The very promise that is in Greek a pronoun phrase referring back to the word promise in the preceding verse. Since it appears to be emphatic in the present setting, the Good News Translation has rendered it by the very promise. The very promise may be rendered as “the same promise.” However, promise may need to be expresses as a verb—for example, “all twelve tribes of our people hope to receive that which God has promised.” In view of this type of restructuring, it may be important to place the clause as they worship God day and night at the beginning of verse 7.

In the Greek sentence worship has no specified object, though it is clear that God is intended.

The expression day and night (literally “night and day”) is used also in 20.31; in Luke 2.37 it is said of Anna that day and night she worshiped God. In some languages a literal translations of day and night would imply that the Jews worshiped day and night continuously and did nothing else. The implication, of course, is “as they habitually worshiped God” or “… continually worshiped God.”

It may be necessary to transform the noun hope in the phrase this hope into a verb—for example, “because they hope in this way.”

Your Majesty (so also New English Bible and An American Translation*) is rendered “O king” by most translators. American English in particular is deficient in terms used to address royalty, though your Majesty appears much more natural for the reader of American English than does “O king.” In some languages the equivalent of “O king” would simply be “you who have power,” “you who sit on the stool,” or “you who carry the spear.”

By the Jews is in an emphatic position in the Greek sentence structure. In Greek “the” does not appear before “Jews,” and some have taken this to mean something like “and by Jews themselves,” so as to indicate a very surprising turn on the part of the Jews who denied this hope (so New English Bible).

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 .