Acts 7:51-53

7:51 “You stubborn ¹  people, with uncircumcised ²  hearts and ears! ³  You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors ⁴  did! 7:52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors ⁵  not persecute? ⁶  They ⁷  killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, ⁸  whose betrayers and murderers you have now become! ⁹  7:53 You ¹⁰  received the law by decrees given by angels, ¹¹  but you did not obey ¹²  it.” ¹³ 

[7:51]  ¹ sn Traditionally, “stiff-necked people.” Now the critique begins in earnest.

[7:51]  ² tn The term ἀπερίτμητοι (aperitmhtoi, “uncircumcised”) is a NT hapax legomenon (occurs only once). See BDAG 101-2 s.v. ἀπερίτμητος and Isa 52:1.

[7:51]  ³ tn Or “You stubborn and obstinate people!” (The phrase “uncircumcised hearts and ears” is another figure for stubbornness.)

[7:51]  ⁴ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:52]  ⁵ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:52]  ⁶ sn Which…persecute. The rhetorical question suggests they persecuted them all.

[7:52]  ⁷ 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.

[7:52]  ⁸ sn The Righteous One is a reference to Jesus Christ.

[7:52]  ⁹ 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).

[7:53]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “whose betrayers and murderers you have now become, who received the law” The two consecutive relative clauses make for awkward English style, so the second was begun as a new sentence with the pronoun “You” supplied in place of the Greek relative pronoun to make a complete sentence in English.

[7:53]  ¹¹ tn Traditionally, “as ordained by angels,” but εἰς (eis) with the accusative here should be understood as instrumental (a substitute for ἐν [en]); so BDAG 291 s.v. εἰς 9, BDF §206. Thus the phrase literally means “received the law by the decrees [orders] of angels” with the genitive understood as a subjective genitive, that is, the angels gave the decrees.

[7:53]  ¹² tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (fulassw, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.

[7:53]  ¹³ tn Or “did not obey it.”