Acts 7:52

7:52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors ¹  not persecute? ²  They ³  killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, ⁴  whose betrayers and murderers you have now become! ⁵ 

Acts 7:58-60

7:58 When ⁶  they had driven him out of the city, they began to stone him, ⁷  and the witnesses laid their cloaks ⁸  at the feet of a young man named Saul. 7:59 They ⁹  continued to stone Stephen while he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 7:60 Then he fell ¹⁰  to his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” ¹¹  When ¹²  he had said this, he died. ¹³ 

¹ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

² sn Which…persecute. The rhetorical question suggests they persecuted them all.

³ tn Grk “And they.” 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.

⁴ sn The Righteous One is a reference to Jesus Christ.

⁵ sn 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).

⁶ tn Grk “And when.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here; a new sentence is begun instead.

⁷ sn They began to stone him. The irony of the scene is that the people do exactly what the speech complains about in v. 52.

⁸ tn Or “outer garments.”

⁹ tn Grk “And they.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here; a new sentence is begun instead.

¹⁰ tn Grk “Then falling to his knees he cried out.” The participle θείς (qeis) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

¹¹ sn The remarks Lord Jesus, receive my spirit and Lord, do not hold this sin against them recall statements Jesus made on the cross (Luke 23:34, 46).

¹² tn Grk “And when.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here; a new sentence is begun instead.

¹³ tn The verb κοιμάω (koimaw) literally means “sleep,” but it is often used in the Bible as a euphemism for the death of a believer.