TRV
Translation
King James Version
And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?
Complete Jewish Bible
When he appeared the next day, as they were fighting, and tried to make peace between them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers! Why do you want to hurt each other?’
Berean Standard Bible
The next day he came upon two Israelites who were fighting, and he tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’
American Standard Version
And the day following he appeared unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?
World English Bible Messianic
“The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’
Geneva Bible (1599)
And the next day, he shewed himselfe vnto them as they stroue, and woulde haue set them at one againe, saying, Syrs, ye are brethren: why doe ye wrong one to another?
Young's Literal Translation
`On the succeeding day, also, he shewed himself to them as they are striving, and urged them to peace, saying, Men, brethren are ye, wherefore do ye injustice to one another?
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In the KJVVerse 27,143 of 31,102
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Commentary on Acts 7 verses 17–29
17 ¶ But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.
19 The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.
20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months:
21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.
22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
26 And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?
27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?
29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
Stephen here goes on to relate,
I. The wonderful increase of the people of Israel in Egypt; it was by a wonder of providence that in a little time they advanced from a family into a nation. 1. It was when the time of the promise drew nigh - the time when they were to be formed into a people. During the first two hundred and fifteen years after the promise made to Abraham, the children of the covenant were increased but to seventy; but in the latter two hundred and fifteen years they increased to six hundred thousand fighting men. The motion of providence is sometimes quickest when it comes nearest the centre. Let us not be discouraged at the slowness of the proceedings towards the accomplishment of God's promises; God knows how to redeem the time that seems to have been lost, and, when the year of the redeemed is at hand, can do a double work in a single day. 2. It was in Egypt, where they were oppressed, and ruled with rigour; when their lives were made so bitter to them that, one would think, they should have wished to be written childless, yet they married, in faith that God in due time would visit them; and God blessed them, who thus honoured him, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply. Suffering times have often been growing times with the church.
II. The extreme hardships which they underwent there, Act 7:18, Act 7:19. When the Egyptians observed them to increase in number they increased their burdens, in which Stephen observes three things: - 1. Their base ingratitude: They were oppressed by another king that knew not Joseph, that is, did not consider the good service that Joseph had done to that nation; for, if he had, he would not have made so ill a requital to his relations and family. Those that injure good people are very ungrateful, for they are the blessings of the age and place they live in. 2. Their hellish craft and policy: They dealt subtly with our kindred. Come on, said they, let us deal wisely, thinking thereby to secure themselves, but it proved dealing foolishly, for they did but treasure up wrath by it. Those are in a great mistake who think they deal wisely for themselves when they deal deceitfully or unmercifully with their brethren. 3. Their barbarous and inhuman cruelty. That they might effectually extirpate them, they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live. The killing of their infant seed seemed a very likely way to crush an infant nation. Now Stephen seems to observe this to them, not only that they might further see how mean their beginnings were, fitly represented (perhaps with an eye to the exposing of the young children in Egypt) by the forlorn state of a helpless, out-cast infant (Eze 16:4), and how much they were indebted to God for his care of them, which they had forfeited, and made themselves unworthy of: but also that they might consider that what they were now doing against the Christian church in its infancy was as impious and unjust, and would be in the issue as fruitless and ineffectual, as that was which the Egyptians did against the Jewish church in its infancy. "You think you deal subtly in your ill treatment of us, and, in persecuting young converts, you do as they did in casting out the young children; but you will find it is to no purpose, in spite of your malice Christ's disciples will increase and multiply."
III. The raising up of Moses to be their deliverer. Stephen was charged with having spoken blasphemous words against Moses, in answer to which charge he here speaks very honourably of him. 1. Moses was born when the persecution of Israel was at the hottest, especially in that most cruel instance of it, the murdering of the new-born children: At that time, Moses was born (Act 7:20), and was himself in danger, as soon as he came into the world (as our Saviour also was at Bethlehem) of falling a sacrifice to that bloody edict. God is preparing for his people's deliverance, when their way is darkest, and their distress deepest. 2. He was exceedingly fair; his face began to shine as soon as he was born, as a happy presage of the honour God designed to put upon him; he was asteios tō Theō - fair towards God; he was sanctified from the womb, and this made him beautiful in God's eyes; for it is the beauty of holiness that is in God's sight of great price. 3. He was wonderfully preserved in his infancy, first, by the care of his tender parents, who nourished him three months in their own house, as long as they durst; and then by a favourable providence that threw him into the arms of Pharaoh's daughter, who took him up, and nourished him as her own son (Act 7:21); for those whom God designs to make special use of he will take special care of. And did he thus protect the child Moses? Much more will he secure the interests of his holy child Jesus (as he is called Act 4:27) from the enemies that are gathered together against him. 4. He became a great scholar (Act 7:22): He was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, who were then famed for all manner of polite literature, particularly philosophy, astronomy, and (which perhaps helped to lead them to idolatry) hieroglyphics. Moses, having his education at court, had opportunity of improving himself by the best books, tutors, and conversation, in all the arts and sciences, and had a genius for them. Only we have reason to think that he had not so far forgotten the God of his fathers as to acquaint himself with the unlawful studies and practices of the magicians of Egypt, any further than was necessary to the confuting of them. 5. He became a prime minister of state in Egypt. This seems to be meant by his being mighty in words and deeds. Though he had not a ready way of expressing himself, but stammered, yet he spoke admirably good sense, and every thing he said commanded assent, and carried its own evidence and force of reason along with it; and, in business, none went on with such courage, and conduct, and success. Thus was he prepared, by human helps, for those services, which, after all, he could not be thoroughly furnished for without divine illumination. Now, by all this, Stephen will make it appear that, notwithstanding the malicious insinuations of his persecutors, he had as high and honourable thoughts of Moses as they had.
