New Testament in a Year

Footnotes

1. Acts 7:22 tn Or “instructed.”
2. Acts 7:22 tn Or “was able” (BDAG 264 s.v. δυνατός 1.b.α).
3. Acts 7:23 tn Grk “heart.”
4. Acts 7:23 tn Grk “brothers.” The translation “compatriot” is given by BDAG 18-19 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.b.
5. Acts 7:23 tn Grk “the sons of Israel.”
6. Acts 7:24 tn Grk “And when.” 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. Acts 7:24 tn “Hurt unfairly” conveys a better sense of the seriousness of the offense against the Israelite than “treated unfairly,” which can sometimes refer to slight offenses, or “wronged,” which can refer to offenses that do not involve personal violence, as this one probably did.
8. Acts 7:24 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9. Acts 7:24 tn Or “he defended,” “he retaliated” (BDAG 55 s.v. ἀμύνομαι).
10. Acts 7:25 tn Grk “his brothers.”
11. Acts 7:25 tn Grk “was granting them deliverance.” The narrator explains that this act pictured what Moses could do for his people.
12. Acts 7:25 tn Grk “by his hand,” where the hand is a metaphor for the entire person.
13. Acts 7:25 sn They did not understand. Here is the theme of the speech. The people did not understand what God was doing through those he chose. They made the same mistake with Joseph at first. See Acts 3:17; 13:27. There is good precedent for this kind of challenging review of history in the ancient scriptures: Ps 106:6-46; Ezek 20; and Neh 9:6-38.
14. Acts 7:26 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15. Acts 7:26 tn Grk “saw them”; the context makes clear that two individuals were involved (v. 27).
16. Acts 7:26 tn Or “tried to reconcile” (BDAG 964-65 s.v. συναλλάσσω).
17. Acts 7:27 tn Or “repudiated Moses,” “rejected Moses” (BDAG 126-27 s.v. ἀπωθέω 2).
18. Acts 7:27 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
19. Acts 7:27 tn Or “appointed.”
20. Acts 7:28 tn The Greek construction anticipates a negative reply which is indicated in the translation by the ‘tag’ at the end, “do you?” sn A quotation from Exod 2:14. Even though a negative reply was expected, the question still frightened Moses enough to flee, because he knew his deed had become known. This understanding is based on the Greek text, not the Hebrew of the original setting. Yet the negative here expresses the fact that Moses did not want to kill the other man. Once again the people have badly misunderstood the situation.
21. Acts 7:29 tn Grk “At this word,” which could be translated either “when the man said this” or “when Moses heard this.” Since λόγος (logos) refers to the remark made by the Israelite, this translation has followed the first option.
22. Acts 7:29 tn Or “resident alien.” Traditionally πάροικος (paroikos) has been translated “stranger” or “alien,” but the level of specificity employed with “foreigner” or “resident alien” is now necessary in contemporary English because a “stranger” is a person not acquainted with someone, while an “alien” can suggest science fiction imagery.
23. Acts 7:30 tn Grk “And after.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and contemporary English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
24. Acts 7:30 tn Or “wilderness.”
25. Acts 7:30 sn An allusion to Exod 3:2.
26. Acts 7:32 tn Or “ancestors”; Grk “fathers.”
27. Acts 7:32 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.
28. Acts 7:32 sn A quotation from Exod 3:6. The phrase suggests the God of promise, the God of the nation.
29. Acts 7:32 tn Or “to investigate,” “to contemplate” (BDAG 522 s.v. κατανοέω 2).
30. Acts 7:33 sn A quotation from Exod 3:5. The phrase holy ground points to the fact that God is not limited to a particular locale. The place where he is active in revealing himself is a holy place.
31. Acts 7:34 tn Or “mistreatment.”
32. Acts 7:34 tn Or “to set them free.”
33. Acts 7:34 tn Grk “And now.” 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.
34. Acts 7:34 sn A quotation from Exod 3:7-8, 10.
35. Acts 7:35 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).
36. Acts 7:35 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.
37. Acts 7:35 tn Or “liberator.” The meaning “liberator” for λυτρωτήν (lutrōtēn) is given in L&N 37.129: “a person who liberates or releases others.”
38. Acts 7:35 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).
39. Acts 7:36 tn Here the context indicates the miraculous nature of the signs mentioned.sn Performing wonders and miraculous signs. Again Moses acted like Jesus. The phrase appears 9 times in Acts (2:19, 22, 43; 4:30; 5:12; 6:8; 7:36; 14:3; 15:12).
