Acts 7:34

34 I have surely seen the ill treatment of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groan, and have come down to take them out of it; and now, come, I will send thee to Egypt.

Acts 7:34 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 7:34

I have seen, I have see the affliction of my people,
&c] The repetition of the phrase denotes the certainty of it, the exquisite and exact knowledge the Lord took of the affliction of his people, and how much his heart was affected with it:

which is in Egypt;
from whence Moses had fled and had left them, he being now in the land of Midian, which was the place of his sojourning: and

I have heard their groaning;
under their various oppressions and burdens, and by reason of the cruel usage of their taskmasters:

and am come down to deliver them;
not by local motion, or change of place, God being omnipresent, who fills all places at all times; but by the effects of his grace and power.

And now come, I will send thee into Egypt;
to Pharaoh, the king of it, ( Exodus 3:10 ) to require of him to let the children of Israel go, and to deliver them out of their bondage.

Acts 7:34 In-Context

32 *I* am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. And Moses trembled, and durst not consider [it].

33 And the Lord said to him, Loose the sandal of thy feet, for the place on which thou standest is holy ground.

34 I have surely seen the ill treatment of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groan, and have come down to take them out of it; and now, come, I will send thee to Egypt.

35 This Moses, whom they refused, saying, Who made thee ruler and judge? him did God send [to be] a ruler and deliverer with the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

36 *He* led them out, having wrought wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

Footnotes

• [a]. It has the sense of 'taking to or for oneself,' not merely deliverance as by removing the scourge, but by taking the people.