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He led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness.
Acts 7:36 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.
  • KJV He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
  • ESV This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.
  • NKJV He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
  • NASB This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.
  • NLT And by means of many wonders and miraculous signs, he led them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and through the wilderness for forty years.

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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

Moses led Israel out with signs and wonders in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and through forty years in the wilderness. God confirmed His chosen deliverer with mighty works.

Overview

Stephen summarizes Moses' redemptive ministry, marked by wonders and signs over forty years (Exodus 7-14; the wilderness years). These works authenticated Moses as God's sent deliverer. Likewise, the signs and wonders accompanying Jesus and the apostles testified that God was at work in them.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 33

  • Exod 14:21Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided,
  • Exod 12:41At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions went out of the land of Egypt.
  • Exod 33:1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of the land of Egypt, and go to the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’
  • Exod 14:27–29So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal state. As the Egyptians were retreating, the LORD swept them into the sea.
  • Ps 78:12–33He worked wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
  • Exod 7:1–14The LORD answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.
  • Exod 16:35The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land where they could settle; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.
  • Deut 4:33–37Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived?
  • Num 11:1–35Soon the people began to complain about their hardship in the hearing of the LORD, and when He heard them, His anger was kindled, and fire from the LORD blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp.
  • Neh 9:18–22Even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and when they committed terrible blasphemies,
  • Deut 8:4Your clothing did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.
  • Acts 13:18He endured their conduct for about forty years in the wilderness.
  • Deut 6:21–22then you are to tell him, “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
  • Exod 16:1–17On the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt, the whole congregation of Israel set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai.
  • Ps 105:27–36They performed His miraculous signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham.
  • Neh 9:12–15You led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they should travel.
  • Ps 105:39–45He spread a cloud as a covering and a fire to light up the night.
  • Ps 135:8–12He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, of both man and beast.
  • Ps 106:17–18The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it covered the assembly of Abiram.
  • Deut 2:25–37This very day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon all the nations under heaven. They will hear the reports of you and tremble in anguish because of you.”
  • Ps 136:9–21the moon and stars to govern the night. His loving devotion endures forever.
  • Num 16:1–17Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath son of Levi, along with some Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—conducted
  • Exod 19:1–20In the third month, on the same day of the month that the Israelites had left the land of Egypt, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai.
  • Ps 95:10For forty years I was angry with that generation, and I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known My ways.”
  • Acts 7:42But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
  • Num 20:1–21In the first month, the whole congregation of Israel entered the Wilderness of Zin and stayed in Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.
  • Heb 8:9It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not abide by My covenant, and I disregarded them, declares the Lord.
  • Num 14:1–45Then the whole congregation lifted up their voices and cried out, and that night the people wept.
  • Ps 78:42–51They did not remember His power—the day He redeemed them from the adversary,
  • Exod 15:23–25And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there because it was bitter. (That is why it was named Marah.)
  • Neh 9:10You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, all his officials, and all the people of his land, for You knew they had acted with arrogance against our fathers. You made a name for Yourself that endures to this day.
  • Ps 106:8–11Yet He saved them for the sake of His name, to make His power known.
  • Num 9:15–23On the day that the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it and appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

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 7:36YouTube · 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 7:36 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.