Discovery BoxActs 7:26-28 
Context7:26 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
Acts 7:35
Context7:35 This same 8 Moses they had rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ 9 God sent as both ruler and deliverer 10 through the hand of the angel 11 who appeared to him in the bush.
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.
8 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).
9 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.
10 tn Or “liberator.” The meaning “liberator” for λυτρωτήν (lutrwthn) is given in L&N 37.129: “a person who liberates or releases others.”
11 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).
