Exodus 3:5

3:5 God ¹  said, “Do not approach any closer! ²  Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ³  ground.” ⁴ 

Acts 7:32-33

7:32 ‘I am the God of your forefathers, ⁵  the God of Abraham, Isaac, ⁶  and Jacob.’ ⁷  Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look more closely. ⁸  7:33 But the Lord said to him, ‘Take the sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ⁹ 

Acts 7:2

7:2 So he replied, ¹⁰  “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our forefather ¹¹  Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,

Acts 1:18

1:18 (Now this man Judas ¹²  acquired a field with the reward of his unjust deed, ¹³  and falling headfirst ¹⁴  he burst open in the middle and all his intestines ¹⁵  gushed out.

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

² sn Even though the Lord was drawing near to Moses, Moses could not casually approach him. There still was a barrier between God and human, and God had to remind Moses of this with instructions. The removal of sandals was, and still is in the East, a sign of humility and reverence in the presence of the Holy One. It was a way of excluding the dust and dirt of the world. But it also took away personal comfort and convenience and brought the person more closely in contact with the earth.

³ sn The word קֹדֶשׁ (qodesh, “holy”) indicates “set apart, distinct, unique.” What made a mountain or other place holy was the fact that God chose that place to reveal himself or to reside among his people. Because God was in this place, the ground was different – it was holy.

⁴ tn The causal clause includes within it a typical relative clause, which is made up of the relative pronoun, then the independent personal pronoun with the participle, and then the preposition with the resumptive pronoun. It would literally be “which you are standing on it,” but the relative pronoun and the resumptive pronoun are combined and rendered, “on which you are standing.”

⁵ tn Or “ancestors”; Grk “fathers.”

⁶ 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.

⁷ sn A quotation from Exod 3:6. The phrase suggests the God of promise, the God of the nation.

⁸ tn Or “to investigate,” “to contemplate” (BDAG 522 s.v. κατανοέω 2).

⁹ sn 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 revealing himself is a holy place.

¹⁰ tn Grk “said.”

¹¹ tn Or “ancestor”; Grk “father.”

¹² tn The referent of “this man” (Judas) was specified in the translation for clarity.

¹³ tn Traditionally, “with the reward of his wickedness.”

¹⁴ tn Traditionally, “falling headlong.”

¹⁵ tn Or “all his bowels.”