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“When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.
Acts 7:30 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
  • BSB After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.
  • NKJV “And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai.
  • NASB “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush.
  • NLT “Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush.

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

After forty years God appeared to Moses in a flaming bush at Mount Sinai. God's call came in His own time, initiating Moses' true commission.

Overview

Stephen marks a second forty-year span, after which the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush near Sinai (Exodus 3:1-2). God's appearing shows that the deliverer's authority comes from divine calling, not human initiative. The burning bush displays God's holy presence and His remembrance of His covenant people.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 23

  • Exod 3:1–2Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb.
  • Acts 7:35“This Moses, whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ — God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
  • Isa 43:2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and flame will not scorch you.
  • Acts 7:32‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled, and dared not look.
  • Isa 63:9In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. He bore them, and carried them all the days of old.
  • Exod 3:6Moreover he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God.
  • Gen 48:15–16He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
  • Exod 7:7Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
  • Gen 22:15–18Yahweh’s angel called to Abraham a second time out of the sky,
  • Dan 3:27The satraps, the deputies, and the governors, and the king’s counselors, being gathered together, saw these men, that the fire had no power on their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed, neither were their pants changed, nor had the smell of fire passed on them.
  • Acts 7:17“But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
  • Ps 66:12You allowed men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us to the place of abundance.
  • Mark 12:26But about the dead, that they are raised; haven’t you read in the book of Moses, about the Bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
  • Deut 4:20But Yahweh has taken you, and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as it is today.
  • Gen 32:24–30Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day.
  • Exod 19:1–2In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.
  • Luke 20:37But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’
  • Hos 12:3–5In the womb he took his brother by the heel; and in his manhood he contended with God.
  • Mal 3:1“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies.
  • Gal 4:25For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children.
  • Deut 33:16for the precious things of the earth and its fullness, the good will of him who lived in the bush. Let this come on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of him who was separated from his brothers.
  • Gen 16:7–13Yahweh’s angel found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain on the way to Shur.
  • 1 Kgs 19:8He arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, God’s Mountain.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Acts videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Acts 7:30YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ActsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

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.

How Acts 7:30 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.