Acts 7:17

ὡμολόγησεν for ὤμοσεν with אABC. Vulg. ‘confessus erat.’

17. καθὼς δὲ ἤγγιζεν κ.τ.λ., but as the time of the promise drew nigh, i.e. the time for its fulfilment. The fathers ‘all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off,’ Hebrews 11:13.

ἧς, which. For the attraction, see note on Acts 1:1.

ὡμολόγησεν ὁ θεός, God had vouchsafed. The same word is used (Matthew 14:7) of the promise made by Herod to the daughter of Herodias. Cf. also LXX. Jeremiah 51:25, ποιοῦσαι ποιήσομεν τὰς ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν ἂς ὡμολογήκαμεν, ‘we will surely perform our vows that we have vowed.’ And in Acts 7:26 immediately following we have the same various reading as in our text, ὤμοσα and ὡμολόγηκα, the latter being the text in Trommius, the former the variation; in Holmes and Parsons this arrangement is reversed, while Tischendorf only gives ὤμοσα.

ηὔξησεν ὁ λαός, the people grew. Another point in Stephen’s argument. God’s blessing went with them into Egypt (Exodus 1:7; Exodus 1:12). The number of those who came out of Egypt was (Exodus 12:37) ‘six hundred thousand on foot that were men, besides children.’