In many languages one cannot say forty years had passed. One can, however, “live in a place for forty years,” and it is this latter expression which is often employed as a transitional device in this verse.

The literal expression “in a flame of fire of a bush” probably means, as the Good News Translation has it, in the flames of a burning bush (see also New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible, Phillips, An American Translation*). The place where the angel appeared to Moses was in the desert as most translations have it, not “in the wilderness.” The Old Testament narrative says this revelation took place at “a Mount called Horeb,” but in the biblical accounts Horeb and Sinai are identified as the same mountain.

It is difficult in some languages to translate the term desert since in some parts of the world a barren area is almost inconceivable. It is, therefore, better under such circumstances to translate this term as “an uninhabited area.” In many situations this is the closest natural equivalent.

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 .