Discovery BoxActs 7:51-52 
Context7:51 “You stubborn 1 people, with uncircumcised 2 hearts and ears! 3 You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors 4 did! 7:52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors 5 not persecute? 6 They 7 killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, 8 whose betrayers and murderers you have now become! 9
Acts 7:58-59
Context7:58 When 10 they had driven him out of the city, they began to stone him, 11 and the witnesses laid their cloaks 12 at the feet of a young man named Saul. 7:59 They 13 continued to stone Stephen while he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
1 sn Traditionally, “stiff-necked people.” Now the critique begins in earnest.
2 tn The term ἀπερίτμητοι (aperitmhtoi, “uncircumcised”) is a NT hapax legomenon (occurs only once). See BDAG 101-2 s.v. ἀπερίτμητος and Isa 52:1.
3 tn Or “You stubborn and obstinate people!” (The phrase “uncircumcised hearts and ears” is another figure for stubbornness.)
4 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
5 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
6 sn Which…persecute. The rhetorical question suggests they persecuted them all.
7 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.
8 sn The Righteous One is a reference to Jesus Christ.
9 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).
10 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.
11 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.
12 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).
13 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.
