Acts 7:36-39

7:36 This man led them out, performing wonders and miraculous signs ¹  in the land of Egypt, ²  at ³  the Red Sea, and in the wilderness ⁴  for forty years. 7:37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ⁵  ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’ ⁶  7:38 This is the man who was in the congregation ⁷  in the wilderness ⁸  with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors, ⁹  and he ¹⁰  received living oracles ¹¹  to give to you. ¹²  7:39 Our ¹³  ancestors ¹⁴  were unwilling to obey ¹⁵  him, but pushed him aside ¹⁶  and turned back to Egypt in their hearts,

¹ tn Here the context indicates the miraculous nature of the signs mentioned.

² tn Or simply “in Egypt.” The phrase “the land of” could be omitted as unnecessary or redundant.

³ tn Grk “and at,” 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.

⁴ tn Or “desert.”

⁵ tn Grk “to the sons of Israel.”

⁶ sn A quotation from Deut 18:15. This quotation sets up Jesus as the “leader-prophet” like Moses (Acts 3:22; Luke 9:35).

⁷ tn This term, ἐκκλησία (ekklhsia), is a secular use of the term that came to mean “church” in the epistles. Here a reference to an assembly is all that is intended.

⁸ tn Or “desert.”

⁹ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “fathers, who.” The relative pronoun was replaced by the pronoun “he” and a new clause introduced by “and” was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style.

¹¹ tn Or “messages.” This is an allusion to the law given to Moses.

¹² tc ‡ The first person pronoun ἡμῖν (Jhmin, “to us”) is read by A C D E Ψ 33 1739 Ï lat sy, while the second person pronoun ὑμῖν (Jumin, “to you”) is read by Ì⁷⁴ א B 36 453 al co. The second person pronoun thus has significantly better external support. As well, ὑμῖν is a harder reading in this context, both because it is surrounded by first person pronouns and because Stephen perhaps “does not wish to disassociate himself from those who received God’s revelation in the past, but only from those who misinterpreted and disobeyed that revelation” (TCGNT 307). At the same time, Stephen does associate himself to some degree with his disobedient ancestors in v. 39, suggesting that the decisive break does not really come until v. 51 (where both his present audience and their ancestors are viewed as rebellious). Thus, both externally and internally ὑμῖν is the preferred reading.

¹³ tn Grk “whom our.” The continuation of the sentence as a relative clause is awkward in English, so a new sentence was started in the translation at this point.

¹⁴ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

¹⁵ sn To obey. Again the theme of the speech is noted. The nation disobeyed the way of God and opted for Egypt over the promised land.

¹⁶ sn Pushed him aside. This is the second time Moses is “pushed aside” in Stephen’s account (see v. 27).