Text -- Acts 7:1-5 (NET)

Stephen’s Defense Before the Council

7:1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things true?” 7:2 So he replied, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our forefather Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran, 7:3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your country and from your relatives, and come to the land I will show you.’ 7:4 Then he went out from the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God made him move to this country where you now live. 7:5 He did not give any of it to him for an inheritance, not even a foot of ground, yet God promised to give it to him as his possession, and to his descendants after him, even though Abraham as yet had no child.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Act 7:1

¹ tn Grk “If it is so concerning these things” (see BDAG 422 s.v. ἔχω 10.a for this use).

NET Notes: Act 7:2

¹ tn Grk “said.”

² tn Or “ancestor”; Grk “father.”

NET Notes: Act 7:3

¹ sn A quotation from Gen 12:1.

NET Notes: Act 7:4

¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn The translation “made him move” for the verb μετοικίζω (metoikizw) is given by L&N 85.83. The verb has the idea of “resettling” someone (BDAG 643 s.v.); see v. 43, where it reappears.

NET Notes: Act 7:5

¹ tn Grk “And he.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

² tn Grk “He did not give him an inheritance in it.” This could be understood to mean that God did not give something else to Abraham as an inheritance while he was living there. The point of the text is that God did not give any of the land to him as an inheritance, and the translation makes this clear.

³ tn Grk “a step of a foot” (cf. Deut 2:5).

⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ sn An allusion to Gen 12:7; 13:15; 15:2, 18; 17:8; 24:7; 48:4. On the theological importance of the promise and to his descendants after him, see Rom 4 and Gal 3.

⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.