To the Emperor is literally “to the Lord,” a term which was very often applied to the Roman Emperor. One of the early conflicts between Christianity and the Roman government grew out of the fact that the Christians said “Jesus Christ is Lord,” whereas the Roman people said “the Emperor is Lord.”

It may be necessary to imply with the verb brought him that Paul has been brought “in order to speak before you.”

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 .