the Week of Proper 21 / Ordinary 26
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The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible
Acts 7:60
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Then he fell to his knees and cried out his last words, "Lord, please don't hold this against them." After he'd said this, he fell asleep.
Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" Having said this, he fell asleep.
Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" And having said this, he fell asleep.
And going down on his knees, he said in a loud voice, Lord, do not make them responsible for this sin. And when he had said this, he went to his rest.
And kneeling down, he cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And having said this, he fell asleep.
Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin!" And saying this, he fell asleep.
He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, "Lord, don't hold this sin against them!" When he had said this, he fell asleep.
And kneeling down, he cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And having said this, he fell asleep: And Saul was consenting to his death.
Then, rising on his knees, he cried aloud, "Lord, do not reckon this sin against them." And with these words he fell asleep.
And he kneeled downe, and cried with a loud voice, Lord lay not this sinne to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleepe.
And placing the knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not make stand this sin to them. And having said this, he fell asleep.
And he kneled downe, & cried with a loude voyce: LORDE, laye not this synne to their charge. And wha he had thus spoken, he fell a slepe.
and on his knees he cried with a loud voice, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." and having said this, he expired.
Then falling on his knees [in worship], he cried out loudly, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them [do not charge them]!" When he had said this, he fell asleep [in death].
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
And he kneled doune and cryed with a loude voyce: Lorde laye not this synne to their charge. And when he had thus spoken he fell a slepe.
And he knelt down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, do not lay this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
and having bowed the knees, he cried with a loud voice, `Lord, mayest thou not lay to them this sin;' and this having said, he fell asleep.
He fell on his knees and cried in a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." After Stephen said this, he died.
Then he fell to his knees and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" When he had said this, he died.
He knelt down and shouted, "Lord, don't blame them for what they have done." Then he died.
Then he kneeled down and shouted out, "Lord! Don't hold this sin against them!" With that, he died;
And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
And he kneeled downe, and cried with a loude voyce, Lorde, laye not this sinne to their charge. And when he had thus spoken, he slept.
And as he knelt down, he cried with a loud voice and said, Our LORD, do not hold this sin against them. When he had said this, he passed away.
He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, "Lord, don't hold this sin against them!" When he had said this, he fell asleep.
Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, don't hold this sin against them!" When he had said this, he died.fell asleep">[fn]Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:28; 23:34; Acts 9:40; 20:36; 21:5;">[xr]
And kneeling down, he cried with a high voice, and said, Our Lord, let not this sin arise against them. And when this he had said, he slept.
And when he had kneeled down, he cried with a loud voice, and said: Our Lord, establish not this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
He fell to his knees, shouting, "Lord, don't charge them with this sin!" And with that, he died.
After that he fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he died.
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he died.
And, kneeling down, he cried out with a loud voice - Lord! do not charge against them, this sin. And, having said this, he fell asleep.
And falling on his knees, he cried out loudly, Lord, fix not this sin upon them [lay it not to their charge]! And when he had said this, he fell asleep [fn] [in death].
And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" And after he said this, he fell asleep.
And he kneeled downe, and cryed with a loude voyce: Lorde lay not this sinne to their charge. And when he had thus spoken, he fell a sleepe.
He fell on his knees and shouted, "Lord, don't blame them for this sin!" These were his last words before he died.
Then he fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" Having said this, he fell asleep.
He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!" He said this and died.
