Acts 7:12

7:12 So when Jacob heard that there was grain ¹  in Egypt, he sent our ancestors ²  there ³  the first time.

Acts 7:15

7:15 So Jacob went down to Egypt and died there, ⁴  along with our ancestors, ⁵ 

Acts 7:8

7:8 Then God ⁶  gave Abraham ⁷  the covenant ⁸  of circumcision, and so he became the father of Isaac and circumcised him when he was eight days old, ⁹  and Isaac became the father of ¹⁰  Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. ¹¹ 

Acts 7:14

7:14 So Joseph sent a message ¹²  and invited ¹³  his father Jacob and all his relatives to come, seventy-five people ¹⁴  in all.

Acts 7:46

7:46 He ¹⁵  found favor ¹⁶  with ¹⁷  God and asked that he could ¹⁸  find a dwelling place ¹⁹  for the house ²⁰  of Jacob.

Acts 7:32

7:32 ‘I am the God of your forefathers, ²¹  the God of Abraham, Isaac, ²²  and Jacob.’ ²³  Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look more closely. ²⁴ 

Acts 3:13

3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ²⁵  the God of our forefathers, ²⁶  has glorified ²⁷  his servant ²⁸  Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected ²⁹  in the presence of Pilate after he had decided ³⁰  to release him.

¹ tn Or possibly “food,” since in a number of extrabiblical contexts the phrase σιτία καὶ ποτά (sitia kai pota) means “food and drink,” where solid food is contrasted with liquid nourishment (L&N 3.42).

² tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

³ tn 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 for the modern English reader.

⁴ tn 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 for the modern English reader.

⁵ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁹ sn God gave…the covenant. Note how the covenant of promise came before Abraham’s entry into the land and before the building of the temple.

¹⁰ tn Grk “circumcised him on the eighth day,” but many modern readers will not understand that this procedure was done on the eighth day after birth. The temporal clause “when he was eight days old” conveys this idea more clearly. See Gen 17:11-12.

¹¹ tn The words “became the father of” are not in the Greek text due to an ellipsis, but must be supplied for the English translation. The ellipsis picks up the verb from the previous clause describing how Abraham fathered Isaac.

¹² sn The twelve patriarchs refers to the twelve sons of Jacob, the famous ancestors of the Jewish race (see Gen 35:23-26).

¹⁰ tn The words “a message” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

¹¹ tn Or “Joseph had his father summoned” (BDAG 121 s.v. ἀποστέλλω 2.b).

¹² tn Grk “souls” (here an idiom for the whole person).

¹³ tn Grk “David, who” The relative pronoun was replaced by the pronoun “he” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style.

¹⁴ tn Or “grace.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “before,” “in the presence of.”

¹⁶ tn The words “that he could” are not in the Greek text, but are implied as the (understood) subject of the infinitive εὑρεῖν (Jeurein). This understands David’s request as asking that he might find the dwelling place. The other possibility would be to supply “that God” as the subject of the infinitive: “and asked that God find a dwelling place.” Unfortunately this problem is complicated by the extremely difficult problem with the Greek text in the following phrase (“house of Jacob” vs. “God of Jacob”).

¹⁷ tn On this term see BDAG 929 s.v. σκήνωμα a (Ps 132:5).

¹⁸ tc Some mss read θεῷ (qew, “God”) here, a variant much easier to understand in the context. The reading “God” is supported by א² A C E Ψ 33 1739 Ï lat sy co. The more difficult οἴκῳ (oikw, “house”) is supported by Ì⁷⁴ א* B D H 049 pc. Thus the second reading is preferred both externally because of better ms evidence and internally because it is hard to see how a copyist finding the reading “God” would change it to “house,” while it is easy to see how (given the LXX of Ps 132:5) a copyist might assimilate the reading and change “house” to “God.” However, some scholars think the reading “house” is so difficult as to be unacceptable. Others (like Lachmann and Hort) resorted to conjectural emendation at this point. Others (Ropes) sought an answer in an underlying Aramaic expression. Not everyone thinks the reading “house” is too difficult to be accepted as original (see Lake and Cadbury). A. F. J. Klijn, “Stephen’s Speech – Acts vii.2-53,” NTS 4 (1957): 25-31, compared the idea of a “house within the house of Israel” with the Manual of Discipline from Qumran, a possible parallel that seems to support the reading “house” as authentic. (For the more detailed discussion from which this note was derived, see TCGNT 308-9.)

¹⁶ tn Or “ancestors”; Grk “fathers.”

¹⁷ tn Grk “and Isaac,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

¹⁸ sn A quotation from Exod 3:6. The phrase suggests the God of promise, the God of the nation.

¹⁹ tn Or “to investigate,” “to contemplate” (BDAG 522 s.v. κατανοέω 2).

¹⁹ tc ‡ The repetition of ὁ θεός (Jo qeos, “God”) before the names of Isaac and Jacob is found in Ì⁷⁴ א C (A D without article) 36 104 1175 pc lat. The omission of the second and third ὁ θεός is supported by B E Ψ 33 1739 Ï pc. The other time that Exod 3:6 is quoted in Acts (7:32) the best witnesses also lack the repeated ὁ θεός, but the three other times this OT passage is quoted in the NT the full form, with the thrice-mentioned θεός, is used (Matt 22:32; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37). Scribes would be prone to conform the wording here to the LXX; the longer reading is thus most likely not authentic. NA²⁷ has the words in brackets, indicating doubts as to their authenticity.

²⁰ tn Or “ancestors”; Grk “fathers.”

²¹ sn Has glorified. Jesus is alive, raised and active, as the healing illustrates so dramatically how God honors him.

²² sn His servant. The term servant has messianic connotations given the context of the promise, the note of suffering, and the titles and functions noted in vv. 14-15.

²³ tn Or “denied,” “disowned.”

²⁴ tn This genitive absolute construction could be understood as temporal (“when he had decided”) or concessive (“although he had decided”).