In many languages it is quite impossible to speak of water without specifying the particular nature of such water. Was it, for example, simply water in the road; was it water in a container, a spring, a well, a pond, a lake? In view of the action described in verse 38, one would presume the most appropriate term would be something equivalent to a pond or a pool of water in the otherwise dry riverbed.

The question What is to keep me from being baptized? may be rendered as “Is there any reason why I should not be baptized?” or, as in some languages, “If I want to be baptized, is there anyone who says I cannot be baptized?”

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 .