Acts 7:38
New International Version
He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.

New Living Translation
Moses was with our ancestors, the assembly of God’s people in the wilderness, when the angel spoke to him at Mount Sinai. And there Moses received life-giving words to pass on to us.

English Standard Version
This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us.

Berean Standard Bible
He was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. And he received living words to pass on to us.

Berean Literal Bible
This is the one having been in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel speaking to him in Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us,

King James Bible
This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

New King James Version
“This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us,

New American Standard Bible
This is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness together with the angel who spoke to him at length on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to you.

NASB 1995
“This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living oracles to pass on to you.

NASB 1977
“This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living oracles to pass on to you.

Legacy Standard Bible
This is the one who, in the congregation in the wilderness, was with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai and with our fathers; the one who received living oracles to pass on to you.

Amplified Bible
This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living oracles [divine words that still live] to be handed down to you.

Christian Standard Bible
He is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors. He received living oracles to give to us.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
He is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors. He received living oracles to give to us.

American Standard Version
This is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel that spake to him in the Mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received living oracles to give unto us:

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with The Angel who had spoken with him and with our fathers at the mountain of Sinai, and he was receiving the living words which he would give to us.

Contemporary English Version
Moses brought our people together in the desert, and the angel spoke to him on Mount Sinai. There he was given these life-giving words to pass on to us.

Douay-Rheims Bible
This is he that was in the church in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on mount Sina, and with our fathers; who received the words of life to give unto us.

English Revised Version
This is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received living oracles to give unto us:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
This is the Moses who was in the assembly in the desert. Our ancestors and the messenger who spoke to him on Mount Sinai were there with him. Moses received life-giving messages to give to us,

Good News Translation
He is the one who was with the people of Israel assembled in the desert; he was there with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and he received God's living messages to pass on to us.

International Standard Version
This Moses is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and to our ancestors. He received living truths to give to us,

Literal Standard Version
This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the Messenger who is speaking to him in Mount Sinai, and with our fathers who received the living oracles to give to us;

Majority Standard Bible
He was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. And he received living words to pass on to us.

New American Bible
It was he who, in the assembly in the desert, was with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our ancestors, and he received living utterances to hand on to us.

NET Bible
This is the man who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors, and he received living oracles to give to you.

New Revised Standard Version
He is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living oracles to give to us.

New Heart English Bible
This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received words of life to give to us,

Webster's Bible Translation
This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the living oracles to give to us:

Weymouth New Testament
This is he who was among the Congregation in the Desert, together with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our forefathers, who received ever-living utterances to hand on to us.

World English Bible
This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us,

Young's Literal Translation
'This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the messenger who is speaking to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers who did receive the living oracles to give to us;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Stephen's Address to the Sanhedrin
37This is the same Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’ 38He was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. And he received living words to pass on to us. 39But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.…

Cross References
Exodus 19:17
Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

Deuteronomy 32:47
For they are not idle words to you, because they are your life, and by them you will live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess."

Acts 7:53
you who received the law ordained by angels, yet have not kept it."

Romans 3:2
Much in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Hebrews 5:12
Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God's word. You need milk, not solid food!

1 Peter 4:11
If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.


Treasury of Scripture

This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spoke to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give to us:

in the church.

Exodus 19:3-17
And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; …

Exodus 20:19,20
And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die…

Numbers 16:3
And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

with the.

Acts 7:30,35,53
And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush…

Isaiah 63:9
In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

Galatians 3:19
Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

who.

Exodus 21:1
Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

Deuteronomy 5:27-31
Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it

Deuteronomy 6:1-3
Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: …

lively.

Deuteronomy 30:19,20
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: …

Deuteronomy 32:46,47
And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law…

Psalm 78:5-9
For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: …

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Acts 7
1. Stephen, permitted to answer to the accusation of blasphemy,
2. shows that Abraham worshipped God rightly, and how God chose the fathers,
20. before Moses was born, and before the tabernacle and temple were built;
37. that Moses himself witnessed of Christ;
44. and that all outward ceremonies were ordained to last but for a time;
51. reprehending their rebellion, and murdering of Christ, whom the prophets foretold.
54. Whereupon they stone Stephen to death,
59. who commends his soul to Jesus, and humbly prays for them.














(38) That was in the church in the wilderness.--The word ecclesia is used, as it had been in the LXX. (Deuteronomy 18:16; Deuteronomy 23:1; Psalm 26:12), for the "congregation" of Israel. Of the earlier versions. Tyndale, Cranmer, and the Genevan, had given "congregation." Even the Rhemish contented itself with "assembly." The translators of 1611, acting on the instructions which were drawn up for their direction, did not see any reason for making this an exception to the rule, and so gave "church." Assuming that ecclesia was so rendered elsewhere, it was, it may be admitted, right, as a matter of consistency, that it should be used here, as presenting the thought, which was emphasised in Stephen's speech, that the society of believers in Christ was like, in character and in its relation to God, to that of Israel. The new ecclesia was the development of the old. (See Note on Matthew 16:18.)