40. Acts 7:36 tn Or simply “in Egypt.” The phrase “the land of” could be omitted as unnecessary or redundant.
41. Acts 7:36 tn Grk “and at,” 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.
42. Acts 7:36 tn Or “desert.”
43. Acts 7:37 tn Grk “to the sons of Israel.”
44. Acts 7:37 sn A quotation from Deut 18:15. This quotation sets up Jesus as the “leader-prophet” like Moses (Acts 3:22; Luke 9:35).
45. Acts 7:38 tn This term, ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia), is a secular use of the term that came to mean “church” in the epistles. Here a reference to an assembly is all that is intended.
46. Acts 7:38 tn Or “desert.”
47. Acts 7:38 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
48. Acts 7:38 tn Grk “fathers, who.” The relative pronoun was replaced by the pronoun “he” and a new clause introduced by “and” was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style.
49. Acts 7:38 tn Or “messages.” This is an allusion to the law given to Moses.
50. Acts 7:38 tc ‡ The first person pronoun ἡμῖν (hēmin, “to us”) is read by A C D E Ψ 33 1739 M lat sy, while the second person pronoun ὑμῖν (humin, “to you”) is read by P⁷⁴ א B 36 453 al co. The second person pronoun thus has significantly better external support. As well, ὑμῖν is a harder reading in this context, both because it is surrounded by first person pronouns and because Stephen perhaps “does not wish to disassociate himself from those who received God’s revelation in the past, but only from those who misinterpreted and disobeyed that revelation” (TCGNT 307). At the same time, Stephen does associate himself to some degree with his disobedient ancestors in v. 39, suggesting that the decisive break does not really come until v. 51 (where both his present audience and their ancestors are viewed as rebellious). Thus, both externally and internally ὑμῖν is the preferred reading.
51. Acts 7:39 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.
52. Acts 7:39 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
53. Acts 7:39 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.
54. Acts 7:39 sn Pushed him aside. This is the second time Moses is “pushed aside” in Stephen’s account (see v. 27).
55. Acts 7:40 tn Or simply “of Egypt.” The phrase “the land of” could be omitted as unnecessary or redundant.
56. Acts 7:40 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.
57. Acts 7:41 tn Grk “And.” 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.
58. Acts 7:41 tn Grk “In those days.”
59. Acts 7:41 tn Or “a bull calf” (see Exod 32:4-6). The term μοσχοποιέω (moschopoieō) occurs only in Christian writings according to BDAG 660 s.v.
60. Acts 7:41 tn Grk “and brought,” 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.
61. Acts 7:41 tn The imperfect verb εὐφραίνοντο (euphrainonto) has been translated ingressively. See BDAG 414-15 s.v. εὐφραίνω 2.
62. Acts 7:41 tn Or “in what they had done.”
63. Acts 7:42 sn The expression and gave them over suggests similarities to the judgment on the nations described by Paul in Rom 1:18-32.
64. Acts 7:42 tn Or “stars.”sn To worship the hosts of heaven. Their action violated Deut 4:19; 17:2-5. See Ps 106:36-43.
65. Acts 7:42 tn The two terms for sacrifices “semantically reinforce one another and are here combined essentially for emphasis” (L&N 53.20).
66. Acts 7:42 tn The Greek construction anticipates a negative reply which is indicated in the translation by the ‘tag’ question, “was it?”
67. Acts 7:43 tn Or “tent.”sn A tabernacle was a tent used to house religious objects or a shrine (i.e., a portable sanctuary).
68. Acts 7:43 sn Moloch was a Canaanite deity who was believed to be the god of the sky and the sun.
69. Acts 7:43 tc ‡ Most mss, including several significant ones (P⁷⁴ א A C E Ψ 33 1739 M h p vg sy^h mae bo Cyr), have ὑμῶν (humōn, “your”) here, in conformity with the LXX of Amos 5:26. But other significant and diverse witnesses lack the pronoun: The lack of ὑμῶν in B D 36 453 gig sy^p sa Ir^lat Or is difficult to explain if it is not the autographic wording here. NA²⁸ has the word in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.
70. Acts 7:43 sn Rephan (῾Ραιφάν, Rhaiphan) was a pagan deity. The term was a name for Saturn. It was variously spelled in the mss (BDAG 903 s.v. has Rompha as an alternate spelling). The references cover a range of deities and a history of unfaithfulness.
71. Acts 7:43 tn Or “I will make you move.”
72. Acts 7:43 sn A quotation from Amos 5:25-27. This constituted a prediction of the exile.