Acts 7:51

Acts 7:51 in other versions

• New International Version (NIV)“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!
• English Standard Version (ESV)"You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
• New King James Version (NKJV)“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
• New Living Translation (NLT)“You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you!

Context of Acts 7:51

49Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? 50Hath not my hand made all these things? Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. 52Which 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: 53Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.

Acts 7:51 word by word

σκληροτράχηλοι καὶ ἀπερίτμητοι καρδίαις καὶ τοῖς ὠσίν, ὑμεῖς ἀεὶ τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ ἀντιπίπτετε, ὡς οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν καὶ ὑμεῖς·Read the interlinear

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Yeσύsu · youG4771
• stiffneckedσκληροτράχηλοςsklērotrachēlos · stiff-neckedG4644
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• uncircumcisedἀπερίτμητοςaperitmētos · uncircumcisedG564
• in heartκαρδίαkardia · heartG2588
• earsοὖςous · earG3775
• ye doἀντιπίπτωantipiptō · to resistG496
• alwaysἀείaei · alwaysG104
• theπνεῦμαpneuma · spirit/breath: spiritG4151
• Holyἅγιοςhagios · holyG40
• asὡςhōs · as/whenG5613
• fathersπατήρpatēr · fatherG3962

Cross-references for Acts 7:51

• Exodus 32:9And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
• Exodus 33:3Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.
• Exodus 34:9And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.
• Deuteronomy 9:6Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.
• Deuteronomy 31:27For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my death?
• 2 Chronicles 30:8Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.
• Nehemiah 9:16But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,
• Psalms 75:5Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.
• Psalms 78:8And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.
• Isaiah 48:4Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
• Jeremiah 17:23But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction.
• Ezekiel 2:4For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God.
• Zechariah 7:11But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
• Leviticus 26:41And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
• Deuteronomy 10:16Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
• Deuteronomy 30:6And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

Commentaries on Acts 7:51

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 51Ye stiff-necked - . A metaphor taken from untoward oxen, who cannot be broken into the yoke; and whose strong necks cannot be bended to the right or the left. Uncircumcised in heart and ears - This was a Jewish mode of speech, often used by the prophets. Circumcision was instituted, not only as a sign and seal of the covenant into which the Israelites entered with their Maker, but also as a type of that purity and holiness which the law of God requires…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 51Ye stiff-necked - The discourse of Stephen has every appearance of having been interrupted by the clamors and opposition of the Sanhedrin. This verse has no immediate connection with what precedes, and appears to have been spoken in the midst of opposition and clamor. If we may conjecture in this case, it would seem that the Jews saw the drift of his argument; that they interrupted him; and that when the tumult had somewhat subsided, he addressed them in…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. 51Stephen accused the people of being stiff-necked with uncircumcised hearts and ears. This means they were strong-willed and ignored God's truth. This was exactly how God had accused them of behaving during the time of wilderness wandering. Here, Stephen links it to rejecting the gospel and resisting the Holy Spirit (see Exodus 32:9; 33:3; 34:9; Deuteronomy 9:6, 13; 31:27; see also Psalm 78:8; Zechariah 7:11–12).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 7:51

• Character
• Court
• Government
• Holy Spirit
• Impenitence
• Readings, Select
• Reproof
• Self-Will

In the dictionaries

• Holy Ghost
• Charge
• Circumcision
• Resist
• Saying
• Stone
• Thrust
• Wisdom
• Acts of the Apostles
• Alway; Always

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