The subject of were serving is unclear; it refers either to the entire church community or to the five prophets and teachers mentioned in the previous verse. If the reference is to the entire church community, the verb translated were serving should perhaps be rendered “were worshipping,” as in most translations. If, however, the reference is to the five men, the meaning may be limited to “rendering Christian service,” in a way similar to the priests of the Old Testament, since the word is used in the Septuagint in this sense.

In most languages there is a more or less technical term for fasting which specifies going without food for religious purposes. Where there is no such term, it is sometimes possible to employ a phrase such as “going without food in order to worship God” or “not eating as a part of worshiping.”

To them does not appear in the Greek text as such, but it is clearly implied. Once again, it is not clear whether the Holy Spirit is speaking to the entire church community or merely to the five men.

In the Greek text immediately following the command set apart is an emphatic particle, not reproduced in most translations, but rendered by Moffatt “come”; the meaning of the particle is probably to be understood in the sense of “now” or “immediately” (cf. Luke 2.15; Acts 6.3). The tense of the verb I have called suggests that God had already made the decision, and it was the church’s responsibility to carry out his will. In rendering set apart one must make certain that the connotations of the expression are satisfactory, for in many languages the process of “setting apart” may be carefully divided between (1) setting apart something which is good or for good purposes and (2) setting apart something because it is inferior or inadequate. The meaning here is, of course, “designate” or “commission.” In some languages this is equivalent to “give a special work to” or “appoint for special tasks.” This aspect of set apart is made more specific by the last clause of verse 2, but in rendering this clause it is sometimes quite difficult to employ a literal translation of called. The concept of “God calling people” is so familiar to us in English that we assume this is always possible in other languages, but frequently “call” only implies “shouting to.” In this context it is “the work to which I have appointed 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 .