The concept of rejected may be expressed in some languages as “refused to listen to,” “put aside,” or “refused to accept.”

The word translated savior by the Good News Translation appears only here in the New Testament; in other translations it is rendered “deliverer” (Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, Phillips; An American Translation* “to deliver them”), “redeemer” (Jerusalem Bible; Moffatt “to redeem them”), and “liberator” (New English Bible) (see 5.31).

The tense of the verb sent, though almost impossible to reproduce in English, seems purposely intended to emphasize the idea of permanence, not expressed by the other verb tenses in this sentence.

“With a hand of an angel” may mean with the help of the angel (An American Translation*, Phillips; see Moffatt “by aid of the angel”); or it may mean “by means of” (see Jerusalem Bible and New American Bible “through the angel”). The New English Bible understands the phrase to mean that it was through an angel that God spoke to Moses and gave him the commission (“speaking through the angel”).

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 .