Acts 7:11

7:11 Then a famine occurred throughout ¹  Egypt and Canaan, causing ²  great suffering, and our ³  ancestors ⁴  could not find food.

Acts 7:39

7:39 Our ⁵  ancestors ⁶  were unwilling to obey ⁷  him, but pushed him aside ⁸  and turned back to Egypt in their hearts,

Acts 7:51

7:51 “You stubborn ⁹  people, with uncircumcised ¹⁰  hearts and ears! ¹¹  You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors ¹²  did!

Acts 15:10

15:10 So now why are you putting God to the test ¹³  by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke ¹⁴  that neither our ancestors ¹⁵  nor we have been able to bear?

[7:11]  ¹ tn Grk “came upon all Egypt.”

[7:11]  ² tn Grk “and,” but logically causal.

[7:11]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:39]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:39]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ sn Pushed him aside. This is the second time Moses is “pushed aside” in Stephen’s account (see v. 27).

[7:51]  ⁹ sn Traditionally, “stiff-necked people.” Now the critique begins in earnest.

[7:51]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Or “You stubborn and obstinate people!” (The phrase “uncircumcised hearts and ears” is another figure for stubbornness.)

[7:51]  ¹² tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[15:10]  ¹³ tn According to BDAG 793 s.v. πειράζω 2.c, “In Ac 15:10 the πειράζειν τὸν θεόν consists in the fact that after God’s will has been clearly made known through granting of the Spirit to the Gentiles (v. 8), some doubt and make trial to see whether God’s will really becomes operative.” All testing of God in Luke is negative: Luke 4:2; 11:16.

[15:10]  ¹⁴ sn A yoke is a wooden bar or frame that joins two animals like oxen or horses so that they can pull a wagon, plow, etc. together. Here it is used figuratively of the restriction that some in the early church wanted to place on Gentile converts to Christianity of observing the law of Moses and having males circumcised. The yoke is a decidedly negative image: Matt 23:4, but cf. Matt 11:29-30.

[15:10]  ¹⁵ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”