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Text -- Acts 7:1-52 (NET)

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Context
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. 7:6 But God spoke as follows: ‘Your descendants will be foreigners in a foreign country, whose citizens will enslave them and mistreat them for four hundred years. 7:7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ said God, ‘and after these things they will come out of there and worship me in this place.’ 7:8 Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, and so he became the father of Isaac and circumcised him when he was eight days old, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. 7:9 The patriarchs, because they were jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt. But God was with him, 7:10 and rescued him from all his troubles, and granted him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 7:11 Then a famine occurred throughout Egypt and Canaan, causing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. 7:12 So when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there the first time. 7:13 On their second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers again, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 7:14 So Joseph sent a message and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come, seventy-five people in all. 7:15 So Jacob went down to Egypt and died there, along with our ancestors, 7:16 and their bones were later moved to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a certain sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. 7:17 “But as the time drew near for God to fulfill the promise he had declared to Abraham, the people increased greatly in number in Egypt, 7:18 until another king who did not know about Joseph ruled over Egypt. 7:19 This was the one who exploited our people and was cruel to our ancestors, forcing them to abandon their infants so they would die. die. 7:20 At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful to God. For three months he was brought up in his father’s house, 7:21 and when he had been abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 7:22 So Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds. 7:23 But when he was about forty years old, it entered his mind to visit his fellow countrymen the Israelites. 7:24 When he saw one of them being hurt unfairly, Moses came to his defense and avenged the person who was mistreated by striking down the Egyptian. 7:25 He thought his own people would understand that God was delivering them through him, but they did not understand. 7:26 The next day Moses saw two men fighting, and tried to make peace between them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why are you hurting one another?’ 7:27 But the man who was unfairly hurting his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us? 7:28 You don’t want to kill me the way you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’ 7:29 When the man said this, Moses fled and became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. 7:30 “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the desert of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. 7:31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and when he approached to investigate, there came the voice of the Lord, 7:32 ‘I am the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look more closely. 7:33 But the Lord said to him, ‘Take the sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 7:34 I have certainly seen the suffering of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Now come, I will send you to Egypt.’ 7:35 This same Moses they had rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ God sent as both ruler and deliverer through the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 7:36 This man led them out, performing wonders and miraculous signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. 7:37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’ 7:38 This is the man who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors, and he received living oracles to give to you. 7:39 Our ancestors were unwilling unwilling to obey him, but pushed him aside and turned back to Egypt in their hearts, 7:40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go in front of us, for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt –we do not know what has happened to him!’ 7:41 At that time they made an idol in the form of a calf, brought a sacrifice to the idol, and began rejoicing in the works of their hands. 7:42 But God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘It was not to me that you offered slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, house of Israel? 7:43 But you took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rephan, the images you made to worship, but I will deport you beyond Babylon.’ 7:44 Our ancestors had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as God who spoke to Moses ordered him to make it according to the design he had seen. 7:45 Our ancestors received possession of it and brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our ancestors, until the time of David. 7:46 He found favor with God and asked that he could find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob. 7:47 But Solomon built a house for him. 7:48 Yet the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands, as the prophet says, 7:49 ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth is the footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is my resting place? 7:50 Did my hand not make all these things?’ 7:51 “You stubborn people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors did! 7:52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become!
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics

