Acts 7:52

Acts 7:52 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
• New International Version (NIV)Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him—
• English Standard Version (ESV)Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,
• New King James Version (NKJV)Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,

Context of Acts 7:52

50I am the one who has made all these things myself.” ’ 51Then Stephen said, ‘You people do not want to obey God! You do not want to listen to God's true message. You are the same as your ancestors. Like them, you always fight against what the Holy Spirit says. Your ancestors did bad things to every prophet that God sent to them. They even killed the prophets who told them about the Righteous Man that God would send. Now you have given that Man to his enemies. You have made them kill him. 53You are the people who received God's Law. God caused his angels to give that Law to your ancestors. But you have not obeyed it.’ 54The group of Jewish leaders listened to Stephen. What he said made them very angry. They bit their teeth together because they were so angry.

Acts 7:52 word by word

τίνα τῶν προφητῶν οὐκ ἐδίωξαν οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν; καὶ ἀπέκτειναν τοὺς προκαταγγείλαντας περὶ τῆς ἐλεύσεως τοῦ δικαίου, οὗ νῦν ὑμεῖς προδόται καὶ φονεῖς ἐγένεσθε·Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Whichτίςtis · which?G5101
• of the prophetsπροφήτηςprophētēs · prophetG4396
• haveδιώκωdiōkō · to pursueG1377
• notοὐou · noG3756
• yourσύsu · youG4771
• fathersπατήρpatēr · fatherG3962
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• they have slainἀποκτείνωapokteinō · to killG615
• shewed beforeπροκαταγγέλλωprokataggellō · to foretellG4293
• ofπερίperi · aboutG4012
• the comingἔλευσιςeleusis · comingG1660
• of the Just Oneδίκαιοςdikaios · justG1342
• of whomὅςhos hē ho · whichG3739
• have beenγίνομαιginomai · to beG1096
• nowνῦνnun · nowG3568
• the betrayersπροδότηςprodotēs · traitorG4273
• murderersφονεύςphoneus · murdererG5406

Cross-references for Acts 7:52

• 1 Samuel 8:7The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Listen to everything that the people are saying to you. I myself should be their king. So it is not you that they refuse to accept. It is me that they do not accept to be their king.
• 1 Kings 19:10Elijah replied, ‘The Israelites have turned away from the covenant that you made with them. They have destroyed your altars. They have killed your prophets with swords. But I have always served the Lord God Almighty faithfully. Now I am the only prophet that is still alive and they are trying to kill me too.’
• 2 Chronicles 24:19The Lord sent his prophets to tell the people to turn back to him. They warned the people, but the people would not listen to them.
• 2 Chronicles 36:16But they laughed at the men that God sent to them. They did not think that his messages were important. They insulted his prophets. Finally, the Lord became very angry with his people. Nothing could stop him from punishing them.
• Nehemiah 9:26But your people did not obey you. They turned against you. They stopped obeying your laws. You sent your prophets to warn your people to return to you. But they killed the prophets that you sent to them. Your people insulted you in many bad ways.
• Jeremiah 2:30‘When I punished your people, they did not change how they lived. When I sent my prophets to you, you killed them as if you were a hungry lion.’
• Jeremiah 20:2So he told his men to beat Jeremiah. Then they tied Jeremiah up with heavy pieces of wood on his legs. That was at the Benjamin Gate of the Lord's temple.
• Jeremiah 26:15But you should know this: If you punish me with death, you will bring great trouble on yourselves, this city, and everyone who lives here. You will be guilty of murder, because I have not done anything wrong. The Lord has sent me to speak all these words for you to hear. That is the truth!’
• Matthew 5:12God is preparing many good things for you in heaven. So you should be very happy when people do these bad things to any of you. People did these same things to God's prophets who lived long ago.’
• Matthew 21:35But the farmers took hold of the servants. They hit one of them with sticks. They killed another one. They threw stones at another servant and killed him.
• Matthew 23:31So you are speaking against yourselves. You show that you are the sons of those people who killed God's prophets.
• Luke 11:47Yes, it will be very bad for you! A long time ago, your ancestors killed God's prophets. Now, you build up beautiful stones to show the place where they buried them.
• Luke 13:33Anyway, I need to continue my journey for some more days. If they want to kill a prophet from God, it has to happen in Jerusalem.
• 1 Thessalonians 2:15People like that even killed the Lord Jesus. They killed God's prophets, too. They also did bad things against us, so that we had to leave their towns. They make God become angry. They are enemies of all people,
• Acts 3:18Jesus was God's Messiah. A long time ago, many of God's prophets spoke about him. They spoke God's message about what would happen to the Messiah. They said that he would suffer. God has now caused these things to happen.
• 1 Peter 1:11They wanted to know when God's special Messiah would come and who he would be. Christ's Spirit showed those prophets that the Messiah would receive much trouble and pain. After that, God would show how great the Messiah is.

Commentaries on Acts 7:52

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 52Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? - Ye have not only resisted the Holy Ghost, but ye have persecuted all those who have spoken to you in his name, and by his influence: thus ye prove your opposition to the Spirit himself, by your opposition to every thing that proceeds from him. They have slain them, etc. - Isaiah, who showed before of the coming of Christ, the Jews report, was sawn asunder at the command of Manasseh. The coming of…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 52Which of the prophets … - The interrogative form here is a strong mode of saying that they had persecuted “all” the prophets. It was “the characteristic of the nation” to persecute the messengers of God. This is not to be taken as literally and universally true; but it was a general truth; it was the national characteristic. See the notes on Matthew 21:33-40; Matthew 23:29-35. And they have slain them … - That is, they have slain the prophets, whose main…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 51-53Verses 51-53 Stephen was going on, it seems, to show that the temple and the temple service must come to an end, and it would be the glory of both to give way to the worship of the Father in spirit and in truth; but he perceived they would not bear it. Therefore he broke off, and by the Spirit of wisdom, courage, and power, sharply rebuked his persecutors. When plain arguments and truths provoke the opposers of the gospel, they should be shown their guilt…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-53Stephen answered the accusations by speaking about his Lord (see Luke 21:12–17). Instead of defending himself, he became a witness in God's legal case against them. This revealed how contrary they were and their lack of loyalty. Stephen gave a history of Israel's past and reminded them of their repeated rejections of those who announced God's messages. Stephen's review of Israel's history has three main parts: The work of the patriarchs. This refers to…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 51-5351-53. Ye stiffnecked ... ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, &c.--It has been thought that symptoms of impatience and irritation in the audience induced Stephen to cut short his historical sketch. But as little farther light could have been thrown upon Israel's obstinacy from subsequent periods of the national history on the testimony of their own Scriptures, we should view this as the summing up, the brief import of the whole Israelitish…Read the comment

Topics related to Acts 7:52

• Court
• Government
• Jesus Continued
• Persecution
• Readings, Select
• Reproof

In the dictionaries

• Charge
• Resist
• Saying
• Stone
• Thrust
• Wisdom
• Acts of the Apostles
• Betrayers
• Doctrine
• Gnosticism

Commentaries on Acts 7

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings