About This Translation
This is a fresh English translation of the Acts of the Apostles, produced directly from the Greek critical text. It aims to stay as close to the original language as clarity permits — preserving the texture of Luke's prose, the force of his verbs, and the rhythm of his narrative, while remaining readable as modern English.
Every chapter is accompanied by extensive translator's notes. These include analysis of key Greek vocabulary and syntax, historical and cultural context, connections to the Old Testament and Luke's Gospel, and theological interpretation. The notes are designed to make visible the choices involved in translation and to open up the richness of a text that has shaped two millennia of Christian thought and practice.
Acts tells the story of how a small community of Jesus's followers in Jerusalem became a movement that reached Rome and the edges of the known world. It is a story of the Holy Spirit's initiative, of boundary after boundary being crossed — geographic, ethnic, religious, cultural — and of the unstoppable advance of a message that its opponents could delay but never silence.