Discovery BoxActs 7:1-22
Context7:1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things true?” 1 7:2 So he replied, 2 “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our forefather 3 Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran, 7:3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your country and from your relatives, and come to the land I will show you.’ 4 7:4 Then he went out from the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God 5 made him move 6 to this country where you now live. 7:5 He 7 did not give any of it to him for an inheritance, 8 not even a foot of ground, 9 yet God 10 promised to give it to him as his possession, and to his descendants after him, 11 even though Abraham 12 as yet had no child. 7:6 But God spoke as follows: ‘Your 13 descendants will be foreigners 14 in a foreign country, whose citizens will enslave them and mistreat them for four hundred years. 15 7:7 But I will punish 16 the nation they serve as slaves,’ said God, ‘and after these things they will come out of there 17 and worship 18 me in this place.’ 19 7:8 Then God 20 gave Abraham 21 the covenant 22 of circumcision, and so he became the father of Isaac and circumcised him when he was eight days old, 23 and Isaac became the father of 24 Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. 25 7:9 The 26 patriarchs, because they were jealous of Joseph, sold 27 him into Egypt. But 28 God was with him, 7:10 and rescued him from all his troubles, and granted him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made 29 him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 7:11 Then a famine occurred throughout 30 Egypt and Canaan, causing 31 great suffering, and our 32 ancestors 33 could not find food. 7:12 So when Jacob heard that there was grain 34 in Egypt, he sent our ancestors 35 there 36 the first time. 7:13 On their second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers again, and Joseph’s family 37 became known to Pharaoh. 7:14 So Joseph sent a message 38 and invited 39 his father Jacob and all his relatives to come, seventy-five people 40 in all. 7:15 So Jacob went down to Egypt and died there, 41 along with our ancestors, 42 7:16 and their bones 43 were later moved to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a certain sum of money 44 from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
7:17 “But as the time drew near for God to fulfill the promise he had declared to Abraham, 45 the people increased greatly in number 46 in Egypt, 7:18 until another king who did not know about 47 Joseph ruled 48 over Egypt. 49 7:19 This was the one who exploited 50 our people 51 and was cruel to our ancestors, 52 forcing them to abandon 53 their infants so they would die. 54 7:20 At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful 55 to God. For 56 three months he was brought up in his father’s house, 7:21 and when he had been abandoned, 57 Pharaoh’s daughter adopted 58 him and brought him up 59 as her own son. 7:22 So Moses was trained 60 in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful 61 in his words and deeds.
[7:1] 1 tn Grk “If it is so concerning these things” (see BDAG 422 s.v. ἔχω 10.a for this use).
[7:2] 3 tn Or “ancestor”; Grk “father.”
[7:3] 4 sn A quotation from Gen 12:1.
[7:4] 5 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[7:4] 6 tn The translation “made him move” for the verb μετοικίζω (metoikizw) is given by L&N 85.83. The verb has the idea of “resettling” someone (BDAG 643 s.v.); see v. 43, where it reappears.
[7:5] 7 tn Grk “And he.” 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.
[7:5] 8 tn Grk “He did not give him an inheritance in it.” This could be understood to mean that God did not give something else to Abraham as an inheritance while he was living there. The point of the text is that God did not give any of the land to him as an inheritance, and the translation makes this clear.
[7:5] 9 tn Grk “a step of a foot” (cf. Deut 2:5).
[7:5] 10 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[7:5] 11 sn An allusion to Gen 12:7; 13:15; 15:2, 18; 17:8; 24:7; 48:4. On the theological importance of the promise and to his descendants after him, see Rom 4 and Gal 3.
[7:5] 12 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[7:6] 13 tn Grk “that his”; the discourse switches from indirect to direct with the following verbs. For consistency the entire quotation is treated as second person direct discourse in the translation.
[7:6] 14 tn Or “will be strangers,” that is, one who lives as a noncitizen of a foreign country.
[7:6] 15 sn A quotation from Gen 15:13. Exod 12:40 specifies the sojourn as 430 years.
[7:7] 16 tn BDAG 568 s.v. κρίνω 5.b.α states, “Oft. the emphasis is unmistakably laid upon that which follows the Divine Judge’s verdict, upon the condemnation or punishment: condemn, punish …Ac 7:7 (Gen 15:14).”
[7:7] 17 tn The words “of there” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.
[7:7] 18 tn Or “and serve,” but with religious/cultic overtones (BDAG 587 s.v. λατρεύω).
[7:7] 19 sn An allusion to Exod 3:12.
