Acts 7:39

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him. Instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.

King James Version (1611)
To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned backe againe into Egypt,

King James Version
To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,

English Standard Version
Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt,

New American Standard Bible
"Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him; on the contrary they rejected him and turned back to Egypt in their hearts,

New Century Version
"But our ancestors did not want to obey Moses. They rejected him and wanted to go back to Egypt.

Amplified Bible
"Our fathers were unwilling to be subject to him [and refused to listen to him]. They rejected him, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,

Legacy Standard Bible
Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,

Berean Standard Bible
But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.

Contemporary English Version
But our ancestors refused to obey Moses. They rejected him and wanted to go back to Egypt.

Complete Jewish Bible
"But our fathers did not want to obey him. On the contrary, they rejected him and in their hearts turned to Egypt,

Darby Translation
to whom our fathers would not be subject, but thrust [him] from them, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,

Easy-to-Read Version
"But our ancestors did not want to obey Moses. They rejected him. They wanted to go back to Egypt again.

Geneva Bible (1587)
To whom our fathers would not obey, but refused, and in their hearts turned backe againe into Egypt:

George Lamsa Translation
Yet our fathers would not listen to him, but they left him, and in their hearts turned towards Egypt.

Good News Translation
"But our ancestors refused to obey him; they pushed him aside and wished that they could go back to Egypt.

Lexham English Bible
to whom our fathers were not willing to become obedient, but rejected him and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,

Literal Translation
to whom our fathers did not desire to be subject, but thrust him away, and turned their hearts back to Egypt,

American Standard Version
to whom our fathers would not be obedient, but thrust him from them, and turned back in their hearts unto Egypt,

Bible in Basic English
By whom our fathers would not be controlled; but they put him on one side, turning back in their hearts to Egypt,

Hebrew Names Version
to whom our fathers wouldn't be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Mitzrayim,

International Standard Version
but our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.

Etheridge Translation
And our fathers willed not to give heed to him, but left him, and in their hearts turned back to Mitsreen,

Murdock Translation
And our fathers would not hearken to him, but forsook him, and in their hearts returned again to Egypt;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
To whom our fathers woulde not obey, but thrust it from them, and in their hearts turned backe againe into Egypt,

English Revised Version
to whom our fathers would not be obedient, but thrust him from them, and turned back in their hearts unto Egypt,

World English Bible
to whom our fathers wouldn't be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back into Egypt,

Weymouth's New Testament
"Our forefathers, however, would not submit to him, but spurned his authority and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
To whom oure fadris wolden not obeie, but puttiden hym awei, and weren turned awei in hertis in to Egipt,

Update Bible Version
to whom our fathers would not be obedient, but thrust him from them, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,

Webster's Bible Translation
Whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust [him] from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,

New English Translation
Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him, but pushed him aside and turned back to Egypt in their hearts,

New King James Version
whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt,

New Living Translation
"But our ancestors refused to listen to Moses. They rejected him and wanted to return to Egypt.

New Life Bible
"Our early fathers would not listen to him. They did not obey him. In their hearts they wanted to go back to the country of Egypt.

New Revised Standard
Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him; instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Unto whom, our fathers would not become obedient, but thrust him away, and turned in their hearts unto Egypt,

Douay-Rheims Bible
Whom our fathers would not obey: but thrust him away and in their hearts turned back into Egypt,

Revised Standard Version
Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt,

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
to who oure fathers wolde not obeye but cast it from them and in their hertes turned backe agayne into Egypte

Young's Literal Translation
to whom our fathers did not wish to become obedient, but did thrust away, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
vnto whom oure fathers wolde not be obediet, but thrust him fro the, and in their hertes turned backe agayne in to Egipte,

Mace New Testament (1729)
him our fathers would not obey, but rejected him, and they return'd to their Egyptian disposition.

Simplified Cowboy Version
"But those Israelites he was leadin' turned their back on Moses. They wanted to go back to Egypt and be slaves.

