Acts 7:60 records the last words of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, as he was being stoned to death. In the verse, Stephen kneels and asks God not to hold his killers’ sin against them, then dies. The words were spoken by Stephen, a deacon in the early Jerusalem church, and were aimed at God, though they were heard by the crowd that was killing him.
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 7:60 (WEB)
What Acts 7:60 Means
The verse begins with Stephen kneeling, a posture of humility and prayer even in the middle of violence. He does not stand in defiance or call down judgment. He chooses the position of someone bringing a request to a higher authority, and that choice shapes everything he says next.
When he cries out with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them,” the request is specific. He asks that the sin of his executioners not be counted against them. The word translated “sin” refers to a wrong done that deserves a reckoning, and Stephen asks God to set that reckoning aside. This echoes the forgiveness Jesus asked for from the cross, which tells us Stephen was shaping his final moments around the example of his Lord.
The verse does not promise that every wrongdoer will be spared, nor does it describe what happens to the killers afterward. It records one dying man’s prayer and the peace that followed it. What it shows is the character of the one praying and the kind of heart that can ask for mercy on behalf of enemies.
The Context of Acts 7:60
Acts is traditionally attributed to Luke, the companion of Paul, and was written to a reader named Theophilus as a continuation of the story begun in his Gospel. It traces how the message of Jesus spread from Jerusalem outward into the wider world. Chapter 7 is Stephen’s long speech before the Jewish council, which ends with the council’s furious response and the stoning.
Just before verse 60, the witnesses lay their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul, who later becomes the apostle Paul. Verse 59 shows Stephen praying “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” so the verse you are reading is his second prayer, the one for his killers. Seeing it in that sequence makes it clear that the forgiveness was not a passing mood but the final thought of a man who had entrusted both his life and his enemies to God.
Key Phrases in Acts 7:60
Luke 23:34
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Dividing his garments among them, they cast lots.
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Jesus prays this same kind of prayer from the cross, asking the Father to forgive those who crucified him. Stephen’s words echo his Lord’s, showing that the early church understood forgiveness of enemies as part of following Christ.
Romans 12:19
Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”
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Paul reminds believers that vengeance belongs to God, which is the same trust Stephen shows when he hands over his enemies to God’s judgment and mercy rather than seeking revenge himself.
A Short Prayer From Acts 7:60
Lord, I bring you the people who have hurt me and the debts I have been keeping against them. You know every wrong and every ache it has left in my heart. Help me to kneel before you the way Stephen did, trusting you more than my own need to be vindicated. Loosen my grip on the record of their offenses, and let mercy flow through me the way it flowed through him. Give me the courage to speak the truth where it is needed and the grace to release what only you can judge. Amen.
