Acts 7:51–54

7:51 “You stubborn153 people, with uncircumcised154 hearts and ears!155 You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors156 did! 7:52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors157 not persecute?158 They159 killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One,160 whose betrayers and murderers you have now become!161 7:53 You162 received the law by decrees given by angels,163 but you did not obey164 it.”165

Stephen is Killed

7:54 When they heard these things, they became furious166 and ground their teeth167 at him.

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153	sn Traditionally, “stiff-necked people.” Now the critique begins in earnest.
154	tn The term ἀπερίτμητοι (aperitmētoi, “uncircumcised”) is a NT hapax legomenon (occurs only once). See BDAG 101–2 s.v. ἀπερίτμητος and Isa 52:1.
155	tn Or “You stubborn and obstinate people!” (The phrase “uncircumcised hearts and ears” is another figure for stubbornness.)
156	tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
157	tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
158	sn Which … persecute. The rhetorical question suggests they persecuted them all.
159	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.
160	sn The Righteous One is a reference to Jesus Christ.
161	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).
162	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.
163	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. 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.
164	tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (phulassō, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.
165	tn Or “did not obey it.”
166	tn This verb, which also occurs in Acts 5:33, means “cut to the quick” or “deeply infuriated” (BDAG 235 s.v. διαπρίω).
167	tn Or “they gnashed their teeth.” This idiom is a picture of violent rage (BDAG 184 s.v. βρύχω). See also Ps 35:16.

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