Acts 7
7
Stephen’s Speech
1The high priest said to Stephen, “Are these things true?”
2Stephen answered, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to Abraham, our ancestor, in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran. 3God said to Abraham, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and go to the land I will show you.’ 4So Abraham left the country of Chaldea and went to live in Haran. After Abraham’s father died, God sent him to this place where you now live. 5God did not give Abraham any of this land, not even a foot of it. But God promised that he would give this land to him and his descendants, even before Abraham had a child. 6This is what God said to him: ‘Your descendants will be strangers in a land they don’t own. The people there will make them slaves and will mistreat them for four hundred years. 7But I will punish the nation where they are slaves. Then your descendants will leave that land and will worship me in this place.’ 8God made an agreement with Abraham, the sign of which was circumcision. And so when Abraham had his son Isaac, Abraham circumcised him when he was eight days old. Isaac also circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob did the same for his sons, the twelve ancestors of our people.
9“Jacob’s sons became jealous of Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him 10and saved him from all his troubles. The king of Egypt liked Joseph and respected him because of the wisdom God gave him. The king made him governor of Egypt and put him in charge of all the people in his palace.
11“Then all the land of Egypt and Canaan became so dry that nothing would grow, and the people suffered very much. Jacob’s sons, our ancestors, could not find anything to eat. 12But when Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent his sons there. This was their first trip to Egypt. 13When they went there a second time, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and the king learned about Joseph’s family. 14Then Joseph sent messengers to invite Jacob, his father, to come to Egypt along with all his relatives (seventy-five persons altogether). 15So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and his sons died. 16Later their bodies were moved to Shechem and put in a grave there. (It was the same grave Abraham had bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.)
17“The promise God made to Abraham was soon to come true, and the number of people in Egypt grew large. 18Then a new king, who did not know who Joseph was, began to rule Egypt. 19This king tricked our people and was cruel to our ancestors, forcing them to leave their babies outside to die. 20At this time Moses was born, and he was very beautiful. For three months Moses was cared for in his father’s house. 21When they put Moses outside, the king’s daughter adopted him and raised him as if he were her own son. 22The Egyptians taught Moses everything they knew, and he was a powerful man in what he said and did.
23“When Moses was about forty years old, he thought it would be good to visit his own people, the people of Israel. 24Moses saw an Egyptian mistreating one of his people, so he defended the Israelite and punished the Egyptian by killing him. 25Moses thought his own people would understand that God was using him to save them, but they did not. 26The next day when Moses saw two men of Israel fighting, he tried to make peace between them. He said, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you hurting each other?’ 27The man who was hurting the other pushed Moses away and said, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge? 28Are you going to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29When Moses heard him say this, he left Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian where he was a stranger. While Moses lived in Midian, he had two sons.
30“Forty years later an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush as he was in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31When Moses saw this, he was amazed and went near to look closer. Moses heard the Lord’s voice say, 32‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses began to shake with fear and was afraid to look. 33The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground. 34I have seen the troubles my people have suffered in Egypt. I have heard their cries and have come down to save them. And now, Moses, I am sending you back to Egypt.’
35“This Moses was the same man the two men of Israel rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ Moses is the same man God sent to be a ruler and savior, with the help of the angel that Moses saw in the burning bush. 36So Moses led the people out of Egypt. He worked miracles and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and then in the desert for forty years. 37This is the same Moses that said to the people of Israel, ‘God will give you a prophet like me, who is one of your own people.’ 38This is the Moses who was with the gathering of the Israelites in the desert. He was with the angel that spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and he was with our ancestors. He received commands from God that give life, and he gave those commands to us.
39“But our ancestors did not want to obey Moses. They rejected him and wanted to go back to Egypt. 40They said to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 41So the people made an idol that looked like a calf. Then they brought sacrifices to it and were proud of what they had made with their own hands. 42But God turned against them and did not try to stop them from worshiping the sun, moon, and stars. This is what is written in the book of the prophets: God says,
‘People of Israel, you did not bring me sacrifices and offerings
while you traveled in the desert for forty years.
43You have carried with you
the tent to worship Molech
and the idols of the star god Rephan that you made to worship.
So I will send you away beyond Babylon.’#Amos 5:25–27
44“The Holy Tent where God spoke to our ancestors was with them in the desert. God told Moses how to make this Tent, and he made it like the plan God showed him. 45Later, Joshua led our ancestors to capture the lands of the other nations. Our people went in, and God forced the other people out. When our people went into this new land, they took with them this same Tent they had received from their ancestors. They kept it until the time of David, 46who pleased God and asked God to let him build a house for him, the God of Jacob. 47But Solomon was the one who built the Temple.