The lively oracles.--The noun was used by the Greeks for the solemn utterances of the Pythian oracles, and thus came to be used by the LXX. in connection with the Urim and Thummim of the high priest (Exodus 28:30), and so for any answer from God (Numbers 24:4). In the New Testament it appears again in Romans 3:2; Hebrews 5:12; 1Peter 4:11. . . .

Verse 38. - Sinai for Sins, A.V. (Hebrew for Greek form); living cracks for the lively cracks, A.V. In the church. St. Stephen probably used the word ἐκκλησία without any reference to its special meaning, "the Church." It is used in a secular sense in Acts 19:32, 39, and of the congregation of Israel in the LXX. of 1 Chronicles 13:2; 1 Macc. 2:56; Ecclus. 44:15; and elsewhere. In Stephen's time it could hardly have become widely known as the designation of the flock of Christ. On the whole, the marginal rendering, "the congregation," seems best, but with the idea attached that it was the Lord's congregation. The angel which spake. It may be doubted whether the phrase, "the angel which spake to him in the mount Sinai," refers to the angel spoken of in ver. 30, or to the angel by whose mouth God spake the words of the ten commandments on Mount Sinai, as recorded in Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:1-22. Chrysostom and most commentators seem to understand it of the angel who gave the Law; but Whitby, not without reason, thinks the reference is to the burning bush. Living oracles. In like manner, St. Paul calls the Holy Scriptures "the oracles of God" (Romans 3:2), and in Hebrews 5:12 we read again of "the first principles of the oracles of God," and St. Peter says, "Let him speak as the oracles of God" (1 Peter 4:11). For the force of the living or lively oracles, see 1 Peter 1:23, 25. Stephen magnifies Moses by reminding his hearers how he had received the Law from God to give to the people.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
[He]
οὗτός (houtos)
Demonstrative Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3778: This; he, she, it.

was
γενόμενος (genomenos)
Verb - Aorist Participle Middle - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 1096: A prolongation and middle voice form of a primary verb; to cause to be, i.e. to become, used with great latitude.

in
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

the
τῇ (tē)
Article - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

assembly
ἐκκλησίᾳ (ekklēsia)
Noun - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1577: From a compound of ek and a derivative of kaleo; a calling out, i.e. a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation.

in
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

the
τῇ (tē)
Article - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

wilderness
ἐρήμῳ (erēmō)
Adjective - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 2048: Lonesome, i.e. waste.

with
μετὰ (meta)
Preposition
Strong's 3326: (a) gen: with, in company with, (b) acc: (1) behind, beyond, after, of place, (2) after, of time, with nouns, neut. of adjectives.

the
τοῦ (tou)
Article - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

angel
ἀγγέλου (angelou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 32: From aggello; a messenger; especially an 'angel'; by implication, a pastor.

who
τοῦ (tou)
Article - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

spoke
λαλοῦντος (lalountos)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2980: A prolonged form of an otherwise obsolete verb; to talk, i.e. Utter words.

to him
αὐτῷ (autō)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

on
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

Mount
ὄρει (orei)
Noun - Dative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3735: A mountain, hill. Probably from an obsolete oro; a mountain: -hill, mount(-ain).

Sinai,
Σινᾶ (Sina)
Noun - Dative Neuter Singular
Strong's 4614: Sinai, a mountain in Arabia. Of Hebrew origin; Sina, a mountain in Arabia.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

[with]
ὃς (hos)
Personal / Relative Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3739: Who, which, what, that.

our
ἡμῶν (hēmōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 1st Person Plural
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

fathers.
πατέρων (paterōn)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 3962: Father, (Heavenly) Father, ancestor, elder, senior. Apparently a primary word; a 'father'.

[And] he received
ἐδέξατο (edexato)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1209: To take, receive, accept, welcome. Middle voice of a primary verb; to receive.

living
ζῶντα (zōnta)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Accusative Neuter Plural
Strong's 2198: To live, be alive. A primary verb; to live.

words
λόγια (logia)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Plural
Strong's 3051: Plur: oracles, divine responses or utterances (it can include the entire Old Testament). Neuter of logios; an utterance.

to pass on
δοῦναι (dounai)
Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active
Strong's 1325: To offer, give; I put, place. A prolonged form of a primary verb; to give.

to us.
ἡμῖν (hēmin)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative 1st Person Plural
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.


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NT Apostles: Acts 7:38 This is he who was (Acts of the Apostles Ac)
Acts 7:37
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