Acts Chapter 7 verse 53 Holy Bible
ye who received the law as it was ordained by angels, and kept it not.
read chapter 7 in ASV
You, to whom the law was given as it was ordered by angels, and who have not kept it.
read chapter 7 in BBE
who have received the law as ordained by [the] ministry of angels, and have not kept [it].
read chapter 7 in DARBY
Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
read chapter 7 in KJV
read chapter 7 in WBT
You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and didn't keep it!"
read chapter 7 in WEB
who received the law by arrangement of messengers, and did not keep `it'.'
read chapter 7 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 53. - Ye who received for who have received, A.V. ; as it was ordained by angels for by the disposition of angels, A.V.; kept it not for hove not kept it, A.V. Ordained by angels. This phrase, thus differently rendered (εἰς διαταγὰς ἀγγέλων), is one of extreme difficulty: διαταγή means properly appointment," or "ordinance," as in Romans 13:2; and εἰς, which has a great variety of uses in the Greek of the New Testament, means "at," or "upon," or "on the occasion of," as Matthew 12:41, "At the preaching of Jonah." So here they received the Law "at" or "on the occasion of," the "ordering" or "appointing" of angels. When the angels, who were commissioned by God and spoke in his Name, gave the Law, the Israelites so received it. The A.V., "by the disposition of angels" very nearly ex- presses the true sense. Another sense of εἰς - "in view of" - comes to nearly the same thing. St. Paul speaks of the part taken by the angels in the giving of the Law, and in language strikingly resembling the text. He says of it, that it was "ordained through ['by,' A V] angels" God ordained or appointed the Law, but the angels were the instruments or ministers of its promulgation. And it is also distinctly referred to in Deuteronomy 33:2, where the LXX. read, "On his right hand the angels were with him." In the foregoing verses the application which Stephen had all through been contemplating is hurled with accumulated force at the consciences of his hearers, and cuts them to the heart, but does not bring them to repentance.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(53) Who have received . . .--More accurately, who received.By the disposition of angels.--Better, as ordained of angels; or, more literally, as ordinances of angels. The Greek preposition cannot possibly have the meaning of "by." The phrase expressed the current Jewish belief that angels were the intermediate agents through whom Israel received the Law; that it was their voice that was heard on Sinai. Here also St. Paul, in speaking of the Law as "ordained by angels" (Galatians 3:19), reproduced St. Stephen. Comp. also Hebrews 2:2 and Jos. Ant. xv. 4, ? 3, for like statements. The idea rested mainly on the LXX. version of Deuteronomy 33:2, "on His right hand were angels with Him" and "the thousands of angels" as connected with Sinai in Psalm 68:17.
