Acts 7:40

“saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’”

Acts 7:40 · direct translation from the Greek
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40

Quotation · Exodus 32:1

Go to Exodus 32:1

Stephen quotes the words of the people to Aaron almost as in Exodus 32:1.

Formula: εἰπόντες τῷ Ἀαρών “saying to Aaron” (Acts 7:40)

See the original texts

Greek of the New Testament: εἰπόντες τῷ Ἀαρών Ποίησον ἡμῖν θεοὺς οἳ προπορεύσονται ἡμῶν ὁ γὰρ Μωϋσῆς οὗτος ὃς ἐξήγαγεν ἡμᾶς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου οὐκ οἴδαμεν τί ἐγένετο αὐτῷ

Hebrew (Masoretic text): וַיַּרְא הָעָם כִּי בֹשֵׁשׁ מֹשֶׁה לָרֶדֶת מִן הָהָר וַיִּקָּהֵל הָעָם עַל אַהֲרֹן וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו קוּם עֲשֵׂה לָנוּ אֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר יֵלְכוּ לְפָנֵינוּ כִּי זֶה מֹשֶׁה הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱלָנוּ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לֹא יָדַעְנוּ מֶה הָיָה לוֹ

Septuagint (Exodus 32:1 in the Septuagint numbering): Καὶ ἰδὼν ὁ λαὸς ὅτι κεχρόνικεν Μωυσῆς καταβῆναι ἐκ τοῦ ὄρους, συνέστη ὁ λαὸς ἐπὶ Ἀαρὼν καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ Ἀνάστηθι καὶ ποίησον ἡμῖν θεοὺς οἳ προπορεύσονται ἡμῶν· ὁ γὰρ Μωσῆς οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὅς ἐξήγαγεν ἡμᾶς ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, οὐκ οἴδαμεν τί γέγονεν αὐτῷ.

The Greek of the NT matches the Septuagint word for word in 8 consecutive words: “Ποίησον ἡμῖν θεοὺς οἳ προπορεύσονται ἡμῶν ὁ γὰρ.”

Septuagint, Swete’s text, First1KGreek transcription (with reading errors), CC BY-SA 4.0

Acts 7:40, word by word

sayingεἰπόντεςeipontes

say

To express something in words to others.

Where else “eipontes” appears
to AaronἈαρώνAarōn

Aaron

Aaron, brother of Moses and the first high priest.

Where else “Aarōn” appears
‘MakeΠοίησονPoiēson

make

To bring something into being: to make or create it.

Where else “Poiēson” appears
godsθεοὺςtheous

god

A god of other peoples.

Where else “theous” appears
will go beforeπροπορεύσονταιproporeusontai

go before

Go before, go ahead of someone.

Where else “proporeusontai” appears
MosesΜωϋσῆςMōysēs

Moses

Moses, who led Israel out of Egypt and received God's law.

Where else “Mōysēs” appears
ledἐξήγαγενexēgagen

lead out

Lead out, bring out.

Where else “exēgagen” appears
the landγῆςgēs

land

A country or a region.

Where else “gēs” appears
of EgyptΑἰγύπτουAigyptou

Egypt

See it on the mapWhere else “Aigyptou” appears
knowοἴδαμενoidamen

know

To hold a fact as certain, to be aware of it.

Where else “oidamen” appears
has happenedἐγένετοegeneto

happen

For an event to occur, for something to take place in history.

Where else “egeneto” appears

Translation note

Exodus 32:1 and 32:23.

Parallel passages

Other books that tell the same thing or quote these words.

Quotation · Exodus 32:1

Stephen quotes the words of the people to Aaron almost as in Exodus 32:1.

See them side by side

Acts 7:40

40saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’

Exodus 32:1

1When the people saw that Moses was delaying to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.”

Places in this verse

JerusalemEgypt
Approximate location. A “?” means it is not known for sure where it was.
  • Egypt

    Today: Egypt (Nile Valley)

    A country in northeast Africa along the Nile River, southwest of Israel.

    Joseph was sold into it, and his family went down to live there (Gen 37:28; 46:6). God brought Israel out of it with a mighty hand (Exod 12:41). The child Jesus fled there with his parents (Matt 2:14).

    Genesis 12:10Genesis 37:28Exodus 12:41Matthew 2:14

The context

39Our fathers were not willing to be obedient to him, but they pushed him away and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,

40 · This verse (above)

41And they made a calf in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idol, and they were rejoicing in the works of their hands.

Read all of Acts 7

To study Acts 7 in a group

  1. 1. What it says

    At the end of his speech, what does Stephen see, and what does he pray while they stone him? (vv. 55-60)

  2. 2. What it means

    Stephen recounts Israel's story from Abraham. What point does he seem to be making with that survey? (vv. 2-53)

  3. 3. How I live it

    Stephen asked that this sin not be held against those who harmed him (v. 60). How do you respond when someone wrongs you?

How to use it