ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Acts 7.60

Book: Acts · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

58. and they cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon the Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

60. 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. (Acts 7:58-60, ASV)

WEB

58. They threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59. They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”

60. 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. (Acts 7:58-60, WEB)

KJV

58. And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. 59. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

60. 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. (Acts 7:58-60, KJV)

YLT

58. and having cast him forth outside of the city, they were stoning [him], and the witnesses did put down their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul 59. and they were stoning Stephen, calling and saying, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit;'

60. 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. (Acts 7:58-60, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Stephen, dying
  • Audience: his executioners and the watching council, with Saul of Tarsus present
  • Location: outside the walls of Jerusalem
  • Time period: c. AD 31 to 34

Theological reading

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.

The parallel with the crucifixion is unmistakable and Luke, who alone records both, plainly intends it. Jesus prayed Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, and commended his spirit to the Father. Stephen prays for his killers and, in verse 59, commends his spirit to Jesus.

That last detail is the theologically weightiest thing in the verse's neighbourhood. A dying Jewish man addresses the risen Jesus in the words of prayer that Jesus himself had addressed to God. Verse 55 has already had him see the Son of Man standing at God's right hand, which is the Danielic figure of Daniel 7:13 and the seated Lord of Psalm 110:1, here standing. See Cumulative Case for the Deity of Christ.

Fell asleep (ekoimethe) is the New Testament's characteristic euphemism for the death of a believer, and its use here, of a man being stoned, is jarring by design. Luke describes a violent public execution in the vocabulary of rest.

The narrative consequence arrives immediately: 8:1 notes that Saul was consenting to his death. The church's fiercest opponent, and later its most consequential apostle, is standing at the edge of this scene with the coats at his feet.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Passages:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.