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Selected Verse: Acts 7:41 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Ac 7:41	Strong Concordance	And [2532] they made a calf [3447] in [1722] those [1565] days [2250], and [2532] offered [321] sacrifice [2378] unto the idol [1497], and [2532] rejoiced [2165] in [1722] the works [2041] of their own [846] hands [5495].
	King James	And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

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Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
And they made a calf - This was made of the ear-rings and ornaments which they had brought from Egypt, Exo 32:2-4. Stephen introduces this to remind them how prone the nation had been to reject God, and to walk in the ways of sin.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

And they made a calf - This was made of the ear-rings and ornaments which they had brought from Egypt, Exo 32:2-4. Stephen introduces this to remind them how prone the nation had been to reject God, and to walk in the ways of sin.

Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886]
They made a calf (ἐμοσχοποίησαν) Only here in New Testament, and not in Septuagint. Bengel says, "A very notorious crime is denoted by an extraordinary and newly-coined word." This was in imitation of the Egyptian bull-worship. Several of these animals were worshipped at different places in Egypt. Apis was worshipped at Memphis. Herodotus says: "Now this Apis, or Epaphus, is the calf of a cow which is never afterward able to bear young. The Egyptians say that fire comes down from heaven upon the cow, which thereupon conceives Apis. The calf which is so called has the following marks: He is black, with a square spot of white upon his forehead, and on his back the figure of an eagle. The hairs in his tail are double, and there is a beetle upon his tongue" (iii., 28). He was regarded by the Egyptians, not merely as an emblem, but as a god. He was lodged in a magnificent court, ornamented with figures twelve cubits high, which he never quitted except on fixed days, when he was led in procession through the streets. His festival lasted seven days, and all came forward from their houses to welcome him as he passed. He was not allowed to reach the natural term of his life. If a natural death did not remove him earlier, he was drowned when he reached the age of twenty-five, and was then embalmed and entombed in one of the sepulchral chambers of the Serapeum, a temple devoted expressly to the burial of these animals. Another sacred bull was maintained at Heliopolis, in the great Temple of the Sun, under the name of Mnevis, and was honored with a reverence next to Apis. Wilkinson thinks that it was from this, and not from Apis, that the Israelites borrowed their notions of the golden calf. "The offerings, dancing, and rejoicings practised on the occasion, were doubtless in imitation of a ceremony they had witnessed in honor of Mnevis during their sojourn in Egypt" ("Ancient Egyptians," 2 sen, vol. ii., p. 197). A third sacred bull, called Bacis, was maintained at Hermonthis, near Thebes. It was a huge, black animal, and its hairs were said to grow the wrong way. Other bulls and cows did not hold the rank of gods, but were only sacred. Offered (ἀνήγαγον) Lit., led up. See on Jam 2:21.

Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886]

They made a calf (ἐμοσχοποίησαν)

Only here in New Testament, and not in Septuagint. Bengel says, "A very notorious crime is denoted by an extraordinary and newly-coined word." This was in imitation of the Egyptian bull-worship. Several of these animals were worshipped at different places in Egypt. Apis was worshipped at Memphis. Herodotus says: "Now this Apis, or Epaphus, is the calf of a cow which is never afterward able to bear young. The Egyptians say that fire comes down from heaven upon the cow, which thereupon conceives Apis. The calf which is so called has the following marks: He is black, with a square spot of white upon his forehead, and on his back the figure of an eagle. The hairs in his tail are double, and there is a beetle upon his tongue" (iii., 28). He was regarded by the Egyptians, not merely as an emblem, but as a god. He was lodged in a magnificent court, ornamented with figures twelve cubits high, which he never quitted except on fixed days, when he was led in procession through the streets. His festival lasted seven days, and all came forward from their houses to welcome him as he passed. He was not allowed to reach the natural term of his life. If a natural death did not remove him earlier, he was drowned when he reached the age of twenty-five, and was then embalmed and entombed in one of the sepulchral chambers of the Serapeum, a temple devoted expressly to the burial of these animals.

Another sacred bull was maintained at Heliopolis, in the great Temple of the Sun, under the name of Mnevis, and was honored with a reverence next to Apis. Wilkinson thinks that it was from this, and not from Apis, that the Israelites borrowed their notions of the golden calf. "The offerings, dancing, and rejoicings practised on the occasion, were doubtless in imitation of a ceremony they had witnessed in honor of Mnevis during their sojourn in Egypt" ("Ancient Egyptians," 2 sen, vol. ii., p. 197). A third sacred bull, called Bacis, was maintained at Hermonthis, near Thebes. It was a huge, black animal, and its hairs were said to grow the wrong way. Other bulls and cows did not hold the rank of gods, but were only sacred.

Offered (ἀνήγαγον)

Lit., led up. See on Jam 2:21.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
And they made a calf - In imitation of Apis, the Egyptian god: and rejoiced in the works of their hands - In the god they had made.

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² And Aaron [0175] said [0559] unto them, Break off [06561] the golden [02091] earrings [05141], which are in the ears [0241] of your wives [0802], of your sons [01121], and of your daughters [01323], and bring [0935] them unto me.
³ And all the people [05971] brake off [06561] the golden [02091] earrings [05141] which were in their ears [0241], and brought [0935] them unto Aaron [0175].
⁴ And he received [03947] them at their hand [03027], and fashioned [06696] it with a graving tool [02747], after he had made [06213] it a molten [04541] calf [05695]: and they said [0559], These be thy gods [0430], O Israel [03478], which brought [05927] thee up out of the land [0776] of Egypt [04714].

²¹ Was [1344] not [3756] Abraham [11] our [2257] father [3962] justified [1344] by [1537] works [2041], when he had offered [399] Isaac [2464] his [846] son [5207] upon [1909] the altar [2379]?