And he knelide, and criede with a greet vois, and seide, Lord, sette not to hem this synne. And whanne he hadde seid this thing, he diede.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
he kneeled: Acts 9:40, Acts 20:36, Acts 21:5, Ezra 9:5, Daniel 6:10, Luke 22:41
Lord: Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:28, Luke 23:34, Romans 12:14-21
he fell: Acts 13:36, 1 Corinthians 11:30, 1 Corinthians 15:6, 1 Corinthians 15:18, 1 Corinthians 15:20, 1 Corinthians 15:51, 1 Thessalonians 4:13, 1 Thessalonians 4:14, 1 Thessalonians 5:10
Reciprocal: Numbers 12:13 - General 1 Kings 13:6 - besought Nehemiah 9:4 - cried Job 42:10 - when Psalms 37:37 - General Psalms 95:6 - kneel Proverbs 29:10 - but Jeremiah 6:10 - their ear Jeremiah 26:15 - ye shall Matthew 9:6 - that the Mark 1:40 - kneeling Luke 6:27 - Love John 11:11 - sleepeth John 14:3 - I will John 20:28 - My Lord Romans 1:7 - and the Lord 1 Corinthians 1:2 - with 1 Corinthians 4:12 - being reviled Ephesians 3:14 - I 1 Timothy 2:8 - without 2 Timothy 4:16 - I pray James 2:26 - as
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And he kneeled down,.... It seems as if he stood before while they were stoning him, and while he was commending his soul to Christ, but now he kneeled down; prayer may be performed either kneeling or standing:
and cried with a loud voice; not only to show that he was in good spirits, and not afraid to die, but chiefly to express his vehement and affectionate desire to have the following petition granted:
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge: do not impute it to them, or place it to their account; let it not rise and stand in judgment against them, or they be condemned for it; grant them forgiveness for it, and for every other sin: there is a great deal of likeness between Christ and this first martyr of his at their deaths; Christ committed his Spirit into the hands of his Father, and Stephen commits his into the hands of Christ; both prayed for forgiveness for their enemies; and both cried with a loud voice before they expired; for so it follows here,
and when he had said this, he fell asleep; or died; for death, especially the death of the saints, or dying in Jesus, is expressed by sleep. This way of speaking is common with the Jews, who say t, that Rabbi such an one דמיך, "slept"; i.e. "died"; and this they say is a pure and honourable way of speaking with respect to an holy body, whose death is no other than as it were a sleep: and elsewhere u it is said, that one saw such an one מנמנם, "sleeping"; the gloss upon it is, גוסס, "expiring": :-,
:-. The Vulgate Latin version adds, "in the Lord."
t T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 11. 1. T. Hieros. Sota, fol. 23. 2. Avoda Zara, fol. 42. 3. & Horayot, fol. 483. u Bereshit Rabba. sect. 91. fol. 79. 3. & Mattanot Cehuna in ib. T. Bab. Moed. Katon, fol. 28. 1.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
And he kneeled down - This seems to have been a “voluntary” kneeling; a placing himself in this position for the purpose of “prayer,” choosing to die in this attitude.
Lord - That is, Lord Jesus. See the notes on Acts 1:24.
Lay not ... - Forgive them. This passage strikingly resembles the dying prayer of the Lord Jesus, Luke 23:34. Nothing but the Christian religion will enable a man to utter such sentiments in his dying moments.
He fell asleep - This is the usual mode of describing the death of saints in the Bible. It is an expression indicating:
- The “peacefulness” of their death, compared with the alarm of sinners;
- The hope of a resurrection; as we retire to sleep with the hope of again awaking to the duties and enjoyments of life. See John 11:11-12; 1 Corinthians 11:30; 1 Corinthians 15:51; 1 Thessalonians 4:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:10; Matthew 9:24.
In view of the death of this first Christian martyr, we may remark:
(1) That it is right to address to the Lord Jesus the language of prayer.
(2) It is especially proper to do it in afflictions, and in the prospect of death, Hebrews 4:15.
(3) Sustaining grace will be derived in trials chiefly from a view of the Lord Jesus. If we can look to him as our Saviour; see him to be exalted to deliver us; and truly commit our souls to him, we shall find the grace which we need in our afflictions.
(4) We should have such confidence in him as to enable us to commit ourselves to him at any time. To do this, we should live a life of faith. In health, and youth, and strength, we should seek him as our first and best friend.
(5) While we are in health we should prepare to die. What an unfit place for preparation for death would have been the situation of Stephen! How impossible then would it have been to have made preparation! Yet the dying bed is often a place as unfit to prepare as were the circumstances of Stephen. When racked with pain; when faint and feeble; when the mind is indisposed to thought, or when it raves in the wildness of delirium, what an unfit place is this to prepare to die! I have seen many dying beds; I have seen many persons in all stages of their last sickness; but never have I yet seen a dying bed which seemed to me to be a proper place to make preparation for eternity.
