Acts 23:19

the chief captain took him by the hand The messenger from a Roman citizen was entitled to some consideration, and the action of the chief captain is meant to encourage the young man. The chief captain would naturally incline to favour Paul after his conversation with him, rather than his Jewish accusers. We can gather this from the tone of the letter which he subsequently sent to Cæsarea.

and went with him aside privately, and asked him The adverb "privately" is better joined with the verb "asked" as in the Rev. Ver.: this is more in accordance with the Greek order, and such an adverb is somewhat out of place with the first verb, in which privacy is implied without such an addition.