Acts 7:26-28

7:26 The next day Moses ¹  saw two men ²  fighting, and tried to make peace between ³  them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why are you hurting one another?’ 7:27 But the man who was unfairly hurting his neighbor pushed ⁴  Moses ⁵  aside, saying, ‘Who made ⁶  you a ruler and judge over us? 7:28 You don’t want to kill me the way you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’ ⁷ 

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¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Grk “saw them”; the context makes clear that two individuals were involved (v. 27).

³ tn Or “tried to reconcile” (BDAG 964-65 s.v. συναλλάσσω).

⁴ tn Or “repudiated Moses,” “rejected Moses” (BDAG 126-27 s.v. ἀπωθέω 2).

⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Or “appointed.”

⁷ tn The Greek construction anticipates a negative reply which is indicated in the translation by the ‘tag’ at the end, “do you?”

sn A quotation from Exod 2:14. Even though a negative reply was expected, the question still frightened Moses enough to flee, because he knew his deed had become known. This understanding is based on the Greek text, not the Hebrew of the original setting. Yet the negative here expresses the fact that Moses did not want to kill the other man. Once again the people have badly misunderstood the situation.