[7:8] 20 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[7:8] 21 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[7:8] 22 sn God gave…the covenant. Note how the covenant of promise came before Abraham’s entry into the land and before the building of the temple.
[7:8] 23 tn Grk “circumcised him on the eighth day,” but many modern readers will not understand that this procedure was done on the eighth day after birth. The temporal clause “when he was eight days old” conveys this idea more clearly. See Gen 17:11-12.
[7:8] 24 tn The words “became the father of” are not in the Greek text due to an ellipsis, but must be supplied for the English translation. The ellipsis picks up the verb from the previous clause describing how Abraham fathered Isaac.
[7:8] 25 sn The twelve patriarchs refers to the twelve sons of Jacob, the famous ancestors of the Jewish race (see Gen 35:23-26).
[7:9] 26 tn Grk “And the.” 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.
[7:9] 27 tn The meaning “sell” for the middle voice of ἀποδίδωμι (apodidwmi) is given by BDAG 110 s.v. 5.a. See Gen 37:12-36, esp. v. 28.
[7:9] 28 tn Though the Greek term here is καί (kai), in context this remark is clearly contrastive: Despite the malicious act, God was present and protected Joseph.
[7:10] 29 tn Or “appointed.” See Gen 41:41-43.
[7:11] 30 tn Grk “came upon all Egypt.”
[7:11] 31 tn Grk “and,” but logically causal.
[7:11] 32 sn Our. Stephen spoke of “our” ancestors (Grk “fathers”) in an inclusive sense throughout the speech until his rebuke in v. 51, where the nation does what “your” ancestors did, at which point an exclusive pronoun is used. This serves to emphasize the rebuke.
[7:11] 33 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
[7:12] 34 tn Or possibly “food,” since in a number of extrabiblical contexts the phrase σιτία καὶ ποτά (sitia kai pota) means “food and drink,” where solid food is contrasted with liquid nourishment (L&N 3.42).
[7:12] 35 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
[7:12] 36 tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.
[7:13] 37 tn BDAG 194 s.v. γένος 2. gives “family, relatives” here; another alternative is “race” (see v. 19).
[7:14] 38 tn The words “a message” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.
[7:14] 39 tn Or “Joseph had his father summoned” (BDAG 121 s.v. ἀποστέλλω 2.b).
[7:14] 40 tn Grk “souls” (here an idiom for the whole person).
[7:15] 41 tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.
[7:15] 42 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
[7:16] 44 sn See Gen 49:29-32.
[7:17] 45 tn Grk “But as the time for the fulfillment of the promise drew near that God had declared to Abraham.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged to improve English style. See vv. 6-7 above.
[7:17] 46 tn Grk “the people increased and multiplied.”
[7:18] 47 tn Or simply “did not know.” However, in this context the point is that the new king knew nothing about Joseph, not whether he had known him personally (which is the way “did not know Joseph” could be understood).
[7:18] 48 tn Grk “arose,” but in this context it clearly refers to a king assuming power.
[7:18] 49 sn A quotation from Exod 1:8.
[7:19] 50 tn According to L&N 88.147 it is also possible to translate κατασοφισάμενος (katasofisameno") as “took advantage by clever words” or “persuaded by sweet talk.”
[7:19] 52 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
[7:19] 53 tn Or “expose” (BDAG 303 s.v. ἔκθετος).
[7:19] 54 tn Grk “so that they could not be kept alive,” but in this context the phrase may be translated either “so that they would not continue to live,” or “so that they would die” (L&N 23.89).
[7:20] 55 tn Or “was well-formed before God,” or “was well-pleasing to God” (BDAG 145 s.v. ἀστεῖος suggests the meaning is more like “well-bred” as far as God was concerned; see Exod 2:2).
[7:20] 56 tn Grk “who was brought up for three months.” The continuation of the sentence as a relative clause is awkward in English, so a new sentence was started in the translation by changing the relative pronoun to a regular pronoun (“he”).
[7:21] 57 tn Or “exposed” (see v. 19).
[7:21] 58 tn Grk “Pharaoh’s daughter took him up for herself.” According to BDAG 64 s.v. ἀναιρέω, “The pap. exx. involve exposed children taken up and reared as slaves…The rendering ‘adopt’ lacks philological precision and can be used only in a loose sense (as NRSV), esp. when Gr-Rom. terminology relating to adoption procedures is taken into account.” In this instance both the immediate context and the OT account (Exod 2:3-10) do support the normal sense of the English word “adopt,” although it should not be understood to refer to a technical, legal event.
