He had been lame from birth translates the same expression as was used in 3.2 who had been lame all his life. The full details of the man’s situation are given, whose feet were crippled … lame from birth … never been able to walk, in order to emphasize the greatness and reality of the cure.

By means of the device there was it is possible to introduce the lame man in Lystra as “new information” in this story. In Greek the same kind of information is indicated by the indefinite pronoun tis sometimes translated “a certain” or “one.”

Terms for crippled vary widely, for example, “twisted,” “weak,” or “shriveled”; but in all languages there are satisfactory equivalents since this is a universal experience.

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 .