Young man is a different word from the one used in verse 12 below. According to the classification of one ancient Greek writer, the word used in this verse would normally describe a man who was from 23 to 28 years of age, whereas the word used in verse 12 (translated “boy” by many translators) is taken to describe a person of 8 to 14 years of age. It is quite possible that Luke is simply describing a person who is somewhere between 20 and 30 years of age. The second Greek term which would normally suggest a person of younger age than the first term may, of course, imply some greater degree of endearment, but more probably it is simply used in the more general sense of a young person.

The Good News Translation has brought out the contrast that Luke has made between the Greek progressive tense got sleepier and sleepier and the Greek verb tense denoting instantaneous action finally went sound asleep.

The third story includes in its calculation the ground floor; therefore in some translations this would be equivalent to “the second story.” In Greek “he was taken up” is an impersonal passive construction equivalent in English to they picked him up. Luke actually says that he was dead (see Jerusalem Bible “he was picked up dead”). Had Luke intended to say that he only appeared to be dead, he could easily have done this. Therefore, such a translation as “was picked up as dead” (Phillips) or “was picked up for dead” (New English Bible) is misleading.

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 .