Acts 7:8

7:8 Then God ¹  gave Abraham ²  the covenant ³  of circumcision, and so he became the father of Isaac and circumcised him when he was eight days old, ⁴  and Isaac became the father of ⁵  Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. ⁶ 

Acts 7:32

7:32 ‘I am the God of your forefathers, ⁷  the God of Abraham, Isaac, ⁸  and Jacob.’ ⁹  Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look more closely. ¹⁰ 

Acts 3:13

3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ¹¹  the God of our forefathers, ¹²  has glorified ¹³  his servant ¹⁴  Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected ¹⁵  in the presence of Pilate after he had decided ¹⁶  to release him.

[7:8]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:8]  ² tn Grk “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:8]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ sn The twelve patriarchs refers to the twelve sons of Jacob, the famous ancestors of the Jewish race (see Gen 35:23-26).

[7:32]  ⁷ tn Or “ancestors”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:32]  ⁸ tn Grk “and Isaac,” 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.

[7:32]  ⁹ sn A quotation from Exod 3:6. The phrase suggests the God of promise, the God of the nation.

[7:32]  ¹⁰ tn Or “to investigate,” “to contemplate” (BDAG 522 s.v. κατανοέω 2).

[3:13]  ¹³ tc ‡ The repetition of ὁ θεός (Jo qeos, “God”) before the names of Isaac and Jacob is found in Ì⁷⁴ א C (A D without article) 36 104 1175 pc lat. The omission of the second and third ὁ θεός is supported by B E Ψ 33 1739 Ï pc. The other time that Exod 3:6 is quoted in Acts (7:32) the best witnesses also lack the repeated ὁ θεός, but the three other times this OT passage is quoted in the NT the full form, with the thrice-mentioned θεός, is used (Matt 22:32; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37). Scribes would be prone to conform the wording here to the LXX; the longer reading is thus most likely not authentic. NA²⁷ has the words in brackets, indicating doubts as to their authenticity.

[3:13]  ¹⁴ tn Or “ancestors”; Grk “fathers.”

[3:13]  ¹⁵ sn Has glorified. Jesus is alive, raised and active, as the healing illustrates so dramatically how God honors him.

[3:13]  ¹⁶ sn His servant. The term servant has messianic connotations given the context of the promise, the note of suffering, and the titles and functions noted in vv. 14-15.

[3:13]  ¹⁷ tn Or “denied,” “disowned.”

[3:13]  ¹⁸ tn This genitive absolute construction could be understood as temporal (“when he had decided”) or concessive (“although he had decided”).