Acts 7:57--8:1

7:57 But they covered their ears, ¹  shouting out with a loud voice, and rushed at him with one intent. 7:58 When ²  they had driven him out of the city, they began to stone him, ³  and the witnesses laid their cloaks ⁴  at the feet of a young man named Saul. 7:59 They ⁵  continued to stone Stephen while he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 7:60 Then he fell ⁶  to his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” ⁷  When ⁸  he had said this, he died. ⁹  8:1 And Saul agreed completely with killing ¹⁰  him.

Saul Begins to Persecute the Church

Now on that day a great ¹¹  persecution began ¹²  against the church in Jerusalem, ¹³  and all ¹⁴  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ¹⁵  of Judea and Samaria.

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¹ sn They covered their ears to avoid hearing what they considered to be blasphemy.

² tn Grk “And when.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here; a new sentence is begun instead.

³ sn They began to stone him. The irony of the scene is that the people do exactly what the speech complains about in v. 52.

⁴ tn Or “outer garments.”

sn Laid their cloaks. The outer garment, or cloak, was taken off and laid aside to leave the arms free (in this case for throwing stones).

⁵ tn Grk “And they.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here; a new sentence is begun instead.

⁶ tn Grk “Then falling to his knees he cried out.” The participle θείς (qeis) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

⁷ sn The remarks Lord Jesus, receive my spirit and Lord, do not hold this sin against them recall statements Jesus made on the cross (Luke 23:34, 46).

⁸ tn Grk “And when.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here; a new sentence is begun instead.

⁹ tn The verb κοιμάω (koimaw) literally means “sleep,” but it is often used in the Bible as a euphemism for the death of a believer.

¹⁰ tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesi") can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).

¹¹ tn Or “severe.”

¹² tn Grk “Now there happened on that day a great persecution.” It is less awkward to say in English “Now on that day a great persecution began.”

¹³ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹⁴ sn All. Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.

¹⁵ tn Or “countryside.”