The two verses 7 and 8 are one sentence in Greek, beginning with the participle “when he arrived.” Since the subject of verse 7 is different from the subject of the previous verse, it is helpful to identify “he” as Paul. The Good News Translation understands the force of the verb to be started making; most translators render merely “making.” The phrase making many serious charges against him may be rendered as “accused him of many serious crimes” or “said, This man has done many bad things.”

Since the last clause of this verse states something which was not true of the charges, it may be important to introduce this with some kind of adversative conjunction—for example, “but they were not able to prove these charges” or “but they were not able to show that what they said about Paul was true.”

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 .