IV. The attempts which Moses made to deliver Israel, which they spurned, and would not close in with. This Stephen insists much upon, and it serves for a key to this story (Exo 2:11-15), as does also that other construction which is put upon it by the apostle, Heb 11:24-26. There it is represented as an act of holy self-denial, here as a designed prelude to, or entrance upon, the public service he was to be called out to (Act 7:23): When he was full forty years old, in the prime of his time for preferment in the court of Egypt, it came into his heart (for God put it there) to visit his brethren the children of Israel, and to see which way he might do them any service; and he showed himself as a public person, with a public character. 1. As Israel's saviour. This he gave a specimen of in avenging an oppressed Israelite, and killing the Egyptian that abused him (Act 7:24). Seeing one of his brethren suffer wrong, he was moved with compassion towards the sufferer, and a just indignation at the wrong-doer, as men in public stations should be, and he avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian, which, if he had been only a private person, he could not lawfully have done; but he knew that his commission from heaven would bear him out, and he supposed that his brethren (who could not but have some knowledge of the promise made to Abraham, that the nation that should oppress them God would judge) would have understood that God by his hand would deliver them; for he could not have had either presence of mind or strength of body to do what he did, if he had not been clothed with such a divine power as evinced a divine authority. If they had but understood the signs of the times, they might have taken this for the dawning of the day of their deliverance; but they understood not, they did not take this, as it was designed, for the setting up of a standard, and sounding of a trumpet, to proclaim Moses their deliverer. 2. As Israel's judge. This he gave a specimen of, the very next day, in offering to accommodate matters between two contending Hebrews, wherein he plainly assumed a public character (Act 7:26): He showed himself to them as they strove, and, putting on an air of majesty and authority, he would have set them at one again, and as their prince have determined the controversy between them, saying, Sirs, you are brethren, by birth and profession of religion; why do you wrong one to another? For he observed that (as in most strifes) there was a fault on both sides; and therefore, in order to peace and friendship, there must be a mutual remission and condescension. When Moses was to be Israel's deliverer out of Egypt, he slew the Egyptians, and so delivered Israel out of their hands; but, when he was to be Israel's judge and lawgiver, he ruled them with the golden sceptre, not the iron rod; he did not kill and slay them when they strove, but gave them excellent laws and statutes, and decided upon their complaints and appeals made to him, Exo 18:16. But the contending Israelite that was most in the wrong thrust him away (Act 7:27), would not bear the reproof, though a just and gentle one, but was ready to fly in his face, with, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Proud and litigious spirits are impatient of check and control. Rather would these Israelites have their bodies ruled with rigour by their task-masters than be delivered, and have their minds ruled with reason, by their deliverer. The wrong-doer was so enraged at the reproof given him that he upbraided Moses with the service he had done to their nation in killing the Egyptian, which, if they had pleased, would have been the earnest of further and greater service: Wilt thou kill me, as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday? Act 7:28, charging that upon him as his crime, and threatening to accuse him for it, which was the hanging out of the flag of defiance to the Egyptians, and the banner of love and deliverance to Israel. Hereupon Moses fled into the land of Midian, and made no further attempt to deliver Israel till forty years after; he settled as a stranger in Midian, married, and had two sons, by Jethro's daughter, Act 7:29.
Now let us see how this serves Stephen's purpose. 1. They charged him with blaspheming Moses, in answer to which he retorts upon them the indignities which their fathers did to Moses, which they ought to be ashamed of, and humbled for, instead of picking quarrels thus, under pretence of zeal for the honour of Moses, with one that had as great a veneration for him as any of them had. 2. They persecuted him for disputing in defence of Christ and his gospel, in opposition to which they set up Moses and his law: "But," saith he, "you had best take heed," (1.) "Lest you hereby do as your fathers did, refuse and reject one whom God has raised up to be to you a prince and a Saviour; you may understand, if you will not wilfully shut your eyes against the light, that God will, by this Jesus, deliver you out of a worse slavery than that in Egypt; take heed then of thrusting him away, but receive him as a ruler and a judge over you." (2.) "Lest you hereby fare as your fathers fared, who for this were very justly left to die in their slavery, for the deliverance came not till forty years after. This will be the issue of it, you put away the gospel from you, and it will be sent to the Gentiles; you will not have Christ, and you shall not have him, so shall your doom be." Mat 23:38, Mat 23:39.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 17–29. Public domain.
