Texts in Conversation
Acts 3 combines language from Deuteronomy 18 and Leviticus 18 and 23 into one quotation. Deuteronomy warns about rejecting a prophet, and Leviticus speaks of being cut off. Acts merges both ideas into a single speech attributed to Moses.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Leviticus 23:29
Septuagint
28 You shall do no work on this self-same day: for this is a day of atonement for you, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. 29 Every soul that shall not be humbled in that day, shall be cut off from among its people. 30 And every soul which shall do work on that day, that soul shall be destroyed from among its people.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Deuteronomy 18:19
Septuagint
18 I will raise up to them a prophet of their brothers, like you; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them as I shall command him. 19 And whatever man shall not listen to whatever words that prophet shall speak in my name, I will take vengeance on him. 20 But the prophet whoever shall impiously speak in my name a word which I have not commanded him to speak, and whoever shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Acts 3:23
New Testament
22 Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must obey him in everything he tells you. 23 Every person who does not obey that prophet will be destroyed and thus removed from the people.’ 24 And all the prophets, from Samuel and those who followed him, have spoken about and announced these days.
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Luke’s quotation in Acts 3:23 is a composite quotation that is made up of explicit references and compiled from phrases that are similar to those found in Deuteronomy 18:19, Exodus 30:33, Leviticus 18:29 and Leviticus 23:29. In fact, upon closer examination, the composition of Acts 3:23 seems to be made up from a reference to Deuteronomy 18:19, as well as another reference to Exodus 30:33 / Leviticus 23:29. Yet another reference that closely resembles the latter is also to be found in Leviticus 18:29. These two references are actually presented by Luke as the end of a longer quotation in which “Moses said” (Acts 3:22) ..."
Gert J. Steyn, “The Text Form of the Leviticus Quotations in the Synoptic Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles,” in The Text of Leviticus: Proceedings of the Third International Colloquium of the Dominique Barthélemy Institute, ed. Innocent Himbaza (Leuven: Peeters, 2020), 205–242.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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