Passage

Acts 7.59

Book: Acts · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

57. But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed upon him with one accord; 58. and they cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

59. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon the Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:57-60, ASV)

WEB

57. But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed at him with one accord. 58. They threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

59. They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”

He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:57-60, WEB)

KJV

57. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58. And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.

59. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:57-60, KJV)

YLT

57. And they, having cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and did rush with one accord upon him, 58. and having cast him forth outside of the city, they were stoning [him], and the witnesses did put down their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul

59. and they were stoning Stephen, calling and saying, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit;'

and having bowed the knees, he cried with a loud voice, 'Lord, mayest thou not lay to them this sin;' and this having said, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:57-60, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Luke, narrating (1:1); Stephen prays
Audience: The Lord Jesus, whom Stephen has just seen "standing on the right hand of God" (7:55-56)
Location: Outside Jerusalem, where Stephen was cast "out of the city" (7:58)
Time period: The early 30s AD, a few years at most after the resurrection

Theological reading

"And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" (Acts 7:59, KJV).

The first Christian martyr prays to Jesus. Stephen, one of the Seven (6:5), has just told the council he sees "the Son of man standing on the right hand of God" (7:56). As the stones fall he calls on Jesus by name. The KJV supplies "God" after "calling upon" in italics; the Greek simply says he was "calling upon and saying, Lord Jesus." The ASV renders it "calling upon the Lord."

Calling on the name. "Calling upon," epikaleō (Strong's G1941), is the language of prayer in the Greek Old Testament, where people "call upon the name of the LORD" (Genesis 4:26; Joel 2:32). Peter had already applied Joel's promise to Jesus: "whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2:21, 36).

Echoes of the cross. Stephen's two prayers echo Jesus' own. Jesus committed his spirit to the Father (Luke 23:46); Stephen commits his spirit to Jesus. Jesus prayed for his executioners (Luke 23:34); Stephen cries, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge" (7:60). What Jesus said to the Father, Stephen says to Jesus.

Early, not invented later. The Jehovah's Witnesses vs the Christian God comparison cites this as evidence that Christians prayed to Jesus centuries before Nicaea. A young man named Saul watched it happen (7:58; 8:1). See Trinity Invented at Nicaea Objection Defeater and Christs Deity.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

G4151 - pneuma, pneuma, Strong's G4151
G2962 - kyrios, kyrios, Strong's G2962
G2424 - Iesous, Iesous, Strong's G2424
G3004 - lego, lego, Strong's G3004

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.