To put God to the test is an Old Testament expression (see Exodus 17.2; Deuteronomy 6.16). A similar expression is used in 5.9, and in both cases the meaning is the same, that is, to go against the revealed will of God to see if he would bring the deserved punishment. The Jerusalem Bible has adopted a translation of this verse which mentions the end result, “it would only provoke God’s anger.” The closest equivalent to the expression to put God to the test is in some languages “to do what God has shown us we should not do in order to see how God will react” or “… to see if God will be angry.”

By laying a load on the backs of the believers translates an infinitive clause intended to explain what is meant by putting God to the test. The commentators are agreed that in the present context “yoke” (Revised Standard Version “a yoke upon the neck”) is equivalent to “burden.” For this reason Good News Translation has rendered the expression a load on the backs (Jerusalem Bible “you imposed on the disciples the very burden,” Phillips “by trying to put on the shoulders of these disciples a burden”). An expression for “burden” fits very well in a number of languages, but in some instances such an expression as laying a load on the backs of the believers would only be understood in a literal sense. A closer equivalent may be “to cause them unnecessary difficulty,” “to cause them to have problems which they should not have,” or “to add unnecessarily to their difficulties.”

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 .