OET interlinear ACTs 7:42

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ἔστρεψεν & ὁ Θεὸς

turned & ¬the God

Stephen is speaking as if God had physically turned away. He speaks this way to emphasize that God was not pleased with the Israelites and no longer helped them. Alternate translation: “God stopped helping them”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

τῇ στρατιᾷ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ

˱unto˲_the army ¬the ˱of˲_heaven

Here, the word host means “army,” and the word heaven means “sky.” Stephen is speaking of the stars in the sky as if they were an army. Alternate translation, as in UST: “the stars in the sky”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

γέγραπται ἐν βίβλῳ τῶν προφητῶν

˱it˲_/has_been/_written in scroll ˱of˲_the prophets

If your language does not use the passive form in this way, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. Alternate translation: “the book of the prophets says” or “the book of the prophets records”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit

βίβλῳ τῶν προφητῶν

scroll ˱of˲_the prophets

This was apparently a collection of the writings of several of the Old Testament prophets on one scroll. Alternate translation: “the scroll that records sayings of the prophets”

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / quotemarks

μὴ σφάγια καὶ θυσίας προσηνέγκατέ μοι, ἔτη τεσσεράκοντα ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ

not victims and sacrifices ˱you_all˲_offered ˱to˲_me years forty in the desert

This is the beginning of a quotation from the prophet Amos, which continues through the end of verse 43. Even if your language does not customarily put one direct quotation inside another, it would be good to present this quotation from Amos as a direct quotation if possible, since God is addressing the Israelites directly in it. You may be able to indicate its beginning with an opening second-level quotation mark or with some other punctuation or convention that your language uses to indicate the start of a second-level quotation. You may also be able to use special formatting to set off the quotation, as ULT does.

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / doublenegatives

μὴ σφάγια καὶ θυσίας προσηνέγκατέ μοι, ἔτη τεσσεράκοντα ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, οἶκος Ἰσραήλ?

not victims and sacrifices ˱you_all˲_offered ˱to˲_me years forty in the desert house ˱of˲_Israel

The first word of this sentence in Greek is a negative word that can be used to turn a negative statement into a question that expects a negative answer. ULT shows this by adding did you? Your language may have other ways of asking a question that expects a negative answer, for example, by changing the word order of a positive statement. Translate this in the way that would be clearest in your language. Alternate translation: “Did you offer slain beasts and offerings to me for 40 years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?”

Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion

μὴ σφάγια καὶ θυσίας προσηνέγκατέ μοι, ἔτη τεσσεράκοντα ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, οἶκος Ἰσραήλ?

not victims and sacrifices ˱you_all˲_offered ˱to˲_me years forty in the desert house ˱of˲_Israel

Speaking through the prophet Amos, God used the question form to emphasize to the people of Israel that they did not really worship Him in the wilderness with their sacrifices. If you would not use a rhetorical question for this purpose in your language, you could translate these words as a statement or an exclamation and communicate the emphasis in another way. Alternate translation: “You did not honor me when you offered slain beasts and sacrifices for 40 years in the wilderness, O house of Israel!”

Note 8 topic: figures-of-speech / yousingular

μὴ & προσηνέγκατέ

not & ˱you_all˲_offered

You is plural in these instances, even though the addressee (house) is singular, because God is actually speaking to all of the Israelites. If it would not be natural in your language to use the plural in such a case, you could use singular you in your translation.

Note 9 topic: figures-of-speech / merism

σφάγια καὶ θυσίας

victims and sacrifices

In a figure of speech, God is using the two main categories of sacrifices, those that involve shedding blood (slain beasts) and those that are bloodless (offerings), to mean sacrifices of all kinds. If this would be misunderstood in your language, you could use an equivalent expression or non-figurative language. Alternate translation: “all kinds of sacrifices”

Note 10 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

οἶκος Ἰσραήλ

house ˱of˲_Israel

Here, house means all the people descended from a particular person. It envisions them as if they were one household living together. So the house of Israel means all the people descended from the patriarch Jacob, who was also known as Israel. Alternate translation: “nation of Israel” or “people of Israel”