Kisah Para Rasul 7:37-48

7:37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ¹  ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’ ²  7:38 This is the man who was in the congregation ³  in the wilderness ⁴  with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors, ⁵  and he ⁶  received living oracles ⁷  to give to you. ⁸  7:39 Our ⁹  ancestors ¹⁰  were unwilling to obey ¹¹  him, but pushed him aside ¹²  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 ¹³  – we do not know what has happened to him!’ ¹⁴  7:41 At ¹⁵  that time ¹⁶  they made an idol in the form of a calf, ¹⁷  brought ¹⁸  a sacrifice to the idol, and began rejoicing ¹⁹  in the works of their hands. ²⁰  7:42 But God turned away from them and gave them over ²¹  to worship the host ²²  of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘It was not to me that you offered slain animals and sacrifices ²³  forty years in the wilderness, was it, ²⁴  house of Israel? 7:43 But you took along the tabernacle ²⁵  of Moloch ²⁶  and the star of the ²⁷  god Rephan, ²⁸  the images you made to worship, but I will deport ²⁹  you beyond Babylon.’ ³⁰  7:44 Our ancestors ³¹  had the tabernacle ³²  of testimony in the wilderness, ³³  just as God ³⁴  who spoke to Moses ordered him ³⁵  to make it according to the design he had seen. 7:45 Our ³⁶  ancestors ³⁷  received possession of it and brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our ancestors, ³⁸  until the time ³⁹  of David. 7:46 He ⁴⁰  found favor ⁴¹  with ⁴²  God and asked that he could ⁴³  find a dwelling place ⁴⁴  for the house ⁴⁵  of Jacob. 7:47 But Solomon built a house ⁴⁶  for him. 7:48 Yet the Most High ⁴⁷  does not live in houses made by human hands, ⁴⁸  as the prophet says,

[7:37]  ¹ tn Grk “to the sons of Israel.”

[7:37]  ² sn A quotation from Deut 18:15. This quotation sets up Jesus as the “leader-prophet” like Moses (Acts 3:22; Luke 9:35).

[7:38]  ³ tn This term, ἐκκλησία (ekklhsia), 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.

[7:38]  ⁴ tn Or “desert.”

[7:38]  ⁵ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:38]  ⁶ 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.

[7:38]  ⁷ tn Or “messages.” This is an allusion to the law given to Moses.

[7:38]  ⁸ tc ‡ The first person pronoun ἡμῖν (Jhmin, “to us”) is read by A C D E Ψ 33 1739 Ï lat sy, while the second person pronoun ὑμῖν (Jumin, “to you”) is read by Ì⁷⁴ 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.

[7:39]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:39]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² sn Pushed him aside. This is the second time Moses is “pushed aside” in Stephen’s account (see v. 27).

[7:40]  ¹³ tn Or simply “of Egypt.” The phrase “the land of” could be omitted as unnecessary or redundant.

[7:40]  ¹⁴ 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.

[7:41]  ¹⁵ 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.

[7:41]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “In those days.”

[7:41]  ¹⁷ tn Or “a bull calf” (see Exod 32:4-6). The term μοσχοποιέω (moscopoiew) occurs only in Christian writings according to BDAG 660 s.v.

[7:41]  ¹⁸ 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.

[7:41]  ¹⁹ tn The imperfect verb εὐφραίνοντο (eufrainonto) has been translated ingressively. See BDAG 414-15 s.v. εὐφραίνω 2.

[7:41]  ²⁰ tn Or “in what they had done.”

[7:42]  ²¹ sn The expression and gave them over suggests similarities to the judgment on the nations described by Paul in Rom 1:18-32.

[7:42]  ²² tn Or “stars.”

[7:42]  sn To worship the hosts of heaven. Their action violated Deut 4:19; 17:2-5. See Ps 106:36-43.

[7:42]  ²³ tn The two terms for sacrifices “semantically reinforce one another and are here combined essentially for emphasis” (L&N 53.20).

[7:42]  ²⁴ tn The Greek construction anticipates a negative reply which is indicated in the translation by the ‘tag’ question, “was it?”

