Broken the law may be translated variously, as “violated the law,” “done contrary to the law,” “done what the law says I should not do,” or, idiomatically as in some languages, “twisted the law,” “bent the law,” or “went around the law.”

Done something for which I deserve the death penalty may be rendered as “done something which should cause me to be killed” or “… for which I should be punished by being killed.” The following clause, do not ask to escape it, may accordingly be rendered as “do not ask not to be killed” or “do not ask to escape death.”

A number of languages have no noun such as truth, but it is possible to employ an adjective in an expression such as “if the crimes they accuse me of are not true” or “if what they say that I have done is not true.”

No one can hand me over to them may possibly mean something like “no one can make a gift of me to them,” but the idea of “making a gift of someone” is difficult to carry over into translation (note New English Bible “it is not open to anyone to hand me over as a sop to them”; in verse 16 New English Bible has “hand over” for the same verb).

In many languages one must indicate clearly that an auxiliary verb such as can implies here “the right to,” not simply “the strength or power” to do something—for example, “no one has the right to turn me over to them” or “… to cause me to come before them.”

Very little is known about the details of an appeal to the Emperor, though apparently in Paul’s day it was something that only a Roman citizen could do, and perhaps only then in the case of the threat of capital punishment. In translating I appeal to the Emperor, it may be necessary to say “I ask that the Emperor judge my case” or “I ask that I be sent to the Emperor.”

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 .