Contextual Overview

³⁰"Forty years later, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to him in the guise of flames of a burning bush. Moses, not believing his eyes, went up to take a closer look. He heard God's voice: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Frightened nearly out of his skin, Moses shut his eyes and turned away. ³³"God said, ‘Kneel and pray. You are in a holy place, on holy ground. I've seen the agony of my people in Egypt. I've heard their groans. I've come to help them. So get yourself ready; I'm sending you back to Egypt.' ³⁵"This is the same Moses whom they earlier rejected, saying, ‘Who put you in charge of us?' This is the Moses that God, using the angel flaming in the burning bush, sent back as ruler and redeemer. He led them out of their slavery. He did wonderful things, setting up God-signs all through Egypt, down at the Red Sea, and out in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to his congregation, ‘God will raise up a prophet just like me from your descendants.' This is the Moses who stood between the angel speaking at Sinai and your fathers assembled in the wilderness and took the life-giving words given to him and handed them over to us, words our fathers would have nothing to do with. "They craved the old Egyptian ways, whining to Aaron, ‘Make us gods we can see and follow. This Moses who got us out here miles from nowhere—who knows what's happened to him!' That was the time when they made a calf-idol, brought sacrifices to it, and congratulated each other on the wonderful religious program they had put together. "God wasn't at all pleased; but he let them do it their way, worship every new god that came down the pike—and live with the consequences, consequences described by the prophet Amos: Did you bring me offerings of animals and grains those forty wilderness years, O Israel? Hardly. You were too busy building shrines to war gods, to sex goddesses, Worshiping them with all your might. That's why I put you in exile in Babylon. "And all this time our ancestors had a tent shrine for true worship, made to the exact specifications God provided Moses. They had it with them as they followed Joshua, when God cleared the land of pagans, and still had it right down to the time of David. David asked God for a permanent place for worship. But Solomon built it. "Yet that doesn't mean that Most High God lives in a building made by carpenters and masons. The prophet Isaiah put it well when he wrote, "Heaven is my throne room; I rest my feet on earth. So what kind of house will you build me?" says God. "Where I can get away and relax? It's already built, and I built it." "And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, you're just like your ancestors. Was there ever a prophet who didn't get the same treatment? Your ancestors killed anyone who dared talk about the coming of the Just One. And you've kept up the family tradition—traitors and murderers, all of you. You had God's Law handed to you by angels—gift-wrapped!—and you squandered it!" At that point they went wild, a rioting mob of catcalls and whistles and invective. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, hardly noticed—he only had eyes for God, whom he saw in all his glory with Jesus standing at his side. He said, "Oh! I see heaven wide open and the Son of Man standing at God's side!" Yelling and hissing, the mob drowned him out. Now in full stampede, they dragged him out of town and pelted him with rocks. The ringleaders took off their coats and asked a young man named Saul to watch them. As the rocks rained down, Stephen prayed, "Master Jesus, take my life." Then he knelt down, praying loud enough for everyone to hear, "Master, don't blame them for this sin"—his last words. Then he died. ⁴⁰Stephen, Full of the Holy Spirit Then the Chief Priest said, "What do you have to say for yourself?" Stephen replied, "Friends, fathers, and brothers, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was still in Mesopotamia, before the move to Haran, and told him, ‘Leave your country and family and go to the land I'll show you.' "So he left the country of the Chaldees and moved to Haran. After the death of his father, he immigrated to this country where you now live, but God gave him nothing, not so much as a foothold. He did promise to give the country to him and his son later on, even though Abraham had no son at the time. God let him know that his offspring would move to an alien country where they would be enslaved and brutalized for four hundred years. ‘But,' God said, ‘I will step in and take care of those slaveholders and bring my people out so they can worship me in this place.' "Then he made a covenant with him and signed it in Abraham's flesh by circumcision. When Abraham had his son Isaac, within eight days he reproduced the sign of circumcision in him. Isaac became father of Jacob, and Jacob father of twelve ‘fathers,' each faithfully passing on the covenant sign. "But then those ‘fathers,' burning up with jealousy, sent Joseph off to Egypt as a slave. God was right there with him, though—he not only rescued him from all his troubles but brought him to the attention of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He was so impressed with Joseph that he put him in charge of the whole country, including his own personal affairs. "Later a famine descended on that entire region, stretching from Egypt to Canaan, bringing terrific hardship. Our hungry fathers looked high and low for food, but the cupboard was bare. Jacob heard there was food in Egypt and sent our fathers to scout it out. Having confirmed the report, they went back to Egypt a second time to get food. On that visit, Joseph revealed his true identity to his brothers and introduced the Jacob family to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and everyone else in the family, seventy-five in all. That's how the Jacob family got to Egypt. "Jacob died, and our fathers after him. They were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb for which Abraham paid a good price to the sons of Hamor. "When the four hundred years were nearly up, the time God promised Abraham for deliverance, the population of our people in Egypt had become very large. And there was now a king over Egypt who had never heard of Joseph. He exploited our race mercilessly. He went so far as forcing us to abandon our newborn infants, exposing them to the elements to die a cruel death. "In just such a time Moses was born, a most beautiful baby. He was hidden at home for three months. When he could be hidden no longer, he was put outside—and immediately rescued by Pharaoh's daughter, who mothered him as her own son. Moses was educated in the best schools in Egypt. He was equally impressive as a thinker and an athlete. "When he was forty years old, he wondered how everything was going with his Hebrew kin and went out to look things over. He saw an Egyptian abusing one of them and stepped in, avenging his underdog brother by knocking the Egyptian flat. He thought his brothers would be glad that he was on their side, and even see him as an instrument of God to deliver them. But they didn't see it that way. The next day two of them were fighting and he tried to break it up, told them to shake hands and get along with each other: ‘Friends, you are brothers, why are you beating up on each other?' "The one who had started the fight said, ‘Who put you in charge of us? Are you going to kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday?' When Moses heard that, realizing that the word was out, he ran for his life and lived in exile over in Midian. During the years of exile, two sons were born to him. "Forty years later, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to him in the guise of flames of a burning bush. Moses, not believing his eyes, went up to take a closer look. He heard God's voice: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Frightened nearly out of his skin, Moses shut his eyes and turned away. "God said, ‘Kneel and pray. You are in a holy place, on holy ground. I've seen the agony of my people in Egypt. I've heard their groans. I've come to help them. So get yourself ready; I'm sending you back to Egypt.' "This is the same Moses whom they earlier rejected, saying, ‘Who put you in charge of us?' This is the Moses that God, using the angel flaming in the burning bush, sent back as ruler and redeemer. He led them out of their slavery. He did wonderful things, setting