Acts 7:52

Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Stephen addresses the Sanhedrin during his trial, delivering the climactic accusation of his speech. This is the moment immediately before they stone him.

The words — διώκω (diōkō), "persecute," literally means "to run after," carrying the sense of relentless pursuit rather than mere disagreement.

The thread — Stephen echoes the pattern Israel itself names in 2 Chronicles 36:16 (mocking God's messengers) and 1 Kings 19:10 (forsaking the covenant), while Jesus in Matthew 5:12 frames the same history as a mark of discipleship rather than condemnation.

Why it lands — The verse removes any distance between "your fathers" and "you," forcing the reader to ask whether the same pattern of resisting God's word is present in their own life or community.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:

Cross-references

Matthew 5:12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.
1 Kings 19:10 “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”
2 Chronicles 36:16 But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.
1 Thessalonians 2:15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and drove us out as well. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men,
Jeremiah 2:30 “I have struck your sons in vain; they accepted no discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a voracious lion.”
Matthew 23:31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.
Luke 11:47 Woe to you! For you build tombs for the prophets, but it was your fathers who killed them.
Acts 3:14 You rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.
Acts 5:28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us responsible for this man’s blood.”
Revelation 19:10 So I fell at his feet to worship him. But he told me, “Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who rely on the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”