Acts 7:33-35

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. 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.
2. Acts 7:34 tn Or “mistreatment.”
3. Acts 7:34 tn Or “to set them free.”
4. 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.
5. Acts 7:34 sn A quotation from Exod 3:7-8, 10.
6. 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).
7. 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.
8. 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.”
9. 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).