Acts 7:31

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he was approaching to look at it, the voice of the Lord came:

King James Version (1611)
When Moses saw it, he wondred at the sight: and as he drew neere to behold it, the voyce of the Lord came vnto him,

King James Version
When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,

English Standard Version
When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord:

New American Standard Bible
"When Moses saw it, he was astonished at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came:

New Century Version
When Moses saw this, he was amazed and went near to look closer. Moses heard the Lord's voice say,

Amplified Bible
"When Moses saw it, he was astonished at the sight; but as he went near to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came [to him, saying]:

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord:

Legacy Standard Bible
When Moses saw it, he was marveling at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord:

Berean Standard Bible
When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight. As he approached to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came to him:

Contemporary English Version
Moses was surprised by what he saw. He went closer to get a better look, and the Lord said,

Complete Jewish Bible
When Moshe saw this, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to get a better look, there came the voice of Adonai ,

Darby Translation
And Moses seeing it wondered at the vision; and as he went up to consider it, there was a voice of [the] Lord,

Easy-to-Read Version
When Moses saw this, he was amazed. He went near to look closer at it. He heard a voice; it was the Lord's.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And when Moses sawe it, hee wondred at the sight: and as he drew neere to consider it, the voyce of the Lord came vnto him, saying,

George Lamsa Translation
When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to look at it, the LORD spoke to him in a loud voice,

Good News Translation
Moses was amazed by what he saw, and went near the bush to get a better look. But he heard the Lord's voice:

Lexham English Bible
And when Moses saw it, he was astonished at the sight, and when he approached to look at it, the voice of the Lord came:

Literal Translation
And seeing, Moses marveled at the sight. And he coming up to look, a voice of the Lord came to him:

American Standard Version
And when Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold, there came a voice of the Lord,

Bible in Basic English
And Moses, seeing it, was full of wonder, and when he came up to have a nearer view of it, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying,

Hebrew Names Version
When Moshe saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a voice of the Lord came to him,

International Standard Version
When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and when he approached to look at it, the voice of the Lord said,came">[fn]

Etheridge Translation
And while Musha looked, he wondered at the sight. And as he drew near to gaze, the Lord spake to him with the voice:

Murdock Translation
And when Moses saw [fn] , he admired the sight: and as he drew near to behold [fn] , the Lord said to him, audibly:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
When Moyses sawe it, he wondred at ye sight: And as he drue neare to behold, the voyce of the Lord came vnto hym.

English Revised Version
And when Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold, there came a voice of the Lord,

World English Bible
When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a voice of the Lord came to him,

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And Moses seeing it, wondered at the sight. But as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came to him, I am the God of thy fathers,

Weymouth's New Testament
When Moses saw this he wondered at the sight; but on his going up to look further, the voice of the Lord was heard, saying,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Moises siy, and wondride on the siyt. And whanne he neiyede to biholde, the vois of the Lord was maad to hym,

Update Bible Version
And when Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to look, there came a voice of the Lord,

Webster's Bible Translation
When Moses saw [it], he wondered at the sight; and as he drew near to behold [it], the voice of the Lord came to him,

New English Translation
When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and when he approached to investigate, there came the voice of the Lord,

New King James Version
When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him,

New Living Translation
When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the Lord called out to him,

New Life Bible
He was surprised and wondered when he saw it. He went up close to see it better. Then he heard the voice of the Lord speak to him.

New Revised Standard
When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to look, there came the voice of the Lord:

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, Moses, seeing it, marvelled at the sight; and, as he was going near to observe, there came a voice of the Lord -

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Moses seeing it wondered at the sight. And as he drew near to view it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying:

Revised Standard Version
When Moses saw it he wondered at the sight; and as he drew near to look, the voice of the Lord came,

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
When Moses sawe it he wondred at the syght. And as he drue neare to beholde the voyce of the Lorde came vnto him:

Young's Literal Translation
and Moses having seen did wonder at the sight; and he drawing near to behold, there came a voice of the Lord unto him,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Wha Moses sawe it, he wondred at the sighte. But as he drue nye to beholde, ye voyce of ye LORDE came vnto him:

Mace New Testament (1729)
Moses was astonished at this vision: and as he drew near to observe it, he heard the voice of the Lord, which said to him,

Simplified Cowboy Version
Moses couldn't believe his eyes and went over to get a better look. When he got close, God said,

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

and as: Exodus 3:3, Exodus 3:4

Reciprocal: Numbers 12:7 - My servant Hosea 6:5 - have I

Gill's Notes on the Bible

When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight,.... To see a bush on fire was no extraordinary thing; but to see a bush on fire, and yet not consumed by it, which was the case here, was wonderful indeed: and that an angel of the Lord, or the Lord himself, should appear in it, made it still more amazing; though, as yet, this was not observed by Moses, only the former; and which struck him with wonder, and excited his curiosity:

and as he drew near to behold it; to take a more exact view of it, and satisfy himself with the truth of it, and, if it was possible, to find out the reason why it was not burnt:

the voice of the Lord came unto him; to his ears, out of the bush, and expressed the following words.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He wondered ... - What particularly attracted his attention was the fact that the bush was not consumed, Exodus 3:2-3.

The voice of the Lord - Yahweh spake to him from the midst of the bush. He did not see him. He merely heard a voice.