Acts7

¹And the high priest said , Are these things so ?

²And Stephen said : Brothers and fathers , hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia , before he lived in Haran ,

³and said to him , Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you .

⁴Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran . And after his father died , God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living .

⁵Yet he gave him no inheritance in it , not even a foot’s length , but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him , though he had no child .

⁶And God spoke to this effect— that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others , who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years .

⁷But I will judge the nation that they serve , said God , and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place .

⁸And he gave him the covenant of circumcision . And so Abraham became the father of Isaac , and circumcised him on the eighth day , and Isaac became the father of Jacob , and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs .

⁹And the patriarchs , jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt ; but God was with him

¹⁰and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh , king of Egypt , who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household .

¹¹Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan , and great affliction , and our fathers could find no food .

¹²But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt , he sent out our fathers on their first visit.

¹³And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers , and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh .

¹⁴And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred , seventy-five persons in all .

¹⁵And Jacob went down into Egypt , and he died , he and our fathers ,

¹⁶and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem .

¹⁷But as the time of the promise drew near , which God had granted to Abraham , the people increased and multiplied in Egypt

¹⁸until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph .

¹⁹He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants , so that they would not be kept alive .

²⁰At this time Moses was born ; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house ,

²¹and when he was exposed , Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son .

²²And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians , and he was mighty in his words and deeds .

²³When he was forty years old , it came into his heart to visit his brothers , the children of Israel .

²⁴And seeing one of them being wronged , he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian .

²⁵He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand , but they did not understand .

²⁶And 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 ?

²⁷But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside , saying , Who made you a ruler and a judge over us ?

²⁸Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday ?

²⁹At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian , where he became the father of two sons .

³⁰Now when forty years had passed , an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai , in a flame of fire in a bush .

³¹When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight , and as he drew near to look , there came the voice of the Lord :

³²I am the God of your fathers , the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob . And Moses trembled and did not dare to look .

³³Then the Lord said to him , Take off the sandals from your feet , for the place where you are standing is holy ground .

³⁴I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt , and have heard their groaning , and I have come down to deliver them . And now come , I will send you to Egypt .

³⁵This Moses , whom they rejected , saying , Who made you a ruler and a judge ? —this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush .

³⁶This man led them out , performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years .

³⁷This is the Moses who said to the Israelites , God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers .

³⁸This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai , and with our fathers . He received living oracles to give to us .

³⁹Our fathers refused to obey him , but thrust him aside , and in their hearts they turned to Egypt ,

⁴⁰saying to Aaron , Make for us gods who will go before us . As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt , we do not know what has become of him .

⁴¹And they made a calf in those days , and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands .

⁴²But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven , as it is written in the book of the prophets : Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices , during the forty years in the wilderness , O house of Israel ?

⁴³You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan , the images that you made to worship ; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon .

⁴⁴Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness , just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it , according to the pattern that he had seen .

⁴⁵Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers . So it was until the days of David ,

⁴⁶who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob .

⁴⁷But it was Solomon who built a house for him .

⁴⁸Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands , as the prophet says ,

⁴⁹Heaven is my throne , and the earth is my footstool . What kind of house will you build for me , says the Lord , or what is the place of my rest ?

⁵⁰Did not my hand make all these things ?

⁵¹You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears , you always resist the Holy Spirit . As your fathers did, so do you .

⁵²Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute ? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One , whom you have now betrayed and murdered ,

⁵³you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.

⁵⁴Now when they heard these things they were enraged , and they ground their teeth at him .

⁵⁵But he , full of the Holy Spirit , gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God , and Jesus standing at the right hand of God .

⁵⁶And he said , Behold , I see the heavens opened , and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God .

⁵⁷But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him .

⁵⁸Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul .

⁵⁹And as they were stoning Stephen , he called out , Lord Jesus , receive my spirit .

⁶⁰And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice , Lord , do not hold this sin against them . And when he had said this , he fell asleep .