(6) How peaceful and calm is a death like that of Stephen, when compared with the alarms and anguish of a sinner! One moment of such peace in that trying time is better than all the pleasures and honors which the world can bestow; and to obtain such peace then, the dying sinner would be willing to give all the wealth of the Indies, and all the crowns of the earth. So may I die and so may all my readers - enabled, like this dying martyr, to commit my departing spirit to the sure keeping of the great Redeemer! When we take a parting view of the world; when our eyes shall be turned for the last time to take a look of friends and relatives; when the darkness of death shall begin to come around us, then may we be enabled to cast the eye of faith to the heavens, and say, “Lord Jesus, receive our spirits.” Thus, may we fall asleep, peaceful in death, in the hope of the resurrection of the just.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Acts 7:60. He kneeled down — That he might die as the subject of his heavenly MASTER-acting and suffering in the deepest submission to his Divine will and permissive providence; and, at the same time, showing the genuine nature of the religion of his Lord, in pouring out his prayers with his blood in behalf of his murderers!
Lay not this sin to their charge. — That is, do not impute it to them so as to exact punishment. How much did the servant resemble his Lord, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do! This was the cry of our Lord in behalf of his murderers; and the disciple, closely copying his Master, in the same spirit, and with the same meaning, varies the expression, crying with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge! What an extent of benevolence! And in what a beautiful light does this place the spirit of the Christian religion! Christ had given what some have supposed to be an impossible command; Love your enemies; pray for them that despitefully use and persecute you. And Stephen shows here, in his own person, how practicable the grace of his Master had made this sublime precept.
He fell asleep. — This was a common expression among the Jews to signify death, and especially the death of good men. But this sleep is, properly speaking, not attributable to the soul, but to the body; for he had commended his spirit to the Lord Jesus, while his body was overwhelmed with the shower of stones cast on him by the mob.
After the word εκοιμηθη, fell asleep, one MS. adds, εν ειρηνη, in peace; and the Vulgate has, in Domino, in the Lord. Both these readings are true, as to the state of St. Stephen; but I believe neither of them was written by St. Luke.
The first clause of the next chapter should come in here, And Saul was consenting unto his death: never was there a worse division than that which separated it from the end of this chapter: this should be immediately altered, and the amputated member restored to the body to which it belongs.
1. THOUGH I have spoken pretty much at large on the punishment of stoning among the Jews, in Clarke's note on "Leviticus 24:23", yet, as the following extracts will serve to bring the subject more fully into view, in reference to the case of St. Stephen, the reader will not be displeased to find them here.
Dr. Lightfoot sums up the evidence he has collected on this subject, in the following particulars:-
"I. The place of stoning was without the sanhedrin, according as it is said, bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp, Leviticus 24:14. It is a tradition, the place of stoning was without three camps. The gloss tells us that the court was the camp of the Divine Presence; the mountain of the temple, the camp of the Levites; and Jerusalem, the camp of Israel. Now, in every sanhedrin, in whatever city, the place of stoning was without the city, as it was at Jerusalem.
We are told the reason by the Gemarists, why the place of stoning was without the sanhedrin, and again without three camps: viz. If the Sanhedrin go forth and sit without the three camps, they make the place for stoning also distant from the sanhedrin, partly lest the sanhedrin should seem to kill the man; partly, that by the distance of the place there may be a little stop and space of time before the criminal come to the place of execution, if peradventure any one might offer some testimony that might make for him; for in the expectation of some such thing:-
"II. There stood one at the door of the sanhedrin having a handkerchief in his hand, and a horse at such a distance as it was only within sight. If any one therefore say, I have something to offer in behalf of the condemned person, he waves the handkerchief, and the horseman rides and calls back the people. Nay, if the man himself say, I have something to offer in my own defence, they bring him back four or five times one after another, if it be any thing of moment that he hath to say." I doubt they hardly dealt so gently with the innocent Stephen.
"III. If no testimony arise that makes any thing for him, then they go on to stoning him: the crier proclaiming before him, 'N. the son of N. comes forth to be stoned for such or such a crime. N. and N. are the witnesses against him; if any one have any thing to testify in his behalf, let him come forth and give his evidence.'
"IV. When they come within ten cubits of the place where he must be stoned, they exhort him to confess, for so it is the custom for the malefactor to confess, because every one that confesseth hath his part in the world to come, as we find in the instance of Achan, c.
"V. When they come within four cubits of the place, they strip off his clothes, and make him naked.
"VI. The place of execution was twice a man's height. One of the witnesses throws him down upon his loins if he roll on his breast, they turn him on his loins again. If he die so, well. If not, then the other witness takes up a stone, and lays it upon his heart. If he die so, well. If not, he is stoned by all Israel.
