12:6 Cry out and shout for joy, O citizens of Zion,
for the Holy One of Israel 16 acts mightily 17 among you!”
3:11 Her 18 leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, 19
her priests proclaim rulings for profit,
and her prophets read omens for pay.
Yet they claim to trust 20 the Lord and say,
“The Lord is among us. 21
Disaster will not overtake 22 us!”
1:14 Now 23 the Word became flesh 24 and took up residence 25 among us. We 26 saw his glory – the glory of the one and only, 27 full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.
1 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” two times here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
2 tn Heb “it is.” Hebrew uses the third person masculine singular pronoun here in agreement with the noun “people.”
3 tn Heb “on that day.” This same expression also appears later in the verse and in v. 18.
4 tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
5 tn Heb “find,” “encounter.”
6 tn Heb “him.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “them.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
7 tn Heb “he.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “they.” See note on the first occurrence of “they” in v. 16.
8 tn Heb “evils.”
9 tn Heb “me.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “us,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.
10 tn Heb “my.”
11 tn Heb “me.” Smr, LXX, and the Targums read the plural “us,” which is necessary in any case in the translation because of contemporary English style.
12 tn Heb “the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh.”
13 tn Heb “because you were not unfaithful with this unfaithfulness against the
14 tn On the use of אָז in a logical sense, see Waltke-O’Connor, Hebrew Syntax, 667.
15 tn Heb “the hand (i.e., power) of the
16 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
17 tn Or “is great” (TEV). However, the context emphasizes his mighty acts of deliverance (cf. NCV), not some general or vague character quality.
18 sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).
19 tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”
20 tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”
21 tn Heb “Is not the
22 tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”
23 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic, the incarnation of the Word. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.
24 tn This looks at the Word incarnate in humility and weakness; the word σάρξ (sarx) does not carry overtones of sinfulness here as it frequently does in Pauline usage. See also John 3:6.
25 tn Grk “and tabernacled.”
26 tn Grk “and we saw.”
27 tn Or “of the unique one.” Although this word is often translated “only begotten,” such a translation is misleading, since in English it appears to express a metaphysical relationship. The word in Greek was used of an only child (a son [Luke 7:12, 9:38] or a daughter [Luke 8:42]). It was also used of something unique (only one of its kind) such as the mythological Phoenix (1 Clem. 25:2). From here it passes easily to a description of Isaac (Heb 11:17 and Josephus, Ant., 1.13.1 [1.222]) who was not Abraham’s only son, but was one-of-a-kind because he was the child of the promise. Thus the word means “one-of-a-kind” and is reserved for Jesus in the Johannine literature of the NT. While all Christians are children of God, Jesus is God’s Son in a unique, one-of-a-kind sense. The word is used in this way in all its uses in the Gospel of John (1:14, 1:18, 3:16, and 3:18).
28 tn Grk “to the sons of Israel.”
29 sn A quotation from Deut 18:15. This quotation sets up Jesus as the “leader-prophet” like Moses (Acts 3:22; Luke 9:35).
30 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.
31 tn Or “desert.”
32 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
33 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.
34 tn Or “messages.” This is an allusion to the law given to Moses.
35 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.
36 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.
37 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
38 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.
39 sn Pushed him aside. This is the second time Moses is “pushed aside” in Stephen’s account (see v. 27).