The city clerk expresses his fears, which are certainly not without grounds, that the right of self-government may be taken away from the city if there is a riot which they cannot explain or defend to the Roman authorities. We will be accused of a riot may be rendered as “the Romans will accuse us of causing a riot” or “the Romans will say, What had happened today is a riot.”

There is no excuse for all this uproar may be rendered as “no one can defend all this uproar” or “no one can say there was a good reason for all the uproar.” This latter alternative expression combines the two final clauses of verse 40 into one.

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 .