The synagogue service usually consisted first of the Jewish confession of faith called the “Shema” (see Deuteronomy 6.4: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord”). After this, the leader of the worship service led in prayer and this was followed by reading from the Law of Moses, which on the Sabbath day and certain feast days was followed by a selection from the writings of the prophets. After the Scripture had been read a sermon was given by any suitable member of the congregation, and the service was then concluded with a benediction. The section of the Jewish Bible known as “(the writings of) the prophets” included the prophetic books of the Christian canon, with the exception of Daniel, and also some of those books known by Christians as “the historical books.”

After the reading from the Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets may be rendered as “after someone had read from the Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets.” The law of Moses is “the Law given through Moses” or “the law given by Moses.” The writings of the prophets are simply “what the prophets wrote” or “the books which the prophets wrote.” The phrase the officials of the synagogue refers to “the leaders of the synagogues.” These are not “officials” in the sense of “government officials.”

The expression sent them a message implies that the officials of the synagogue delegated someone to speak to Paul and Barnabas, “had someone say to them” or “caused someone to speak to them saying.”

In this context brothers does not refer to fellow believers but to “fellow Jews.” We want you to speak is literally an imperative plural (see Revised Standard Version “say it”), but a literal translation in English sounds much more abrupt than the meaning in the context (see New English Bible “let us hear it”; Barclay “please give it”). Although the imperative is plural, this is not intended to imply that both were invited to speak; the plural is used because it is not known which one of the visitors might speak.

Message of encouragement for them may be rendered as “words to encourage them” or “words to make them stronger.”

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 .