Acts 7:51
What does Acts 7:51 mean?
A plain-English look at Acts 7:51 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Acts 7:51 means
Stephen turns from history to confrontation: You are stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears; you always resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers did. The language exposes stubborn wills and dull spiritual perception. Physical circumcision without inward change is worthless. Stephen is not insulting but diagnosing: the same resistance that fueled idolatry and rejection of Moses now operates in the council. The problem is not reverence for Moses or the Temple per se, but hearts closed to God’s voice. This prepares for his climactic charge that they have treated the Righteous One as their fathers treated the prophets, aligning themselves with a long record of opposition to God’s messengers.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do ye.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do ye.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949You whose hearts are hard and whose ears are shut to me; you are ever working against the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862`Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and in ears! ye do always the Holy Spirit resist; as your fathers--also ye;
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost. As your fathers did, so do you also.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890O stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers, ye also.
Context
After establishing God’s transcendence and Israel’s history of disobedience, Stephen applies the lesson directly to his hearers. Verse 51 introduces the charge of habitual resistance to the Holy Spirit. Verses 52–53 will specify the pattern: persecuting prophets, killing those who foretold the Righteous One, and failing to keep the Law received through angels. This turn from narrative to accusation triggers the Sanhedrin’s furious reaction in the verses that follow (verses 54–58).
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Nehemiah 9:16
But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their neck, and hearkened not to thy commandments,
- Acts 7:35
This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? him hath God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush.
- Ezekiel 2:4
And the children are impudent and stiffhearted: I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah.
- Colossians 2:11
in whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ;
- Leviticus 26:41
I also walked contrary unto them, and brought them into the land of their enemies: if then their uncircumcised heart be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity;
- Acts 7:27
But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
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