Acts 7

¹Then the high priest asked [Stephen], “Are these [charges] true?”

²And [Stephen] declared: “Brothers and fathers, listen [to me]! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was [still] in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,

³and told him,‘ Leave your country and your kindred and go to the land I will show you.’

⁴[So] [Abraham] left [the] land of the Chaldeans [and] settled in Haran. After his father died, [God] brought him out of that place [and] into this land where you {are} now living.

⁵He gave him no inheritance [here], not even a foot of ground. [But] [God] promised to give possession of [the land] to [Abraham] and his descendants, [even though] he did not yet have a child.

⁶God told [him] that his descendants would be foreigners in a strange land, and [that] they would be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.

⁷‘ [But] I will punish the nation [that] enslaves them,’ God said,‘ and afterward they will come forth and worship Me in this place.’

⁸Then [God] gave [Abraham] [the] covenant of circumcision, and [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.

⁹[Because] the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him

¹⁰and rescued him from all his troubles. [He] granted [Joseph] favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, [who] appointed him ruler over Egypt and all his household.

¹¹Then famine and great suffering swept across Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers could not find food.

¹²[When] Jacob heard that [there] was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers [on their] first [visit].

¹³On [their] second [visit], Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, and [his] family became known to Pharaoh.

¹⁴Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all [his] relatives, seventy-five in all.

¹⁵[So] Jacob went down to Egypt, [where] he and our fathers died.

¹⁶[Their bones] were carried back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a price he paid in silver.

¹⁷As the time drew near for God [to fulfill] His promise to Abraham, [our] people in Egypt increased greatly in number.

¹⁸Then another king, who knew nothing of Joseph, arose over Egypt.

¹⁹He exploited our people [and] oppressed our fathers, forcing [them] to abandon their infants so they would die.

²⁰At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in the sight of God. [For] three months [he] was nurtured in [his] father’s house.

²¹[When] he was set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.

²²So Moses was educated in all [the] wisdom of [the] Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.

²³When [Moses] [was] forty years [old], he decided to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.

²⁴And when he saw one [of them] being mistreated, [Moses] went to his defense and avenged [him] by striking down the Egyptian who was oppressing [him].

²⁵He assumed his brothers would understand that God was using him to deliver them, but [they did not].

²⁶The next day he came upon [two Israelites who] were fighting, and he tried to reconcile them, saying,‘ Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’

²⁷But the [man who] was abusing [his] neighbor pushed [Moses] aside [and] said,‘ Who made you ruler and judge over us?

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

²⁹At this remark, Moses fled to [the] land of Midian, where he lived as a foreigner [and] had two sons.

³⁰[After] forty years had passed, an angel appeared to [Moses] in [the] flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.

³¹[When] Moses saw [it], he marveled at the sight. [As] he approached to look [more closely], [the] voice of [the] Lord came [to him]:

³²‘ I [am] the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear [and] did not dare to look.

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

³⁴I have indeed seen the oppression of My people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’

³⁵This Moses, whom they had rejected with the words,‘ Who made you ruler and judge?’ [is] the one whom God sent to be [their] ruler and redeemer through [the] angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶[He] led them out [and] performed wonders and signs in [the] land of Egypt, at [the] Red Sea, and [for] forty years in the wilderness.

³⁷This is the [same] Moses who told the Israelites,‘ God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’

³⁸[He] was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and [with] our fathers. [And] he received living words to pass on to us.

³⁹[But] our fathers refused to obey [him]. Instead, they rejected [him] and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.

⁴⁰They said to Aaron,‘ Make us gods who will go before us! As for this Moses who led us out of [the] land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’

⁴¹At that time they made a calf and offered a sacrifice to the idol, rejoicing in the works of their hands.

⁴²But God turned away [from them] and gave them over to the worship of the host of heaven, as it is written in [the] book of the prophets:‘ Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³You have taken along the tabernacle of Molech and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. [Therefore] I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴Our fathers [had] the tabernacle of the Testimony with [them] in the wilderness. [It was] constructed exactly as [God] had directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.

⁴⁵And our fathers who received it brought [it in] with Joshua [when] they dispossessed the nations God drove out before [them]. [It remained] until the time of David,

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

⁴⁷But [it was] Solomon [who] built [the] house for Him.

⁴⁸However, the Most High {does} not dwell in [houses] made by human hands. As the prophet says:

⁴⁹‘ Heaven [is] My throne and the earth [is] My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me, says [the] Lord, or where [will] My place of repose [be]?

⁵⁰{Has} not My hand made all these things?’

⁵¹[You] stiff-necked [people] [with] uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers [did].

⁵²Which of the prophets {did} your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are [His] betrayers and murderers —

⁵³[you] who received the law ordained by angels, yet have not kept [it].”

⁵⁴On hearing this, [the members of the Sanhedrin] were enraged, and they gnashed [their] teeth at him.

⁵⁵But [Stephen], full of [the] Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven [and] saw [the] glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

⁵⁶“Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right [hand] of God.”

⁵⁷At this they covered their ears, cried out in a loud voice, and rushed together at him.

⁵⁸They dragged [him] out of the city [and] began to stone [him]. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹[While] they were stoning [him], Stephen appealed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

⁶⁰Falling on [his] knees, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, {do} not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.