Acts 7:37 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Acts 7:37
This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.
the he (she or it) · demonstrative pronoun — nominative singular masculine
is
ἐστίestí
G2076
he (she or it) is
that
οὗτοςhoûtos
G3778
the he (she or it)
Moses
ΜωϋσῆςMōusēs
G3475
Moseus · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
said
εἴπαςeipas
G2036
to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
children
υἱοῖςhuiois
G5207
a "son" (sometimes of animals) · noun — dative plural masculine
Israel
Ἰσραήλ·Israēl
G2474
Israel (i.e. Jisrael) · noun — genitive singular masculine, a place
prophet
προφήτηνprophētēn
G4396
a foreteller ("prophet") · noun — accusative singular masculine
shall
ἀναστήσειanastēsei
G450
to stand up (literal or figurative · verb — future active indicative, 3rd person singular
Lord
κύριοςkurios
G2962
supreme in authority · noun — nominative singular masculine, a title
your
ὑμῶνhymōn
G5216
of (from or concerning) you
God
θεὸςtheos
G2316
figuratively · noun — nominative singular masculine, a title
up
ἀνίστημιanístēmi
G450
to stand up (literal or figurative
you
ὑμῖνhymîn
G5213
to (with or by) you
of
ἐκek
G1537
literal or figurative · preposition
your
ὑμῶνhymōn
G5216
of (from or concerning) you
brethren
ἀδελφῶνadelphōn
G80
a brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote (m… · noun — genitive plural masculine
like
ὡςhōs
G5613
which how · particle
me
ἐμέemé
G1691
me
him
αὐτοῦautou
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
hear
ἀκούσεσθε.akousesthe
G191
to hear (in various senses) · verb — future middle deponent indicative, 2nd person plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Deuteronomy 18:15-19 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
Acts 3:22-23 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear…
John 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cau…
Matthew 17:3-5 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
Acts 7:38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received…
Mark 9:7 And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
Luke 9:30-31 And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias:
Luke 9:35 And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 7:30-41
Stephen here proceeds in his story of Moses; and let any one judge whether these are the words of one that was a blasphemer of Moses or no; nothing could be spoken more honourably of him. Here is,
I. The vision which he saw of the glory of God at the bush (Act 7:30): When forty years had expired (during all which time Moses was buried alive in Midian, and was now grown old, and one would think past service), that it might appear that all his performances were products of a divine power and promise (as it appeared that Isaac was a child of promise by his being born of parents stricken in years), now, at eighty years old, he enters upon that post of honour to which he was born, in recompence f…
This is that Moses which said . . . A prophet . . . him shall ye hear--This is quoted to remind his Moses-worshipping audience of the grand testimony of their faithful lawgiver, that he himself was not the last and proper object of the Church's faith, but only a humble precursor and small model of Him to whom their absolute submission was due.
Adam Clarke on Acts 7:37
This is that Moses, which said - A prophet, etc. - This very Moses, so highly esteemed and honored by God, announced that very prophet whom ye have lately put to death. See the observations at Deu 18:22 (note).
John Gill on Acts 7:37
This is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel,.... What is recorded in Deuteronomy 18:15.
a prophet, &c. See Gill on Acts 3:22.
John Calvin on Acts 7:35-37
Acts 7:35-37
35. This Moses, whom they had denied, saying, Who made thee a ruler and judge? him, I say, hath God sent to be a ruler and a redeemer, in the hand of the angel which appeared unto him in the bush. 36. He brought them out, having showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years. 37. This is Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, The Lord your God shall raise up unto you a Prophet, out of the midst of your brethren, like unto me; hear him.
35. Stephen passeth over many things, because he maketh haste unto this stun, that the Jews may understand that the fathers were not delivered therefore, because they had deserved tha…
The Church Fathers
This is Moses who said to the sons of Israel: God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers, like me. Like me, visible in the flesh, but more wonderful in majesty and more terrible in majesty than I. He says, lest the doctrine of Christ be thought new and foreign, it is Moses himself, whom your fathers did not wish to obey, who preaches and says that he will come in the form of a man and will give the precepts of life to all souls.
"But also a witnessing voice was heard from heaven, saying, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him.' And in addition to this, willing to convict more fully of error the prophets from whom they asserted that they had learned, He proclaimed that they died desiring the truth, but not having learned it, saying, 'Many prophets and kings desired to see what ye see, and to hear what you hear; and verily I say to you, they neither saw nor heard.' Still further He said, 'I am he concerning whom Moses prophesied, saying, A Prophet shall the Lord our God raise unto you of your brethren, like unto me: Him hear in all things; and whosoever will not hear that Prophet shall die.' "
This the blessed Stephen brought forward, hinting to them the mystery according to Christ, and showing that Moses also had spoken to you about him. For God and Father announces again the incarnation of His own offspring through the all-wise Moses, and that a second lawgiver will be raised up for us, having spoken the law formerly to the earlier ones himself through angels, and in the last times revealed as a worker for us, and having sent an angel as agent of the New Covenant, the angel of the great counsel of the Father. And this is what the phrase "like me" indicates, that is, as lawgiver. But he calls the Lord of the prophets a prophet because of his humanity. "like me," treated with contempt by those from whom he ought to have received honor. Each gave a law, having previously done signs; yet even therefore neither of them were willing to obey.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Angel Of The Lord — (Genesis 16:7) etc. (The special form in which God manifested himself to man, and hence Christ’s visible form before the incarnation. Compare (Acts 7:30-38) with the corresponding Old-Testament…
Deuteronomy — In all the Hebrew manuscripts the Pentateuch (q.v.) forms one roll or volume divided into larger and smaller sections called parshioth_ and _sedarim. It is not easy to say when it was divided into…
Moses — Drawn (or Egypt. mesu, “son;” hence Rameses, royal son). On the invitation of Pharaoh (Gen. 45:17-25), Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. This immigration took place probably about 350 years…
Stephen — One of the seven deacons, who became a preacher of the gospel. He was the first Christian martyr. His personal character and history are recorded in Acts 6. “He fell asleep” with a prayer for his…
Christ, The Prophet · God commands us to hear — God commands us to hear
Court · ACCUSED SPOKE IN HIS OWN — ACCUSED SPOKE IN HIS OWN
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
