Stephen Carlson wrote:you seem to be taking the following aorist ἀπέθεντο as a out-of-sequence or non-narrative, constantive aorist, which would have to happen before one starts stoning.
What led me to the question about οἱ μάρτυρες was taking a different tack from here. Let me explain...
There are three actions in the sequence
Acts 7:58 wrote:καὶ ἐκβαλόντες {τὸν Στέφανον} ἔξω τῆς πόλεως, ἐλιθοβόλουν {αὐτόν}· καὶ οἱ μάρτυρες ἀπέθεντο τὰ ἱμάτια παρὰ τοὺς πόδας νεανίου καλουμένου Σαύλου.
I also have trouble with the sequencing. It is grammar that led me to the question.
Putting aside for a moment the action that didn't take place at the place at the place of stoning (i.e. the ἐκβαλόντες), we are left with
ἐλιθοβόλουν καὶ οἱ μάρτυρες
ἀπέθεντο τὰ ἱμάτια. If we take ἐλιθοβόλουν καὶ in a syntactic position that is suitable for a participle it could have been λιθοβολοῦντες οἱ μάρτυρες ἀπέθεντο τὰ ἱμάτια, but using a particple instead of a full verb would that would cause us to assume an equivalence between the actors for λιθοβολεῖν and ἀποθεῖναι, i.e. that the answer to my head question in this thread was right - the οἱ μάρτυρες were the (sole) executioners.
The other way of taking this that I thought of was as an imperfect of the background action with an aorist of a detail within that overall action. That seems cumbersome too.
Look at verses 54, 57, where the participles seem to be referring to the crowd en masse. Specific mention hasn't been made of the witnesses since chapter 6:13, 14.
Shirley Rollinson wrote:According to Deuteronomy 17:6-7 the witnesses against someone convicted of death were to be the ones who "cast the first stone"
I take the imperfect ἐλιθοβόλουν (Acts 7:58 & 59) to mean that they "were stoning" Stephen - i.e. they threw more than one stone.
Another way is to forget the existence of verse 58, and take the first part as with 57 and tthe second part with 59.
καὶ οἱ μάρτυρες ἀπέθεντο τὰ ἱμάτια παρὰ τοὺς πόδας νεανίου καλουμένου Σαύλου. Καὶ ἐλιθοβόλουν τὸν Στέφανον , ἐπικαλούμενον καὶ λέγοντα , Κύριε Ἰησοῦ , δέξαι τὸ πνεῦμά μου
Then the aorist is in sequence, but in the light of Deuteronomy, the stoning id being portrayed as illegal (even) under Jewish law.