Zeus was the chief god of the Greek and Hermes was the messenger of the gods. A writer of the fourth century A.D. refers to Hermes as “the leader of the words,” almost exactly the same expression which appears in the Good News Translation as one who did the speaking. There was a local legend to the effect that an elderly and pious couple by the name of Philemon and Baucis had entertained Jupiter (= Zeus) and Mercury (= Hermes) without knowing that they were gods.

In many languages it is important to add some kind of note at this point to indicate that Zeus was regarded as the chief god of the Greeks and that Hermes was the messenger of the gods. In some instances, however, a kind of classifier may be used for both Zeus and Hermes and one may have in the text a rendering such as “they called Barnabas by the name of the god Zeus and Paul by the name of the god Hermes.” However, the use of such a classifier to identify who Zeus and Hermes were is not really adequate to provide all of the necessary cultural background which may be required if people are to understand adequately this kind of context.

The names Zeus and Hermes should be transliterated on the basis of pronunciation and adjusted to the pronunciation of the dominant language in the area, unless the receptor language has its own tradition for dealing with such terms.

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 .