When Moses was forty years old translates “but as a time of forty years was being filled for him.” The Good News Translation is representative of what most translators have done, though the New English Bible has “he was approaching the age of forty”; and Moffatt has “when he had completed his fortieth year” (see King James Version). The Greek phrase itself apparently means “when he was about forty years old.”

“It came upon his heart” is merely a Semitic way of saying he decided (see Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible) or “it occurred to him” (Moffatt, An American Translation*, New English Bible).

Although most translations have to visit, the Greek verb may mean “to look into the conditions of” (New English Bible).

His fellow Israelites is literally “his brothers, the sons of Israel.”

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 .