As the Good News Translation alternative rendering points out, there is the possibility that in place of two hundred and seventy-six one should have two hundred and seventy-five, or seventy-six, or seventy-five. The difference in Greek is not nearly so much as might be intimated from the English, but the UBS Text Committee is rather firm in its agreement that the text should read “two hundred and seventy-six.”

In some so-called “primitive languages” there is no regular way of calculating a number such as two hundred and seventy-six. One can use a general term for “many, many people,” and then in a marginal note employ the specific number from a major language of the area. On the other hand, most translators under such circumstances simply borrow expressions for numbers such as two hundred and seventy-six and introduce these directly into the text. If this is done, a footnote may be employed to suggest to the reader how this can be calculated (though in rather paraphrastic ways), using the indigenous system of counting, limited though it may be.

Once again the Greek word “souls” (in the phrase “a total of … souls”) is used in the sense of “persons.”

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 .