Matius 23:29-32

23:29 “Woe to you, experts in the law ¹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You ²  build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves ³  of the righteous. 23:30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, ⁴  we would not have participated with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 23:31 By saying this you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 23:32 Fill up then the measure of your ancestors!

Kisah Para Rasul 7:51-53

7:51 “You stubborn ⁵  people, with uncircumcised ⁶  hearts and ears! ⁷  You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors ⁸  did! 7:52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors ⁹  not persecute? ¹⁰  They ¹¹  killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, ¹²  whose betrayers and murderers you have now become! ¹³  7:53 You ¹⁴  received the law by decrees given by angels, ¹⁵  but you did not obey ¹⁶  it.” ¹⁷ 

[23:29]  ¹ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:29]  ² tn Grk “Because you.” Here ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated.

[23:29]  ³ tn Or perhaps “the monuments” (see L&N 7.75-76).

[23:30]  ⁴ tn Grk “fathers” (so also in v. 32).

[7:51]  ⁵ sn Traditionally, “stiff-necked people.” Now the critique begins in earnest.

[7:51]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Or “You stubborn and obstinate people!” (The phrase “uncircumcised hearts and ears” is another figure for stubbornness.)

[7:51]  ⁸ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:52]  ⁹ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:52]  ¹⁰ sn Which…persecute. The rhetorical question suggests they persecuted them all.

[7:52]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And they.” 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.

[7:52]  ¹² sn The Righteous One is a reference to Jesus Christ.

[7:52]  ¹³ sn Whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. The harsh critique has OT precedent (1 Kgs 19:10-14; Neh 9:26; 2 Chr 36:16).

[7:53]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “whose betrayers and murderers you have now become, who received the law” The two consecutive relative clauses make for awkward English style, so the second was begun as a new sentence with the pronoun “You” supplied in place of the Greek relative pronoun to make a complete sentence in English.

[7:53]  ¹⁵ tn Traditionally, “as ordained by angels,” but εἰς (eis) with the accusative here should be understood as instrumental (a substitute for ἐν [en]); so BDAG 291 s.v. εἰς 9, BDF §206. Thus the phrase literally means “received the law by the decrees [orders] of angels” with the genitive understood as a subjective genitive, that is, the angels gave the decrees.

[7:53]  sn Decrees given by angels. According to Jewish traditions in the first century, the law of Moses was mediated through angels. See also the note on “angel” in 7:35.

[7:53]  ¹⁶ tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (fulassw, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.

[7:53]  ¹⁷ tn Or “did not obey it.”