Acts 7:26

αὐτοῖς μαχομένοις unto them as they strove, viz. to ‘two men of the Hebrews’ (see Exodus 2:13). The quotation which follows makes plain what was otherwise not yet clear, that the persons contending in this second case were Israelites. Similarly in Acts 7:24 there had been no mention of an ‘Egyptian’ or anything to make clear who the doer of the wrong was. But the minds of the hearers supplied all these details without difficulty.

συνήλλασσεν. The tense implies a continuous endeavour, though without result.