[7:43]  ²⁵ tn Or “tent.”

[7:43]  sn A tabernacle was a tent used to house religious objects or a shrine (i.e., a portable sanctuary).

[7:43]  ²⁶ sn Moloch was a Canaanite deity who was believed to be the god of the sky and the sun.

[7:43]  ²⁷ tc ‡ Most mss, including several important ones (Ì⁷⁴ א A C E Ψ 33 1739 Ï h p vg sy^h mae bo Cyr), have ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “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 original wording here. NA²⁷ has the word in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.

[7:43]  ²⁸ sn Rephan (῾Ραιφάν, RJaifan) 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.

[7:43]  ²⁹ tn Or “I will make you move.”

[7:43]  ³⁰ sn A quotation from Amos 5:25-27. This constituted a prediction of the exile.

[7:44]  ³¹ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:44]  ³² tn Or “tent.”

[7:44]  sn The tabernacle was the tent used to house the ark of the covenant before the construction of Solomon’s temple. This is where God was believed to reside, yet the people were still unfaithful.

[7:44]  ³³ tn Or “desert.”

[7:44]  ³⁴ tn Grk “the one”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:44]  ³⁵ tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[7:45]  ³⁶ 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.

[7:45]  ³⁷ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:45]  ³⁸ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:45]  sn Before our ancestors. Stephen has backtracked here to point out how faithful God had been before the constant move to idolatry just noted.

[7:45]  ³⁹ tn Grk “In those days.”

[7:46]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “David, who” The relative pronoun was replaced by the pronoun “he” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style.

[7:46]  ⁴¹ tn Or “grace.”

[7:46]  ⁴² tn Grk “before,” “in the presence of.”

[7:46]  ⁴³ tn The words “that he could” are not in the Greek text, but are implied as the (understood) subject of the infinitive εὑρεῖν (Jeurein). This understands David’s request as asking that he might find the dwelling place. The other possibility would be to supply “that God” as the subject of the infinitive: “and asked that God find a dwelling place.” Unfortunately this problem is complicated by the extremely difficult problem with the Greek text in the following phrase (“house of Jacob” vs. “God of Jacob”).

[7:46]  ⁴⁴ tn On this term see BDAG 929 s.v. σκήνωμα a (Ps 132:5).

[7:46]  ⁴⁵ tc Some mss read θεῷ (qew, “God”) here, a variant much easier to understand in the context. The reading “God” is supported by א² A C E Ψ 33 1739 Ï lat sy co. The more difficult οἴκῳ (oikw, “house”) is supported by Ì⁷⁴ א* B D H 049 pc. Thus the second reading is preferred both externally because of better ms evidence and internally because it is hard to see how a copyist finding the reading “God” would change it to “house,” while it is easy to see how (given the LXX of Ps 132:5) a copyist might assimilate the reading and change “house” to “God.” However, some scholars think the reading “house” is so difficult as to be unacceptable. Others (like Lachmann and Hort) resorted to conjectural emendation at this point. Others (Ropes) sought an answer in an underlying Aramaic expression. Not everyone thinks the reading “house” is too difficult to be accepted as original (see Lake and Cadbury). A. F. J. Klijn, “Stephen’s Speech – Acts vii.2-53,” NTS 4 (1957): 25-31, compared the idea of a “house within the house of Israel” with the Manual of Discipline from Qumran, a possible parallel that seems to support the reading “house” as authentic. (For the more detailed discussion from which this note was derived, see TCGNT 308-9.)

[7:47]  ⁴⁶ sn See 1 Kgs 8:1-21.

[7:48]  ⁴⁷ sn The title the Most High points to God’s majesty (Heb 7:1; Luke 1:32, 35; Acts 16:7).

[7:48]  ⁴⁸ sn The phrase made by human hands is negative in the NT: Mark 14:58; Acts 17:24; Eph 2:11; Heb 9:11, 24. It suggests “man-made” or “impermanent.” The rebuke is like parts of the Hebrew scripture where the rebuke is not of the temple, but for making too much of it (1 Kgs 8:27; Isa 57:15; 1 Chr 6:8; Jer 7:1-34).