up God-signs all through Egypt, down at the Red Sea, and out in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to his congregation, ‘God will raise up a prophet just like me from your descendants.' This is the Moses who stood between the angel speaking at Sinai and your fathers assembled in the wilderness and took the life-giving words given to him and handed them over to us, words our fathers would have nothing to do with. "They craved the old Egyptian ways, whining to Aaron, ‘Make us gods we can see and follow. This Moses who got us out here miles from nowhere—who knows what's happened to him!' That was the time when they made a calf-idol, brought sacrifices to it, and congratulated each other on the wonderful religious program they had put together. "God wasn't at all pleased; but he let them do it their way, worship every new god that came down the pike—and live with the consequences, consequences described by the prophet Amos: Did you bring me offerings of animals and grains those forty wilderness years, O Israel? Hardly. You were too busy building shrines to war gods, to sex goddesses, Worshiping them with all your might. That's why I put you in exile in Babylon. "And all this time our ancestors had a tent shrine for true worship, made to the exact specifications God provided Moses. They had it with them as they followed Joshua, when God cleared the land of pagans, and still had it right down to the time of David. David asked God for a permanent place for worship. But Solomon built it. "Yet that doesn't mean that Most High God lives in a building made by carpenters and masons. The prophet Isaiah put it well when he wrote, "Heaven is my throne room; I rest my feet on earth. So what kind of house will you build me?" says God. "Where I can get away and relax? It's already built, and I built it." "And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, you're just like your ancestors. Was there ever a prophet who didn't get the same treatment? Your ancestors killed anyone who dared talk about the coming of the Just One. And you've kept up the family tradition—traitors and murderers, all of you. You had God's Law handed to you by angels—gift-wrapped!—and you squandered it!" At that point they went wild, a rioting mob of catcalls and whistles and invective. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, hardly noticed—he only had eyes for God, whom he saw in all his glory with Jesus standing at his side. He said, "Oh! I see heaven wide open and the Son of Man standing at God's side!" Yelling and hissing, the mob drowned him out. Now in full stampede, they dragged him out of town and pelted him with rocks. The ringleaders took off their coats and asked a young man named Saul to watch them. As the rocks rained down, Stephen prayed, "Master Jesus, take my life." Then he knelt down, praying loud enough for everyone to hear, "Master, don't blame them for this sin"—his last words. Then he died. ⁴¹Stephen, Full of the Holy Spirit Then the Chief Priest said, "What do you have to say for yourself?" Stephen replied, "Friends, fathers, and brothers, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was still in Mesopotamia, before the move to Haran, and told him, ‘Leave your country and family and go to the land I'll show you.' "So he left the country of the Chaldees and moved to Haran. After the death of his father, he immigrated to this country where you now live, but God gave him nothing, not so much as a foothold. He did promise to give the country to him and his son later on, even though Abraham had no son at the time. God let him know that his offspring would move to an alien country where they would be enslaved and brutalized for four hundred years. ‘But,' God said, ‘I will step in and take care of those slaveholders and bring my people out so they can worship me in this place.' "Then he made a covenant with him and signed it in Abraham's flesh by circumcision. When Abraham had his son Isaac, within eight days he reproduced the sign of circumcision in him. Isaac became father of Jacob, and Jacob father of twelve ‘fathers,' each faithfully passing on the covenant sign. "But then those ‘fathers,' burning up with jealousy, sent Joseph off to Egypt as a slave. God was right there with him, though—he not only rescued him from all his troubles but brought him to the attention of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He was so impressed with Joseph that he put him in charge of the whole country, including his own personal affairs. "Later a famine descended on that entire region, stretching from Egypt to Canaan, bringing terrific hardship. Our hungry fathers looked high and low for food, but the cupboard was bare. Jacob heard there was food in Egypt and sent our fathers to scout it out. Having confirmed the report, they went back to Egypt a second time to get food. On that visit, Joseph revealed his true identity to his brothers and introduced the Jacob family to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and everyone else in the family, seventy-five in all. That's how the Jacob family got to Egypt. "Jacob died, and our fathers after him. They were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb for which Abraham paid a good price to the sons of Hamor. "When the four hundred years were nearly up, the time God promised Abraham for deliverance, the population of our people in Egypt had become very large. And there was now a king over Egypt who had never heard of Joseph. He exploited our race mercilessly. He went so far as forcing us to abandon our newborn infants, exposing them to the elements to die a cruel death. "In just such a time Moses was born, a most beautiful baby. He was hidden at home for three months. When he could be hidden no longer, he was put outside—and immediately rescued by Pharaoh's daughter, who mothered him as her own son. Moses was educated in the best schools in Egypt. He was equally impressive as a thinker and an athlete. "When he was forty years old, he wondered how everything was going with his Hebrew kin and went out to look things over. He saw an Egyptian abusing one of them and stepped in, avenging his underdog brother by knocking the Egyptian flat. He thought his brothers would be glad that he was on their side, and even see him as an instrument of God to deliver them. But they didn't see it that way. The next day two of them were fighting and he tried to break it up, told them to shake hands and get along with each other: ‘Friends, you are brothers, why are you beating up on each other?' "The one who had started the fight said, ‘Who put you in charge of us? Are you going to kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday?' When Moses heard that, realizing that the word was out, he ran for his life and lived in exile over in Midian. During the years of exile, two sons were born to him. "Forty years later, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to him in the guise of flames of a burning bush. Moses, not believing his eyes, went up to take a closer look. He heard God's voice: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Frightened nearly out of his skin, Moses shut his eyes and turned away. "God said, ‘Kneel and pray. You are in a holy place, on holy ground. I've seen the agony of my people in Egypt. I've heard their groans. I've come to help them. So get yourself ready; I'm sending you back to Egypt.' "This is the same Moses whom they earlier rejected, saying, ‘Who put you in charge of us?' This is the Moses that God, using the angel flaming in the burning bush, sent back as ruler and redeemer. He led them out of their slavery. He did wonderful things, setting up God-signs all through Egypt, down at the Red Sea, and out in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to his congregation, ‘God will raise up a prophet just like me from your descendants.' This is the Moses who stood between the angel speaking at Sinai and your fathers assembled in the wilderness and took the life-giving words given to him and handed them over to us, words our fathers would have nothing to do with. "They craved the old Egyptian ways, whining to Aaron, ‘Make us gods we can see and follow. This Moses who got us out here miles from nowhere—who knows what's happened to him!' That was the time when they made a calf-idol, brought sacrifices to it, and congratulated each other on the wonderful religious program they had put together.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

