Acts 7:59

And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
stoned	ἐλιθοβόλουν elithoboloun	G3036	to throw stones · verb — imperfect active indicative, 3rd person plural
Stephen	Στέφανον Stephanon	G4736	Stephanus · noun — accusative singular masculine, a proper name
upon	ἐπικαλούμενον epikaloumenon	G1941	to entitle · verb — present middle or passive participle, accusative singular masculine
and	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
saying	λέγοντα· legonta	G3004	properly · verb — present active participle, accusative singular masculine
Lord	κύριε kurie	G2962	supreme in authority · noun — vocative singular masculine, a title
Jesus	Ἰησοῦ, Iēsou	G2424	Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua) · noun — vocative singular masculine, a proper name
receive	δέξαι dexai	G1209	to receive (in various applications · verb — aorist middle deponent imperative, 2nd person singular
my	μοῦ moû	G3450	of me
spirit	πνεῦμά pneuma	G4151	a current of air · noun — accusative singular neuter

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

Luke 23:46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
Psalms 31:5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.
Acts 22:16 And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
Joel 2:32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be…
Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Acts 9:14 And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.
1 Corinthians 1:2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place c…
Acts 9:21 But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Acts 7:54–end

We have here the death of the first martyr of the Christian church, and there is in this story a lively instance of the outrage and fury of the persecutors (such as we may expect to meet with if we are called out to suffer for Christ), and of the courage and comfort of the persecuted, that are thus called out. Here is hell in its fire and darkness, and heaven in its light and brightness; and these serve as foils to set off each other. It is not here said that the votes of the council were taken upon his case, and that by the majority he was found guilty, and then condemned and ordered to be stoned to death, according to the law, as a blasphemer; but, it is likely, so it was, and that it was…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 7:59

calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, &c.--An unhappy supplement of our translators is the word "God" here; as if, while addressing the Son, he was really calling upon the Father. The sense is perfectly clear without any supplement at all--"calling upon [invoking] and saying, Lord Jesus"; Christ being the Person directly invoked and addressed by name (compare Act 9:14). Even GROTIUS, DE WETTE, MEYER, &c., admit this, adding several other examples of direct prayer to Christ; and PLINY, in his well-known letter to the Emperor Trajan (A.D. 110 or 111), says it was part of the regular Christian service to sing, in alternate strains, a hymn to Christ as God. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit--In…

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Adam Clarke on Acts 7:59

And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God - The word God is not found in any MS. or version, nor in any of the primitive fathers except Chrysostom. It is not genuine, and should not be inserted here: the whole sentence literally reads thus: And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! Here is a most manifest proof that prayer is offered to Jesus Christ; and that in the most solemn circumstances in which it could be offered, viz., when a man was breathing his last. This is, properly speaking, one of the highest acts of worship which can be offered to God; and, if Stephen had not conceived Jesus Christ to be God, could he have committed his soul into his hands?…

The Church Fathers

So also Stephen had already put on the appearance of an angel, although they were none other than his human knees which bent beneath the stoning.
— Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh

"And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." This is meant to show them that he is not perishing, and to teach them.
— John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 18

Therefore it is shown that the souls of the righteous no longer depart into Hades, as formerly, but are rather sent into the hands of the living God through our Savior Christ. [SAINT CYRIL ON "FATHER, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMEND MY SPIRIT."]
— Oecumenius, Commentary on Acts

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

Call — (1.) To cry for help, hence to pray (Gen. 4:26). Thus men are said to “call upon the name of the Lord” (Acts 2:21; 7:59; 9:14; Rom. 10:12; 1 Cor. 1:2). (2.) God calls with respect to men when he…
Gate — (1.) Of cities, as of Jerusalem (Jer. 37:13; Neh. 1:3; 2:3; 3:3), of Sodom (Gen. 19:1), of Gaza (Judg. 16:3). (2.) Of royal palaces (Neh. 2:8). (3.) Of the temple of Solomon (1 Kings 6:34, 35; 2…
Spirit — (Heb. ruah; Gr. pneuma), properly wind or breath. In 2 Thess. 2:8 it means “breath,” and in Eccl. 8:8 the vital principle in man. It also denotes the rational, immortal soul by which man is…
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…
Stoning — A form of punishment (Lev. 20:2; 24:14; Deut. 13:10; 17:5; 22:21) prescribed for certain offences. Of Achan (Josh. 7:25), Naboth (1 Kings 21), Stephen (Acts 7:59), Paul (Acts 14:19; 2 Cor. 11:25).
Christ Is God · As the object of divine worship — As the object of divine worship
Confessing Christ · Exemplified: Stephen — Exemplified: Stephen
Intolerance, Religious · .In persecuting Stephen — .In persecuting Stephen
Man · SPIRIT — SPIRIT
Martyrdom · .Stephen — .Stephen
Prayer · To be offered: To Christ — To be offered: To Christ
Privileges Of Saints · Committing themselves to God

Acts 7:59

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Acts 7:54–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 7:59

Adam Clarke on Acts 7:59

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Acts 7:59

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Acts 7:54–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 7:59

Adam Clarke on Acts 7:59

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on Acts 7:59

John Calvin on Acts 7:58–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Acts 7:59-60