Numbers 11:5

11:5 We remember ¹  the fish we used to eat ²  freely ³  in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.

Exodus 5:21

5:21 and they said to them, “May the Lord look on you and judge, ⁴  because you have made us stink ⁵  in the opinion of ⁶  Pharaoh and his servants, ⁷  so that you have given them an excuse to kill us!” ⁸ 

Exodus 17:3

17:3 But the people were very thirsty ⁹  there for water, and they murmured against Moses and said, “Why in the world ¹⁰  did you bring us up out of Egypt – to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” ¹¹ 

Psalms 106:21

106:21 They rejected ¹²  the God who delivered them,

the one who performed great deeds in Egypt,

Acts 7:35

7:35 This same ¹³  Moses they had rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ ¹⁴  God sent as both ruler and deliverer ¹⁵  through the hand of the angel ¹⁶  who appeared to him in the bush.

Acts 7:39-40

7:39 Our ¹⁷  ancestors ¹⁸  were unwilling to obey ¹⁹  him, but pushed him aside ²⁰  and turned back to Egypt in their hearts, 7:40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go in front of us, for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt ²¹  – we do not know what has happened to him!’ ²² 

[11:5]  ¹ tn The perfect tense here expresses the experience of a state of mind.

[11:5]  ² tn The imperfect tense would here be the customary imperfect, showing continual or incomplete action in past time.

[11:5]  ³ tn The adverb “freely” is from the word חָנַן (khanan, “to be gracious”), from which is derived the noun “grace.” The word underscores the idea of “free, without cost, for no reason, gratis.” Here the simple sense is “freely,” without any cost. But there may be more significance in the choice of the words in this passage, showing the ingratitude of the Israelites to God for His deliverance from bondage. To them now the bondage is preferable to the salvation – this is what angered the Lord.

[5:21]  ⁴ tn The foremen vented their anger on Moses and Aaron. The two jussives express their desire that the evil these two have caused be dealt with. “May Yahweh look on you and may he judge” could mean only that God should decide if Moses and Aaron are at fault, but given the rest of the comments it is clear the foremen want more. The second jussive could be subordinated to the first – “so that he may judge [you].”

[5:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “you have made our aroma stink.”

[5:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[5:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the eyes of his servants.” This phrase is not repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[5:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “to put a sword in their hand to kill us.” The infinitive construct with the lamed (לָתֶת, latet) signifies the result (“so that”) of making the people stink. Their reputation is now so bad that Pharaoh might gladly put them to death. The next infinitive could also be understood as expressing result: “put a sword in their hand so that they can kill us.”

[17:3]  ⁹ tn The verbs and the pronouns in this verse are in the singular because “the people” is singular in form.

[17:3]  ¹⁰ tn The demonstrative pronoun is used as the enclitic form for special emphasis in the question; it literally says, “why is this you have brought us up?” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).

[17:3]  ¹¹ sn Their words deny God the credit for bringing them out of Egypt, impugn the integrity of Moses and God by accusing them of bringing the people out here to die, and show a lack of faith in God’s ability to provide for them.

[106:21]  ¹² tn Heb “forgot.”

[7:35]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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).

[7:39]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:39]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ sn Pushed him aside. This is the second time Moses is “pushed aside” in Stephen’s account (see v. 27).

[7:40]  ²¹ tn Or simply “of Egypt.” The phrase “the land of” could be omitted as unnecessary or redundant.

[7:40]  ²² sn A quotation from Exod 32:1, 23. Doubt (we do not know what has happened to him) expresses itself in unfaithful action. The act is in contrast to God’s promise in Exod 23:20.