whom: Acts 7:51, Acts 7:52, Nehemiah 9:16, Psalms 106:16, Psalms 106:32, Psalms 106:33, Ezekiel 20:6-14

but: Acts 7:27, Judges 11:2, 1 Kings 2:27

and in: Exodus 14:11, Exodus 14:12, Exodus 16:3, Exodus 17:3, Numbers 11:5, Numbers 14:3, Numbers 14:4, Numbers 21:5, Nehemiah 9:17

Reciprocal: Exodus 13:17 - return Numbers 11:18 - it was well Numbers 16:3 - gathered Numbers 20:4 - why Psalms 78:41 - Yea Ezekiel 20:16 - for their Mark 11:28 - General Acts 13:18 - about

Gill's Notes on the Bible

To whom our fathers would not obey,.... But often murmured against him, and were disobedient to him, and to the oracles he delivered to them, and so to God, whose oracles they were:

but thrust him from them; as one of the two Hebrews did, when he interposed to make up the difference between them; and which was an emblem and presage of what that people would afterwards do; Acts 7:27

and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt; they wished themselves there again, they lusted after the fish, the cucumbers, the melons, leeks, onions, and garlic there; and went so far as to move for a captain, and even to appoint one to lead them back thither again.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Would not obey ... - This refers to what they said of him when he was in the mount, Exodus 32:1, Exodus 32:23.

In their hearts turned ... - They wished to return to Egypt. They regretted that they had come out of Egypt, and desired again the things which they had there, as preferable to what they had in the desert, Numbers 11:5. Perhaps, however, the expression means, not that they desired literally to “return” to Egypt, but that “their hearts inclined to the habits and morals of the Egyptians.” They forsook God, and imitated the idolatries of the Egyptians.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 39. In their hearts turned back again into Egypt — Became idolaters, and preferred their Egyptian bondage and their idolatry to the promised land and the pure worship of God. See the whole of these transactions explained at large in the notes on Exodus 32:1-35.