Names, People and Places:
 · Aaron a son of Amram; brother of Moses,son of Amram (Kohath Levi); patriarch of Israel's priests,the clan or priestly line founded by Aaron
 · Abraham a son of Terah; the father of Isaac; ancestor of the Jewish nation.,the son of Terah of Shem
 · Babylon a country of Babylon in lower Mesopotamia
 · Canaan the region ofeast Mediterranean coastal land from Arvad (modern Lebanon) south to Gaza,the coast land from Mt. Carmel north to the Orontes River
 · Chaldeans the inhabitants of Chaldea.
 · David a son of Jesse of Judah; king of Israel,son of Jesse of Judah; king of Israel
 · Egypt descendants of Mizraim
 · Egyptian descendants of Mizraim
 · Hamor the father of Shechem.,father of Shechem whose people Simeon and Levi destroyed
 · Haran a town of upper Mesopotamia,an English name representing two different Hebrew names,as representing the Hebrew name 'Haran',son of Terah; brother of Abraham,a Levitical chief of the descendants of Ladan under King David; son of Shimei,as representing the Hebrew name 'Xaran', beginning with a velar fricative,son of Caleb of Judah and Ephah his concubine
 · Isaac the only son of Abraham and Sarah; father of Jacob and Esau
 · Israel a citizen of Israel.,a member of the nation of Israel
 · Israelite a citizen of Israel.,a member of the nation of Israel
 · Jacob the second so of a pair of twins born to Isaac and Rebeccaa; ancestor of the 12 tribes of Israel,the nation of Israel,a person, male,son of Isaac; Israel the man and nation
 · Joseph the husband of Mary and foster-father of Jesus,a Jewish man from Arimathea in whose grave the body of Jesus was laid,two different men listed as ancestors of Jesus,a man nominated with Matthias to take the place of Judas Iscariot as apostle,a son of Jacob and Rachel; the father of Ephraim and Manasseh and ruler of Egypt,a brother of Jesus; a son of Mary,a man who was a companion of Paul,son of Jacob and Rachel; patriarch of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh,a tribe, actually two tribes named after Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh,father of Igal, of Issachar, who helped spy out Canaan,son of Asaph the Levite; worship leader under Asaph and King David,a man who put away his heathen wife; an Israelite descended from Binnui,priest and head of the house of Shebaniah under High Priest Joiakim in the time of Nehemiah
 · Joshua a son of Eliezer; the father of Er; an ancestor of Jesus,the son of Nun and successor of Moses,son of Nun of Ephraim; successor to Moses,a man: owner of the field where the ark stopped,governor of Jerusalem under King Josiah,son of Jehozadak; high priest in the time of Zerubbabel
 · Mesopotamia the country between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers,the region between (and around) the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
 · Midian resident(s) of the region of Midian
 · Moloch the national pagan god of the Ammonites (IBD)
 · Moses a son of Amram; the Levite who led Israel out of Egypt and gave them The Law of Moses,a Levite who led Israel out of Egypt and gave them the law
 · Pharaoh the king who ruled Egypt when Moses was born,the title of the king who ruled Egypt in Abraham's time,the title of the king who ruled Egypt in Joseph's time,the title of the king who ruled Egypt when Moses was born,the title of the king who refused to let Israel leave Egypt,the title of the king of Egypt whose daughter Solomon married,the title of the king who ruled Egypt in the time of Isaiah,the title Egypt's ruler just before Moses' time
 · Red Sea the ocean between Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula,the sea between Egypt and Arabia
 · Rephan a pagan god worshipped by Israel in the wilderness
 · Shechem member of the Shechem Clan and/or resident of Shechem
 · Sinai a mountain located either between the gulfs of Suez and Akaba or in Arabia, east of Akaba,a mountain; the place where the law was given to Moses
 · Solomon the tenth son of David; the father of Rehoboam; an ancestor of Jesus; the third king of Israel.,son of David and Bath-Sheba; successor of King David
 · Stephen the man who became the first Christian martyr


Dictionary Themes and Topics: Persecution | Stephen | Defense | Jerusalem | Priest | Court | Government | Readings, Select | DOCTRINE | Quotations and Allusions | Moses | Israel | ANGEL OF THE LORD | God | Jacob | Abraham | Mark, Gospel according to | Obedience | CHARRAN | Apostasy | more
Table of Contents

Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes

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Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Act 7:1 Grk “If it is so concerning these things” (see BDAG 422 s.v. ἔχω 10.a for this use).

NET Notes: Act 7:2 Or “ancestor”; Grk “father.”

NET Notes: Act 7:3 A quotation from Gen 12:1.

NET Notes: Act 7:4 The translation “made him move” for the verb μετοικίζω (metoikizw) is given by L&N 85.83....

NET Notes: Act 7:5 Grk “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: Act 7:6 A quotation from Gen 15:13. Exod 12:40 specifies the sojourn as 430 years.

NET Notes: Act 7:7 An allusion to Exod 3:12.

NET Notes: Act 7:8 The twelve patriarchs refers to the twelve sons of Jacob, the famous ancestors of the Jewish race (see Gen 35:23-26).

NET Notes: Act 7:9 Though the Greek term here is καί (kai), in context this remark is clearly contrastive: Despite the malicious act, God was present and ...

NET Notes: Act 7:10 Or “appointed.” See Gen 41:41-43.

NET Notes: Act 7:11 Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

NET Notes: Act 7:12 The word “there” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied fo...

