1 Samuel 10:27

10:27 But some wicked men ¹  said, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and did not even bring him a gift. But Saul said nothing about it. ² 

1 Samuel 11:6-7

11:6 The Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and he became very angry. 11:7 He took a pair ³  of oxen and cut them up. Then he sent the pieces throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, who said, “Whoever does not go out after Saul and after Samuel should expect this to be done to his oxen!” Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people, and they went out as one army. ⁴ 

1 Samuel 11:12

Saul Is Established as King

11:12 Then the people said to Samuel, “Who were the ones asking, ‘Will Saul reign over us?’ Hand over those men so we may execute them!”

Psalms 118:22-23

118:22 The stone which the builders discarded ⁵ 

has become the cornerstone. ⁶ 

118:23 This is the Lord’s work.

We consider it amazing! ⁷ 

Acts 7:35-39

7:35 This same ⁸  Moses they had rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ ⁹  God sent as both ruler and deliverer ¹⁰  through the hand of the angel ¹¹  who appeared to him in the bush. 7:36 This man led them out, performing wonders and miraculous signs ¹²  in the land of Egypt, ¹³  at ¹⁴  the Red Sea, and in the wilderness ¹⁵  for forty years. 7:37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ¹⁶  ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’ ¹⁷  7:38 This is the man who was in the congregation ¹⁸  in the wilderness ¹⁹  with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors, ²⁰  and he ²¹  received living oracles ²²  to give to you. ²³  7:39 Our ²⁴  ancestors ²⁵  were unwilling to obey ²⁶  him, but pushed him aside ²⁷  and turned back to Egypt in their hearts,

Acts 7:1

Stephen’s Defense Before the Council

7:1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things true?” ²⁸ 

Colossians 1:27-29

1:27 God wanted to make known to them the glorious ²⁹  riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 1:28 We proclaim him by instructing ³⁰  and teaching ³¹  all people ³²  with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature ³³  in Christ. 1:29 Toward this goal ³⁴  I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully ³⁵  works in me.

[10:27]  ¹ tn Heb “sons of worthlessness” (see 2:12).

[10:27]  ² tc In place of the MT (“and it was like one being silent”) the LXX has “after about a month,” taking the expression with the first part of the following chapter rather than with 10:27. Some Hebrew support for this reading appears in the corrected hand of a Qumran ms of Samuel, which has here “about a month.” However, it seems best to stay with the MT here even though it is difficult.

[11:7]  ³ tn Heb “yoke.”

[11:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “like one man.”

[118:22]  ⁵ tn Or “rejected.”

[118:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “the head of the corner.”

[118:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “it is amazing in our eyes.” The use of the plural pronoun here and in vv. 24-27 suggests that the psalmist may be speaking for the entire nation. However, it is more likely that vv. 22-27 are the people’s response to the psalmist’s thanksgiving song (see especially v. 26). They rejoice with him because his deliverance on the battlefield (see vv. 10-12) had national repercussions.

[7:35]  ⁸ sn This same. The reference to “this one” occurs five times in this speech. It is the way the other speeches in Acts refer to Jesus (e.g., Acts 2:23).

[7:35]  ⁹ sn A quotation from Exod 2:14 (see Acts 7:27). God saw Moses very differently than the people of the nation did. The reference to a ruler and a judge suggests that Stephen set up a comparison between Moses and Jesus, but he never finished his speech to make the point. The reader of Acts, however, knowing the other sermons in the book, recognizes that the rejection of Jesus is the counterpoint.

[7:35]  ¹⁰ tn Or “liberator.” The meaning “liberator” for λυτρωτήν (lutrwthn) is given in L&N 37.129: “a person who liberates or releases others.”

[7:35]  ¹¹ tn Or simply “through the angel.” Here the “hand” could be understood as a figure for the person or the power of the angel himself. The remark about the angel appearing fits the first century Jewish view that God appears to no one (John 1:14-18; Gal 3:19; Deut 33:2 LXX).

[7:36]  ¹² tn Here the context indicates the miraculous nature of the signs mentioned.

[7:36]  ¹³ tn Or simply “in Egypt.” The phrase “the land of” could be omitted as unnecessary or redundant.

[7:36]  ¹⁴ 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.

[7:36]  ¹⁵ tn Or “desert.”

[7:37]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “to the sons of Israel.”

[7:37]  ¹⁷ sn A quotation from Deut 18:15. This quotation sets up Jesus as the “leader-prophet” like Moses (Acts 3:22; Luke 9:35).

[7:38]  ¹⁸ 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.

[7:38]  ¹⁹ tn Or “desert.”

[7:38]  ²⁰ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:38]  ²¹ 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.

[7:38]  ²² tn Or “messages.” This is an allusion to the law given to Moses.

[7:38]  ²³ 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.

[7:39]  ²⁴ 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.

[7:39]  ²⁵ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:39]  ²⁶ 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.

[7:39]  ²⁷ sn Pushed him aside. This is the second time Moses is “pushed aside” in Stephen’s account (see v. 27).

[7:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “If it is so concerning these things” (see BDAG 422 s.v. ἔχω 10.a for this use).

[1:27]  ²⁹ tn The genitive noun τῆς δόξης (ths doxhs) is an attributive genitive and has therefore been translated as “glorious riches.”

[1:28]  ³⁰ tn Or “admonishing,” or “warning.” BDAG 679 s.v. νουθετέω states, “to counsel about avoidance or cessation of an improper course of conduct,, admonish, warn, instruct.” After the participle νουθετοῦντες (nouqetounte", “instructing”) the words πάντα ἄνθρωπον (panta anqrwpon, “all men”) occur in the Greek text, but since the same phrase appears again after διδάσκοντες (didaskontes) it was omitted in translation to avoid redundancy in English.

[1:28]  ³¹ tn The two participles “instructing” (νουθετοῦντες, nouqetounte") and “teaching” (διδάσκοντες, didaskonte") are translated as participles of means (“by”) related to the finite verb “we proclaim” (καταγγέλλομεν, katangellomen).

[1:28]  ³² tn Here ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon) is twice translated as a generic (“people” and “person”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.

[1:28]  ³³ tn Since Paul’s focus is on the present experience of the Colossians, “mature” is a better translation of τέλειον (teleion) than “perfect,” since the latter implies a future, eschatological focus.

[1:29]  ³⁴ tn The Greek phrase εἴς ὅ (eis Jo, “toward which”) implies “movement toward a goal” and has been rendered by the English phrase “Toward this goal.”

[1:29]  ³⁵ tn The prepositional phrase ἐν δυνάμει (en dunamei) seems to be functioning adverbially, related to the participle, and has therefore been translated “powerfully.”