When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.
Parallel translations
- WEB But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.
- KJV And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
- NKJV “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.
- NASB But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his countrymen, the sons of Israel.
- NLT “One day when Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
At forty Moses felt a stirring to visit his fellow Israelites. It marks the beginning of his identification with God's oppressed people.
Overview
Stephen notes that at age forty Moses chose to go to his own people, the children of Israel (Exodus 2:11; Hebrews 11:24-25). This deliberate turning from Egyptian privilege to his afflicted brothers reflects faith. It anticipates the pattern of identification with God's people that finds its fullest expression in Christ, who shared fully in our condition to deliver us.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Exod 2:11–12One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.
- Heb 11:24–26By faith Moses, when he was grown, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
- Prov 21:1The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the LORD; He directs it where He pleases.
- Phil 2:12–13Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
- Rev 17:17For God has put it into their hearts to carry out His purpose by uniting to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.
- Jas 1:17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
- Ezra 7:27Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put into the heart of the king to so honor the house of the LORD in Jerusalem,
- Exod 35:21And everyone whose heart stirred him and whose spirit prompted him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its services, and for the holy garments.
- 2 Chr 30:12Moreover, the power of God was on the people in Judah to give them one heart to obey the command of the king and his officials according to the word of the LORD.
- Exod 4:18Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me return to my brothers in Egypt to see if they are still alive.” “Go in peace,” Jethro replied.
- Ezra 1:1In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows:
- Exod 35:29So all the men and women of the Israelites whose hearts prompted them brought a freewill offering to the LORD for all the work that the LORD through Moses had commanded them to do.
- Ezra 1:5So the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites—everyone whose spirit God had stirred—prepared to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.
- Acts 15:36Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in every town where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, to see how they are doing.”
- 2 Cor 8:16But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same devotion I have for you.
- 1 Chr 29:17–19I know, my God, that You test the heart and delight in uprightness. All these things I have given willingly and with an upright heart, and now I have seen Your people who are present here giving joyfully and willingly to You.
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Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
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Original language
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