In languages which do not have a technical term for vision, one may say “the Lord appeared to Paul in his sleep” or “the Lord appeared to Paul as in a dream.”

Do not be afraid and keep on speaking translate present imperatives in Greek, which have the force of “stop doing” or “continue doing what you are in the process of doing.” Do not give up (literally “do not become silent”) translates a Greek tense which means “do not begin (to do action of verb).” In many languages, however, one cannot speak of “being afraid” without stipulating the goal of the fear. Similarly, a verb such as “speaking” may require the identification of those to whom one is speaking, and an admonition “not to give up” may likewise require some more specific mention of what is involved. Therefore this particular statement of the Lord to Paul may be translated as “do not be afraid of these men, but keep on speaking to them and do not stop doing what you are doing.”

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 .