The Lord’s power translates an Old Testament phrase, “the hand of the Lord,” and probably refers to God the Father rather than to Jesus. On the other hand, in the phrase turned to the Lord, the Lord Jesus is meant. In a number of languages one cannot readily speak of power as a noun of capacity or ability. This first clause must, therefore, be restructured in a number of languages as “the Lord helped them very much,” “the Lord was with them strongly,” or “the Lord showed how strong he was by being with them to help.”

The expression turned to must convey the concept of “committal to.” In some languages this may be equivalent to “trusted,” “followed as their leader,” or “made him their chief.”

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 .