Acts 7 verse 60

Acts 7 verse 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.     (KJV)

And placing the knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not make this sin stand to them. And saying this, he fell asleep.          (IB)

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Retranslation:  Humbling himself, he blessed his attackers, saying, God, don’t let them continue in this mistake (resisting the Holy Spirit), and fail to realize their true portion!

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NOTE:  Stephen is becoming a Christian: one who loves. In the 2013 September Christian Science Journal, page 51, “How a Christian is known,” the author quotes Jesus, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another,” and writes:

“You and I will be known as followers of Christ Jesus by one very specific piece of evidence-----our love for one another.”

Stephen was chosen to “help the widows,” those who stood on the other side of the impassable gulf (see Acts 6 verse 1). These “widows” are the ones Stephen is addressing.  Stephen is trying to wake them up.  He is trying to show them that the Holy Spirit is not attained by being in the Tabernacle, but by being the Tabernacle. Being the vessel into which the Promise (I AM with you) is poured.

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placing 5087 tithemi, a prolonged form of a primary theo (which is used only as an alternate in certain tenses); to place (in the widest applications, literally or figuratively; properly in a passive or horizontal posture, and thus different from 2476, which properly denotes an upright and active position, while 2749 is properly reflexive and utterly prostrate):-----advise, appoint, bow, commit, conceive, give, kneel down, lay (aside, down, up), make, ordain, purpose, put, set (forth), settle, sink down.

passive (Origins Dict.): See PATIENCE, para. 5. Of the pat- and -pat words, the base is L. pati, to suffer, to endure, to be patient.

passive (1828 Dict. def.):

1. Suffering; not acting, receiving or capable of receiving impressions from external agents. We were passive spectators, not actors in the scene.

The mind is wholly passive in the reception of all its simple ideas.  Locke.

God is not in any respect passive.   Bradwardine.

1. Unresisting; not opposing; receiving or suffering without resistance; as passive obedience; passive submission to the law.
2. Passive verb, in grammar, is a verb which expresses passion, or the effect of an action of some agent; as in L. doceor, I am taught; in English, she is loved and admired by her friends; he is assailed by slander.
3. Passive obedience, as used by writers on government, denotes not only quiet unresisting submission to power, but implies the denial of the right of resistance, or the recognition of the duty to submit in all cases to the existing government.
4. Passive prayer, among mystic divines, is a suspension of the activity of the soul or intellectual faculties, the soul remaining quiet and yielding only to the impulses of grace.

knees 1119 gony, of uncertain affinity; the “knee”:-----knee, kneel.

NOTE on “knees” and “blessings”:

If you have an 1828 facsimile dictionary, you should check out the “Introduction.” I am going to give you a taste of it. It’s all about word origins. The pages are not numbered, but I numbered mine, and on page “12,” Webster treats these words below. I cannot reproduce the language fonts on my computer, but they are printed in the 1828 dictionary.

It’s very helpful making connections like these in understanding the words of the Bible. Thus, we see below the connection between knees and blessing. If, symbolically, bending the knee denotes humility (putting your “self” in a position of voluntary inactivity, a type of “self” sacrifice!), we can then see a connection between becoming humble and being blessed.

Hebrew:

1. To bless; to salute, or wish a blessing to,
2. To couch, or bend the knee, to kneel.

Deriv. A blessing, and the knee.

Chaldee:

1. To bless; to salute at a meeting, and to bid farewell at parting.
2. To bend the knee.
3. To dig; to plow; to set slips of a vine or plant for propagation.

Deriv. The knee; a blessing; a cursing [blessing and cursing are same word. This word means a “loud sound”]; a cion; the young of fowls.

Syriac:

1. To fall on the knees; to fall or bow down. Judg. v. 27.
2. To issue or proceed from. Math. xv. 19.
3. To bless.

Samaritan:

1. To bless.

Ethiopic:

1. To bless. Deriv. the knee.

Arabic:

1. To bend the knee; to fall on the breast, as a camel.
2. To be firm or fixed.
3. To rain violently; to pour forth rain, as the clouds.
4. To detract from; to traduce; to reproach or pursue with reproaches; to revile.
5. To bless; to pray for a blessing on; to prosper; to be blessed.
6. To hasten; to rush, as on an enemy; to assail.

Deriv. The breast; the bason of a fountain; a fish pond, or receptacle of water, as in Heb. and Ch.: also increase; abundance; constancy; splendor; a flash of light.

Webster goes on to discuss the radical sense of blessing and cursing, to send or pour forth loud words; the radical sense of kneeling, to throw, to bend,”   etc., etc. 

cried 2896 krazo, a primary verb; properly to “croak” (as a raven) or scream, i.e. (generally) to call aloud (shriek, exclaim, intreat):----cry (out)

great 3173 megas, including the prolonged forms, feminine megale, plural megaloi etc.; compare 3176, 3187; big (lit. or fig., in a very wide application):------(+ fear) exceedingly, great, greatest, high, large, loud, mighty, (be) sore (afraid), strong, to years.

voice 5456 phone, probably akin to 5316 through the idea of disclosure; a tone (articulate, bestial or artificial); by implication an address (for any purpose), saying or language:-----noise, sound, voice.

5316 phaino, prolonged for the base of 5457; to lighten (shine), i.e. show (transitive or intransitive, literally or figuratively): appear, seem, be seen, shine, think.

5457 phos, from an obsolete phao (to shine or make manifest, especially by rays; compare 5316, 5346); luminosity (in the widest application, natural or artificial, abstract or concrete, literal or figurative):----fire light.

Lord 2962 kyrios, from kyros (supremacy); supreme in authority, i.e. (as noun) controller; by implication Mister (as a respectful title):----God, Lord, master, Sir.

not 3361

stand 2476 histemi, a prolonged form of a primary stao (of the same meaning and used for it in certain tenses); to stand (transitive or intransitive), used in various applications (literally or figuratively):----abide, appoint, bring, continue, covenant, establish, hold up, lay, present, set (up), stanch, stand (by, forth, still, up). Compare 5087.

them 846

this 5026

sin 266 hamartia, from 264; sin (properly abstract):----offence, sin, sinful.

264 hamartano, perhaps from G1 (as a negative particle) and the base of 3313; properly to miss the mark (and so not share in the prize), i.e. (figuratively) to err, especially (morally) to sin:----for your faults, offend, sin, trespass.

3313 meros, from an obsolete but more primary form of meiromai (to get as a section or allotment); a division or share (literal or figurative, in a wide application):----behalf, coast, course, craft, particular, particularly, part, partly, piece, portion, respect, side, some, sort, somewhat.

said 2036

this 5124

fell asleep 2837 koimao, from 2749; to put to sleep, i.e. (passive or reflexive) to slumber; figuratively to decease:----sleep, be asleep, fall asleep, fall on sleep, be dead.