Acts 7:42

7:42 But God turned away from them and gave them over ¹  to worship the host ²  of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘It was not to me that you offered slain animals and sacrifices ³  forty years in the wilderness, was it, ⁴  house of Israel?

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

² tn Or “stars.”

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

³ tn The two terms for sacrifices “semantically reinforce one another and are here combined essentially for emphasis” (L&N 53.20).

⁴ tn The Greek construction anticipates a negative reply which is indicated in the translation by the ‘tag’ question, “was it?”