In verse 32 the words of God are quoted exactly from Exodus, whereas the response of Moses is described with more freedom by Luke.

Many languages possess no such convenient device as the preposition of employed in an expression such as the God of your ancestors. Such a construction is often spoken of as a “possessive genitive,” but obviously the ancestors do not possess God. Accordingly, in a number of languages one must translate this expression as “I am the God whom your ancestors worshiped” or “I am the one whom your ancestors acknowledged as God.”

With fear is added by the Good News Translation to the verb tremble in order to make clear for the reader why it was that Moses trembled (see Phillips “trembled and was afraid”). In a number of languages it is necessary to employ two verbs “trembled and feared” since this is the most natural way of indicating the nature of the trembling.

In a number of languages a rendering of dared not look involves a statement of lack of capacity, for example, “did not have the strength to look” or “was not able to look.” In other languages, the failure to look is related to the fear, “was so afraid he did not wish to look.” In the choice of a term for dare it is important to avoid the meaning often associated with “daring someone to do something.”

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 .