Acts 7:26

26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’

Acts 7:26 in Other Translations

26 And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?

26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, 'Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?'

26 “The next day he visited them again and saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker. ‘Men,’ he said, ‘you are brothers. Why are you fighting each other?’

26 The next day two of them were fighting and he tried to break it up, told them to shake hands and get along with each other: 'Friends, you are brothers, why are you beating up on each other?'

26 And the day following he appeared unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?

26 The next day Moses saw two Israelites fighting, and he tried to make peace between them. He said to them, 'Men, you are brothers. Why are you treating each other unfairly?'

26 The next day he showed up while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them peacefully, saying, 'Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?'

26 "The next day Moses saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to make peace between them. 'Men, you are both of Israel,' he said. 'Why do you want to hurt each other?'

Acts 7:26 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 7:26

And the next day he showed himself to them, as they strove,
&c.] To two men of the Hebrews, who were quarrelling and contending with one another: these are said by the Jews ^F23 to be Dathan and Abiram; who were disputing and litigating the point, and were very warm, and at high words. The occasion of their contention is ^F24 said to be this,

``the Hebrew man (that had been abused) went to his house to divorce his wife, who was defiled, but she fled and told the affair to Abiram her brother: and on the morrow, Moses returned a second time to the Hebrew camp, and found Dathan and Abiram contending about the divorce.''

Though some think this is prophetically said, because they afterwards contended and divided in the business of Korah ^F25 Moses came up to them, and let them know who he was; and this was the day after he had killed the Egyptian. So Stephen explains the "second day" in ( Exodus 2:13 ) and to this agrees what a Jewish writer ^F26 says, that in the morning, Moses returned a second time to the camp of the Hebrews:

and would have set them at one again;
persuaded them to peace and concord, composed their difference, reconciled them, and made them good friends:

saying, sirs, ye are brethren;
as Abraham said to Lot, when there was a strife between their herdsmen, ( Genesis 13:8 ) and if these two were Dathan and Abiram, they were brethren in the strictest sense, ( Numbers 16:1 )

why do ye wrong one to another?
by abusing each other, calling ill names, or striking one another; or by lifting up the hand to strike, as Jonathan the Targumist says Dathan did against Abiram.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 Shalshalet, ib.
F24 Targum Jon. Jarchi, & Baal Hattuim in Exod. ii. 13. Shemot Rabba, Shalshalet & Pirke Eliezer, ut supra.
F25 Shemot Rabba, ib. & Yade Mose & Mattanot Cehunah in ib.
F26 Shelsheleth, ib.

Acts 7:26 In-Context

24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian.

25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.

26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’

27 “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?

28 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’