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John ChrysostomAD 407
Homily on Acts 16
"And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?" Do you mark with what mildness he addresses them? He who had shown his wrath in the case of the other, shows his gentleness in his own case. "But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me, as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday?" Mark; the very words which they said to Christ: "Who made Thee ruler and judge over us?" So habitual a thing was it for Jews to wrong their benefactors when in the act of receiving benefits! And again, mark the atrocious baseness: "As thou didst the Egyptian yesterday!"
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Acts 7:26 is a pivotal moment in Stephen's defense before the Sanhedrin, where he recounts an episode from Moses' early life in Egypt. This verse depicts Moses intervening in a dispute between two Hebrews, attempting to reconcile them with the plea, "Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?" This incident serves as a poignant illustration of Moses' initial, unheeded call to peacemaking and highlights a recurring pattern of Israel's rejection of God's chosen deliverers, a theme central to Stephen's argument concerning Jesus Christ.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Stephen's recounting of this event employs several significant literary devices. Foreshadowing is prominent, as Moses' initial, rejected attempt to deliver and reconcile his people powerfully foreshadows the ultimate rejection of Jesus Christ, the greater Deliverer and Peacemaker, by His own people. There is also a strong element of irony in Moses' benevolent intervention being met with resistance and questioning of his authority, mirroring the ironic rejection of Christ by those He came to save. Furthermore, the narrative functions as typology, presenting Moses as a type of Christ—a divinely appointed mediator and deliverer who seeks to bring peace and unity, yet faces opposition. Finally, Moses' direct question, "why do ye wrong one to another?", serves as a rhetorical question, designed not to elicit an answer but to highlight the absurdity and moral failing of their internal conflict, prompting reflection on the destructive nature of disunity.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
This episode from Moses' life, highlighted by Stephen, carries profound theological implications. It underscores God's consistent desire for His people to live in unity and peace, reflecting His own character. Moses' attempt to "set them at one again" embodies the divine call to reconciliation, a theme that permeates the entire biblical narrative. The resistance Moses faced, however, reveals humanity's stubborn propensity for conflict and rejection of those sent by God to bring order and healing. Stephen masterfully uses this historical example to build his case that Israel's rejection of Jesus was not an isolated incident but part of a long-standing pattern of resisting the Holy Spirit and God's chosen messengers. The call to brotherhood and the condemnation of internal strife remain timeless principles for God's covenant people.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Acts 7:26 serves as a potent mirror for contemporary communities, particularly the church. Moses' plea to his brethren, "why do ye wrong one to another?", resonates deeply, challenging us to examine the nature of our relationships within the body of Christ. Are we quick to engage in internal strife, or do we actively pursue reconciliation and unity? The verse reminds us that our shared identity in Christ should transcend personal disagreements and petty grievances. As believers, we are called to be agents of peace, not instigators of division. This requires humility, a willingness to forgive, and a commitment to upholding the sacred bond of spiritual brotherhood. When conflict arises, our first impulse should be to seek restoration, remembering that our witness to the world is profoundly impacted by the unity we display.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why does Stephen recount this specific event from Moses' life in his sermon?
Answer: Stephen recounts this event to highlight a recurring pattern in Israel's history: the rejection of God's chosen deliverers and messengers by their own people. Moses, despite being divinely appointed to lead Israel out of bondage, was initially misunderstood and rejected by his brethren, as seen in Acts 7:27-28. Stephen uses this historical precedent to underscore his central argument that the Sanhedrin, and indeed Israel throughout history, has consistently resisted the Holy Spirit and rejected God's ultimate messenger, Jesus Christ (Acts 7:51-53).
What is the significance of Moses' question, "Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?"
Answer: Moses' question is profoundly significant because it appeals to the fundamental bond of brotherhood and shared identity among the Israelites. It challenges the very premise of their conflict, implying that internal strife is unnatural and morally wrong for those who share a common heritage and are united by a common plight. The question serves as a rhetorical device, highlighting the absurdity and sinfulness of their actions. Theologically, it underscores God's desire for unity and peace among His people, a principle that transcends the Old Covenant and finds its ultimate expression in the New Testament call for believers to live in harmony as members of one body in Christ (Ephesians 4:3).
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Acts 7:26, though detailing Moses' early life, finds its ultimate Christ-centered fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus. Moses' attempt to "set them at one again" was a noble but ultimately human and limited effort, met with rejection by those he sought to help. This foreshadows the greater Peacemaker, Jesus Christ, who came not merely to stop external quarrels but to reconcile humanity to God and to each other, bridging the chasm of sin. Like Moses, Jesus was rejected by His own people, as prophesied in Isaiah 53:3 and powerfully demonstrated throughout the Gospels, culminating in His crucifixion (John 1:11). Yet, unlike Moses' frustrated attempt, Jesus' mission of reconciliation was perfectly accomplished through His atoning death and resurrection. He is the true and ultimate "one" who sets at one again, not just individuals, but all who believe, forming them into a unified body where the dividing walls of hostility are broken down (Ephesians 2:14-16). Moses' question, "why do ye wrong one to another?", finds its answer in Christ, who, by His sacrifice, empowers believers to live as true brethren, pursuing peace and unity because they have first been reconciled to God through Him (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).