48“But the Most High does not live in houses that people build with their hands. As the prophet says:
49‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
So do you think you can build a house for me? says the Lord.
Do I need a place to rest?
50Remember, my hand made all these things!’ ” #Isaiah 66:1–2
51Stephen continued speaking: “You stubborn people! You have not given your hearts to God, nor will you listen to him! You are always against what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell you, just as your ancestors were. 52Your ancestors tried to hurt every prophet who ever lived. Those prophets said long ago that the One who is good would come, but your ancestors killed them. And now you have turned against and killed the One who is good. 53You received the law of Moses, which God gave you through his angels, but you haven’t obeyed it.”
Stephen Is Killed
54When the leaders heard this, they became furious. They were so mad they were grinding their teeth at Stephen. 55But Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. He looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at God’s right side. 56He said, “Look! I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at God’s right side.”
57Then they shouted loudly and covered their ears and all ran at Stephen. 58They took him out of the city and began to throw stones at him to kill him. And those who told lies against Stephen left their coats with a young man named Saul. 59While they were throwing stones, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60He fell on his knees and cried in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” After Stephen said this, he died.
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Acts 7: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Acts 7
7
Acts 7
1¶ Then the prince of the priests said, Are these things so?
2And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken. The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,
3and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and come into the land which I shall show thee.
4Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans and dwelt in Haran; and from there, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, in which ye now dwell.
5And he gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on; yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
6And God spoke thus, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into slavery and mistreat them four hundred years.
7And the Gentiles unto whom they shall be in slavery I will judge, said God; and after that they shall come forth and serve me in this place.
8And he gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begat Isaac and circumcised him the eighth day, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.
9And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him
10and delivered him out of all his afflictions and gave him grace and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
11Now there came a famine over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great tribulation, and our fathers found no sustenance.
12But when Jacob heard that there was wheat in Egypt, he sent our fathers the first time.
13And in the second Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s lineage was made known unto Pharaoh.
14Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob unto him and all his kindred, seventy-five souls.
15So Jacob went down into Egypt and died, he and our fathers,
16who were carried over into Shechem and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor of Shechem.
17¶ But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
18until another king arose, who did not know Joseph.
19The same dealt subtly with our kindred and mistreated our fathers so that they exposed their babies to death, to the end that the generation would cease.
20In which time Moses was born and was beautiful to God and was nourished in his father’s house three months;
21and when he was put in danger, Pharaoh’s daughter took him in and nourished him as her own son.
22And Moses was taught in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in his words and deeds.
23And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the sons of Israel.
24And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and smote the Egyptian, avenging the oppressed;
25for he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God was to give them saving health by his hand, but they had not understood.
26And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove and urged them to peace, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?
27But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?
28Wilt thou kill me as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday?
29Then Moses fled at this word and became a sojourner in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
30¶ And when forty years were expired, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.
31When Moses saw it, he wondered at the vision; and as he drew near to consider it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,
32 saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled and dared not to behold.
33Then the Lord said to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet; for the place where thou dost stand is holy ground.
34I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
35This Moses, whom they had refused, saying, Who made thee a prince and a judge? the same did God send as prince and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36He brought them out, showing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.
37This is that Moses, who said unto the sons of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me; him shall ye hear.
38This is he, who was in the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him in the Mount Sinai and with our fathers, who received the oracles of life to give unto us;
39to whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
40saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us; for as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.
41And then they made a calf and offered sacrifice unto the idol and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
42¶ Then God withdrew and gave them up to worship the host of the heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
43On the contrary, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them; and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
44Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen,
45which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus {Joshua in Heb.} into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers unto the days of David,
46who found grace before God and asked to provide a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
47But Solomon built him a house.
48Howbeit the most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as saith the prophet,
49Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool; what house will ye build me? saith the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?
50Has not my hand made all these things?
51¶ Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do ye.
52Who of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted? and they have slain those who announced before the coming of the Just One, of whom ye have now been the betrayers and murderers,
53who have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it.
54¶ When they heard these things, they were divided in their hearts and gnashed on him with their teeth.
55But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God
56and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
57And crying out with a loud voice, they stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord;
58and casting him out of the city, they stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.
59And they stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
60And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, impute not this sin to their charge. And having said this, he fell asleep in the Lord.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International