When your witness Stephen was put to death is literally “when the blood of Stephen your witness was poured out.” But in biblical language “to pour out someone’s blood” is to have someone put death. It seems possible that this passage moves in the direction of using the word “witness” in the sense of “martyr.” It may be necessary to employ an active expression at this point, “when people killed your witness Stephen.” In this type of context, your witness may be rendered as “Stephen who told people about you.”

Approving of his murder may be rendered as “I agreed with them when they killed him,” “I said yes to their killing him,” or “I favored their killing him.”

The cloaks of his murderers are simply “the coats which belonged to those who killed Stephen.”

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 .