NET Notes: Act 7:13 BDAG 194 s.v. γένος 2. gives “family, relatives” here; another alternative is “race” (see v. 19).

NET Notes: Act 7:14 Grk “souls” (here an idiom for the whole person).

NET Notes: Act 7:15 Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

NET Notes: Act 7:16 See Gen 49:29-32.

NET Notes: Act 7:17 Grk “the people increased and multiplied.”

NET Notes: Act 7:18 A quotation from Exod 1:8.

NET Notes: Act 7:19 Grk “so that they could not be kept alive,” but in this context the phrase may be translated either “so that they would not continue...

NET Notes: Act 7:20 Grk “who was brought up for three months.” The continuation of the sentence as a relative clause is awkward in English, so a new sentence ...

NET Notes: Act 7:21 Or “and reared him” (BDAG 74 s.v. ἀνατρέφω b).

NET Notes: Act 7:22 Or “was able” (BDAG 264 s.v. δυνατός 1.b.α).

NET Notes: Act 7:23 Grk “the sons of Israel.”

NET Notes: Act 7:24 Or “he defended,” “he retaliated” (BDAG 55 s.v. ἀμύνομαι).

NET Notes: Act 7:25 They did not understand. Here is the theme of the speech. The people did not understand what God was doing through those he chose. They made the same ...

NET Notes: Act 7:26 Or “tried to reconcile” (BDAG 964-65 s.v. συναλλάσσω).

NET Notes: Act 7:27 Or “appointed.”

NET Notes: Act 7:28 A quotation from Exod 2:14. Even though a negative reply was expected, the question still frightened Moses enough to flee, because he knew his deed ha...

NET Notes: Act 7:29 Or “resident alien.” Traditionally πάροικος (paroiko") has been translated “stranger...

NET Notes: Act 7:30 An allusion to Exod 3:2.

NET Notes: Act 7:32 Or “to investigate,” “to contemplate” (BDAG 522 s.v. κατανοέω 2).

NET Notes: Act 7:33 A quotation from Exod 3:5. The phrase holy ground points to the fact that God is not limited to a particular locale. The place where he is active in r...

NET Notes: Act 7:34 A quotation from Exod 3:7-8, 10.

NET Notes: Act 7:35 Or simply “through the angel.” Here the “hand” could be understood as a figure for the person or the power of the angel himsel...

NET Notes: Act 7:36 Or “desert.”

NET Notes: Act 7:37 A quotation from Deut 18:15. This quotation sets up Jesus as the “leader-prophet” like Moses (Acts 3:22; Luke 9:35).

NET Notes: Act 7:38 ‡ The first person pronoun ἡμῖν (Jhmin, “to us”) is read by A C D E Ψ 33 1739 Ï lat sy, while the se...

NET Notes: Act 7:39 Pushed him aside. This is the second time Moses is “pushed aside” in Stephen’s account (see v. 27).

NET Notes: Act 7:40 A quotation from Exod 32:1, 23. Doubt (we do not know what has happened to him) expresses itself in unfaithful action. The act is in contrast to God&#...

NET Notes: Act 7:41 Or “in what they had done.”

NET Notes: Act 7:42 The Greek construction anticipates a negative reply which is indicated in the translation by the ‘tag’ question, “was it?”

NET Notes: Act 7:43 A quotation from Amos 5:25-27. This constituted a prediction of the exile.

NET Notes: Act 7:44 The word “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must ...

NET Notes: Act 7:45 Grk “In those days.”

NET Notes: Act 7:46 Some mss read θεῷ (qew, “God”) here, a variant much easier to understand in the context. The reading “God” is ...

NET Notes: Act 7:47 See 1 Kgs 8:1-21.

NET Notes: Act 7:48 The phrase made by human hands is negative in the NT: Mark 14:58; Acts 17:24; Eph 2:11; Heb 9:11, 24. It suggests “man-made” or “imp...

NET Notes: Act 7:49 What kind…resting place? The rhetorical questions suggest mere human beings cannot build a house to contain God.

NET Notes: Act 7:50 A quotation from Isa 66:1-2. If God made the heavens, how can a human building contain him?

NET Notes: Act 7:51 Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

NET Notes: Act 7:52 Whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. The harsh critique has OT precedent (1 Kgs 19:10-14; Neh 9:26; 2 Chr 36:16).

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