They started to shout translates the Hebraic expression “they lifted up their voice,” which means simply “to speak (or to shout) loudly.” Started to shout is an attempt to express the force of the aorist tense of the Greek verb, here indicating the beginning of the action. Of course neither Paul nor Barnabas could understand the regional language, that is, the Lycaonian language.

The gods have become like men and have come down to us (New English Bible “the gods have come down to us in human form”) is precisely the meaning of the Greek; the Jerusalem Bible seems to have gone too far by stating that the gods came down “disguised as men.”

Have come down to us need to be more specific, for example “have come down from heaven to us.”

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 .