There was a man named Ananias is rendered rather literally by Moffatt, “a certain Ananias,” and by the Revised Standard Version, “and one Ananias.” The Greek phrase is merely a way of introducing a person in a narrative and of pointing him out, but a literal translation of the Greek does this rather awkwardly for the English reader. Phillips, New English Bible, and An American Translation* have all done something similar to what the Good News Translation has here.

In 9.10 Ananias is identified merely as “a disciple,” but the fact that he is a religious man is introduced here because of the nature of Paul’s speech. Paul wants to impress on his listeners that both he and the man whom God sent to him were religious people, devoted to the will of God. A religious man may be translated as “a person who genuinely worships God” or “one who truly worships God.”

Obeyed our Law is literally “according to the Law”; the meaning of this phrase in the context is that Ananias obeyed the Jewish Law. Some translators take the entire Greek phrase, “religious according to the Law,” as one expression (see New English Bible “a devout observer of the Law”; note also Phillips, An American Translation*, and Moffatt). The phrase obeyed our Law may be translated as “lived just as the Law said he should live” or “obeyed the Law given to us Jews.”

Highly respected by all is rendered by several translators as “well spoken of by all.” The phrase Jews living in Damascus is rendered by most translators by something like “Jews living there.” There is actually a textual problem involved, since the phrase in Damascus does not appear in all manuscripts. However, this may be handled translationally, because it is obvious that the Jews referred to were those living in Damascus. This final clause in verse 12 may be rendered as “all the Jews living in Damascus thought very highly of Ananias,” “all the Jews who lived in Damascus thought that Ananias was a very good person,” or “… honored him very much.”

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 .