"VII. All that are stoned, are handed also, c." These things I thought fit to transcribe the more largely, that the reader may compare this present action with this rule and common usage of doing it.
"1. It may be questioned for what crime this person was condemned to die? You will say for blasphemy for the have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. But no one is condemned as a blasphemer, unless for abusing the sacred name with four letters, viz. יהוה YeHoVaH. Hence it is that although they oftentimes accused our Saviour as a blasphemer, yet he was not condemned for this, but because he used witchcraft and deceived Israel, and seduced them into apostasy. And those are reckoned among persons that are to be stoned: He that evilly persuades and he that draws into apostasy; and he that is a conjuror.
"2. It may farther be questioned whether our blessed martyr was condemned by any formal sentence of the sanhedrin, or hurried in a tumultuary manner by the people; and so murdered: it seems to be the latter."
2. The defense of Stephen against the charges produced by his accusers must be considered as being indirect; as they had a show of truth for the ground of their accusations, it would have been improper at once to have roundly denied the charge. There is no doubt that Stephen had asserted and proved JESUS to be the Christ or MESSIAH; and that the whole nation should consider him as such, receive his doctrine, obey him, or expose themselves to the terrible sentence denounced in the prophecy of Moses: Whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him, Deuteronomy 18:19; for they well knew that this word implied that Divine judgments should inevitably fall upon them. To make proper way for this conclusion, Stephen enters into a detail of their history, showing that, from the beginning, God had in view the dispensation which was now opening, and that his designs were uniformly opposed by their impious forefathers. That, notwithstanding all this, God carried on his work:
First, by revealing his will to ABRAHAM, and giving him the rite of circumcision, which was to be preserved among his descendants.
Secondly, to MOSES and AARON in Egypt.
Thirdly, to the whole congregation of Israel at Mount Sinai, and variously in the wilderness.
Fourthly, by instituting the tabernacle worship, which was completed in the promised land, and continued till the days of Solomon, when the temple was builded, and the worship of God became fixed.
Fifthly, by the long race of prophets raised up under that temple, who had been all variously persecuted by their forefathers, who departed from the true worship, and frequently became idolatrous; in consequence of which God gave them up into the hands of their enemies, and they were carried into captivity.
How far St. Stephen would have proceeded, or to what issue he would have brought his discourse, we can only conjecture, as the fury of his persecutors did not permit him to come to a conclusion. But this they saw most clearly, that, from his statement, they could expect no mercy at the hand of God, if they persisted in their opposition to Jesus of Nazareth, and that their temple and political existence must fall a sacrifice to their persevering obstinacy. Their guilt stung them to the heart, and they were determined rather to vent their insupportable feelings by hostile and murderous acts, than in penitential sorrow and supplication for mercy. The issue was the martyrdom of Stephen; a man of whom the sacred writings give the highest character, and a man who illustrated that character in every part of his conduct. Stephen is generally called the proto-martyr, i.e. the FIRST martyr or witness, as the word μαρτυρ implies; the person who, at the evident risk and ultimate loss of his life, bears testimony to TRUTH. This honour, however, may be fairly contested, and the palm at least divided between him and John the Baptist. The martyrdom of Stephen, and the spirit in which he suffered, have been an honour to the cause for which he cheerfully gave up his life, for eighteen hundred years. While Christianity endures, (and it will endure till time is swallowed up in eternity,) the martyrdom of Stephen will be the model, as it has been, for all martyrs, and a cause of triumph to the Church of God.
3. I cannot close these observations without making one remark on his prayer for his murderers. Though this shows most forcibly the amiable, forgiving spirit of the martyr, yet we must not forget that this, and all the excellent qualities with which the mind of this blessed man was endued, proceeded from that HOLY GHOST of whose influences his mind was full. The prayer therefore shows most powerfully the matchless benevolence of GOD. Even these most unprincipled, most impious, and most brutal of all murderers, were not out of the reach of HIS mercy! His Spirit influenced the heart of this martyr to pray for his destroyers; and could such prayers fail? No: Saul of Tarsus, in all probability was the first fruits of them. St. Augustine has properly remarked, Si Stephanus non orasset, ecclesia Paulum non haberet. If Stephen had not prayed, the Church of Christ could not have numbered among her saints the apostle of the Gentiles. Let this example teach us at once the spirit that becomes a disciple of Christ, the efficacy of prayer, and the unbounded philanthropy of God.
