Struck Herod down is equivalent to “caused him to become sick.”

He did not give honor to God indicates that he claimed for himself the honor that belonged only to God, and thus was guilty of pride and sacrilege. The expression give honor to God is rather too general in some languages for this kind of context. Therefore one must say “because he did not insist that he was just a man and not God.” In other instances one may employ “because he did not have the people praise God rather than himself.”

To be eaten by worms was a death frequently described by ancient writers to extremely evil persons, especially of persons with great power and authority. The worms spoken of in this context should refer to some kind of intestinal worms rather than to maggots for, according to the text, it was the worms which caused his death and not maggots, which would eat his flesh after he had died.

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 .