Verse 39 is an expansion on the theme of verse 38—implying that these benefits are the right not merely of the Jews, but of all those whom God calls. In the present context God’s promise refers to his promise regarding the Holy Spirit; and your children indicates not merely the children of the people who are listening, but all of their descendants as well. In place of the passive promise was made, one may have an active form, such as “God has promised you and your children.” The difficulty with such a verb form is that it may require a specification of what is specifically promised. This may be done by referring to the contents of verse 38, for example, “God has promised this (or, these same things) to you and your children.”

To all who are far away is interpreted by some in a temporal sense, referring to persons not yet born; but more naturally it is taken to mean “persons in far-off distant lands” or “all people whose villages are many days’ walk away.” This may be a reference to the Jews of the dispersion or to the Gentiles.

The verb rendered calls to himself is elsewhere used in the sense of “invite” or “summons” (see 5.40; 6.2; 13.2, 7; 16.10; 23.17, 18, 23), for example, “this includes all the people whom the Lord our God invites to come to him.”

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 .