verb stem is from the same root as the adjective in 14.17 and is used with a very similar meaning.

The idiom knows the hearts of men is in many languages equivalent to “knows exactly what men think,” “knows men’s thoughts,” or even “knows just what men are.” The phrase his approval of the Gentiles may require certain semantic modifications in some languages—for example, “showed that the Gentiles could also believe” or “showed that it was right for Gentiles also to become believers.”

The phrase by giving the Holy Spirit to them may be rendered as “by causing them to have the Holy Spirit” or “by causing the Holy Spirit to come upon them.”

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 verb translated spoke well of may also be understood in the sense of “thought highly of” (see An American Translation* and Moffatt). The passive verb form in the Greek text (literally “Timothy was spoken well of by all the brothers”) has been changed to an active form: all the brothers … spoke well of Timothy.

As in so many passages in Acts, there are problems involved in the translation of brothers. In languages in which this type of kinship term is obligatorily possessed (that is to say, in which the term brothers must occur with some kind of pronoun indicating whose brothers are involved), it is sometimes possible to use a standard form such as “our brothers” or, as in some languages, “our relatives”—provided, of course, that this type of expression can be used of people who associate together rather than those who are strictly biological brothers. After the introduction of we, which includes Luke in verse 10, the possessive usage “our brothers” may be quite appropriate. It can, however, be used even before this point in the text of Acts. On the other hand, in languages where there is no such kinship term which can be employed in this sense of persons who are closely united within a particular group, it may be necessary to employ some such phrase as “fellow believers” or “those who believed together with 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 .

The Greek idiomatic expression “he set a table” is properly understood as he … gave them some food to eat.

The word which Luke has chosen to use for family appears only here in the New Testament. It is in the dative case, and how one understands it in relationship to the two verbs filled with joy and believed makes a great deal of difference in a translation. In Greek the verb translated filled with joy is actually a third person singular verb and would literally be translated: “he was filled with joy along with his family.” Believed is actually a participle in agreement with “he”: “because he had believed (in God).” If one understands “with his family” to go with the first verb, one may follow the Revised Standard Version: “and he rejoiced with all his household that he had believed in God.” On the other hand, if “with his family” is to be taken both with the verb and with the participle, the meaning is: “he along with his family were filled with joy because he along with his family now believed in God.” The Good News Translation has followed the first alternative and so has translated: he and his family were filled with joy, because he now believed in God (but see Jerusalem Bible “the whole family celebrated their conversion to belief in God”).

Filled with joy may be equivalent in many languages to “were very happy” or possibly with a causative “were caused to be very happy.” As has been pointed out in other instances, renderings of the concept of joy or happiness may frequently involve highly idiomatic or figurative phrases—for example, “their hearts were singing.”

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 phrase rendered from the one man (so also Zürcher Bibel) is literally “from one.” It seems most probable that Paul is referring to the widespread belief that God created all men from Adam (see An American Translation*, Phillips “from one forefather”), rather than a more general notion that all people were “from a common origin” (Moffatt; see New American Bible “from one stock,” New English Bible “of one stock,” Barclay “of one common stock”). The King James Version rendering, “of one blood,” is based upon a textual variant which has very little support. This first clause, from the one man he created all races of men, must often be rather extensively restructured—for example, “God created first one man and from that one man came all the races of people.” If one adopts the alternative interpretation of this clause, it may be rendered as “God created all the different kinds of people from one single family” or “God created one single clan from which all the different races of people have come.”

Made them live over the whole earth may be rendered as “caused them to live in different places all over the earth” or even “caused them to go to different places over the whole earth and to live there.”

He himself fixed beforehand correctly translates the force of the Greek participle which describes action that took place before he created and made them live. In some languages it is impossible to translate beforehand without indicating specifically what event is being referred to; therefore “before he created them he decided when and where they would live.”

Made them live (v. 26) and so that they would look for him (v. 27) (these two verses form one sentence in the Greek) are actually infinitives dependent upon the main verb in the sentence, created. It is possible to understand these infinitive clauses either in the sense of purpose or of result. The Good News Translation has translated the second clause as one of purpose, while the first has been made into a construction parallel with the main verb created.

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 passive expression had been instructed in may be rendered as “he had learned thoroughly about.”

The idiom “boiling over in spirit” appears in the Good News Translation as with great enthusiasm. Most translators take “spirit” to mean Apollos’ own spirit, with the meaning with great enthusiasm or “filled with enthusiasm.” However, some see here a reference to the Holy Spirit. In this type of context, enthusiasm may be rendered as “great earnestness,” “he meant strongly what he was saying,” or even “he spoke as one who knew that what he was talking about was very important.”

On the baptism of John see 1.22.

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 .

Although Phillips gives a rather literal rendering of the Greek “to go in among the crowd,” this leaves a wrong impression of Paul’s intention. What Paul actually wanted to do was to go before the crowd (New English Bible “to appear before the assembly”), and he probably had hopes of reasoning with them (see Jerusalem Bible “Paul wanted to make an appeal to the people”). However, as is later pointed out by the city clerk, this was not a legal meeting (v. 39), and it is very possible that Paul’s life would have been in danger had he appeared before the crowd at this time. Believers is literally “disciples.”

In order to indicate clearly Paul’s intent in going before the crowd, it may be necessary to say “to go before the crowd in order to speak to them.”

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 verb rendered I gave solemn warning means much more than merely “testify” (so King James Version), as can be seen by its use in such passages as Luke 16.28; 2 Timothy 2.14; 4.1. It appears in other translations as “urging” (Jerusalem Bible), “most emphatically urged” (Phillips) and “insisted on” (New English Bible). I gave solemn warning may be rendered as “I warned them strongly,” “I said to them with strong words,” or “I spoke to them harshly.” The verb warning may introduce direct discourse—for example, “warned them, You must turn from your sins to God….”

That they should turn from their sins to God, and believe in our Lord Jesus is a summary of Paul’s message. The first part, turn from their sins to God, is literally “repentance with respect to God.” But in biblical thought “repentance” always means “to turn from one’s sins,” and it always presupposes that in so doing one would turn to God. Therefore, within the phrase “repentance with respect to God” there are two clearly implied elements: (1) to turn from one’s sins, and (2) to turn to God. In the Christian sense one “turns from his sins to God” by believing in the Lord Jesus, though the Greek here has these two elements connected as though they were separate and distinct. Believe in our Lord Jesus is literally “belief with respect to our Lord Jesus,” but “belief” is one of those nouns which is basically verbal, that is, “to believe.”

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 verb translated we got our things ready is perhaps a specific reference to packing up for the trip (see New English Bible “we packed our baggage” and Jerusalem Bible “we packed”). Some commentators understand this verb to mean “we hired horses,” but no translation seems to go in this direction. The tense of the verb translated left perhaps means something like “went on” (so Jerusalem Bible), thus indicating the continuation of the journey rather than its beginning.

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 .