Acts 7
7
Stephen Speaks to the Sanhedrin
1Then the high priest questioned Stephen. “Is what these people are saying true?” he asked.
2“Brothers and fathers, listen to me!” Stephen replied. “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham. At that time Abraham was still in Mesopotamia. He had not yet begun living in Harran. 3‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said. ‘Go to the land I will show you.’ (Genesis 12:1)
4“So Abraham left the land of Babylonia. He settled in Harran. After his father died, God sent Abraham to this land where you are now living. 5God didn’t give him any property here. He didn’t even give him enough land to set his foot on. But God made a promise to him and to all his family after him. He said they would possess the land. The promise was made even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6Here is what God said to him. ‘For 400 years your family after you will be strangers in a country not their own. They will be slaves and will be treated badly. 7But I will punish the nation that makes them slaves,’ God said. ‘After that, they will leave that country and worship me here.’ (Genesis 15:13,14) 8Then God made a covenant with Abraham. God told him that circumcision would show who the members of the covenant were. Abraham became Isaac’s father. He circumcised Isaac eight days after he was born. Later, Isaac became Jacob’s father. Jacob had 12 sons. They became the founders of the 12 tribes of Israel.
9“Jacob’s sons were jealous of their brother Joseph. So they sold him as a slave. He was taken to Egypt. But God was with him. 10He saved Joseph from all his troubles. God made Joseph wise. He helped him to become the friend of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made Joseph ruler over Egypt and his whole palace.
11“There was not enough food for all Egypt and Canaan. This brought great suffering. Jacob and his sons couldn’t find food. 12But Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt. So he sent his sons on their first visit. 13On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was. Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family. The total number of people was 75. 15Then Jacob went down to Egypt. There he and his family died. 16Some of their bodies were brought back to Shechem. They were placed in a tomb Abraham had bought. He had purchased it from Hamor’s sons at Shechem. He had purchased it for a certain amount of money.
17“In Egypt the number of our people grew and grew. It was nearly time for God to make his promise to Abraham come true. 18Then ‘a new king came to power in Egypt. Joseph didn’t mean anything to him.’ (Exodus 1:8) 19The king was very evil and dishonest with our people. He treated them badly. He forced them to throw out their newborn babies to die.
20“At that time Moses was born. He was not an ordinary child. For three months he was taken care of by his family. 21Then he was placed outside. But Pharaoh’s daughter took him home. She brought him up as her own son. 22Moses was taught all the knowledge of the people of Egypt. He became a powerful speaker and a man of action.
23“When Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit the people of Israel. They were his own people. 24He saw one of them being treated badly by an Egyptian. So he went to help him. He got even by killing the man. 25Moses thought his own people would realize that God was using him to save them. But they didn’t. 26The next day Moses saw two Israelites fighting. He tried to make peace between them. ‘Men, you are both Israelites,’ he said. ‘Why do you want to hurt each other?’
27“But the man who was treating the other one badly pushed Moses to one side. He said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ (Exodus 2:14) 29When Moses heard this, he escaped to Midian. He lived there as an outsider. He became the father of two sons there.
30“Forty years passed. Then an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush. This happened in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31When Moses saw the bush, he was amazed. He went over for a closer look. There he heard the Lord say, 32‘I am the God of your fathers. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ (Exodus 3:6) Moses shook with fear. He didn’t dare to look.
33“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals. You must do this because the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34I have seen my people beaten down in Egypt. I have heard their groans. I have come down to set them free. Now come. I will send you back to Egypt.’ (Exodus 3:5,7,8,10)
35“This is the same Moses the two men of Israel would not accept. They had said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ But God himself sent Moses to rule the people of Israel and set them free. He spoke to Moses through an angel. The angel had appeared to him in the bush. 36So Moses led them out of Egypt. He did wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for 40 years in the desert.
37“This is the same Moses who spoke to the Israelites. ‘God will send you a prophet,’ he said. ‘He will be like me. He will come from your own people.’ (Deuteronomy 18:15) 38Moses was with the Israelites in the desert. He was with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai. Moses was with our people of long ago. He received living words to pass on to us.
39“But our people refused to obey Moses. They would not accept him. In their hearts, they wished they were back in Egypt. 40They told Aaron, ‘Make us a god who will lead us. This fellow Moses brought us up out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him!’ (Exodus 32:1) 41That was the time they made a statue to be their god. It was shaped like a calf. They brought sacrifices to it. They even enjoyed what they had made with their own hands. 42But God turned away from them. He let them go on worshiping the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets. There it says,
“ ‘People of Israel, did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
for 40 years in the desert?
43You have taken with you the shrine of your false god Molek.
You have taken with you the star of your false god Rephan.
You made statues of those gods to worship.
So I will send you away from your country.’ (Amos 5:25–27)
God sent them to Babylon and even farther.
44“Long ago our people were in the desert. They had with them the holy tent. The tent was where the tablets of the covenant law were kept. Moses had made the holy tent as God had commanded him. Moses made it like the pattern he had seen. 45Our people received the tent from God. Then they brought it with them when they took the land of Canaan. God drove out the nations that were in their way. At that time Joshua was Israel’s leader. The tent remained in the land until David’s time. 46David was blessed by God. So David asked if he could build a house for the God of Jacob. 47But it was Solomon who built the temple for God.
48“But the Most High God does not live in houses made by human hands. As God says through the prophet,
49“ ‘Heaven is my throne.
The earth is under my control.
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
Where will my resting place be?
50Didn’t my hand make all these things?’ (Isaiah 66:1,2)
51“You stubborn people! You won’t obey! You won’t listen! You are just like your people of long ago! You always oppose the Holy Spirit! 52Was there ever a prophet your people didn’t try to hurt? They even killed those who told about the coming of the Blameless One. And now you have handed him over to his enemies. You have murdered him. 53The law you received was given by angels. But you haven’t obeyed it.”
Stephen Is Killed
54When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they became very angry. They were so angry they ground their teeth at Stephen. 55But he was full of the Holy Spirit. He looked up to heaven and saw God’s glory. He saw Jesus standing at God’s right hand. 56“Look!” he said. “I see heaven open. The Son of Man is standing at God’s right hand.”
57When the Sanhedrin heard this, they covered their ears. They yelled at the top of their voices. They all rushed at him. 58They dragged him out of the city. They began to throw stones at him to kill him. The people who had brought false charges against Stephen took off their coats. They placed them at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59While the members of the Sanhedrin were throwing stones at Stephen, he prayed. “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” he said. 60Then he fell on his knees. He cried out, “Lord! Don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he died.
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Acts 7
7
1And the high priest said, “Is this so?” 2#Ps 29.3; Gen 11.31; 15.7. And Stephen said:
“Brethren and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3#Gen 12.1. and said to him, ‘Depart from your land and from your kindred and go into the land which I will show you.’ 4#Gen 11.31; 15.7; 12.5. Then he departed 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; 5#Deut 2.5; Gen 12.7; 17.8. yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him in possession and to his posterity after him, though he had no child. 6#Gen 15.13-14. And God spoke to this effect, that his posterity would be aliens in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and ill-treat them four hundred years. 7#Ex 3.12. ‘But I will judge the nation which they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ 8#Gen 17.10-14; 21.2-4; 25.26; 29.31-35; 30.1-24; 35.16-18; 35.23-26. And 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.
9 #
Gen 37.11,28; 45.4. #Gen 39.2-3,21. “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him, 10#Gen 41.40-46; Ps 105.21. and rescued him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him governor over Egypt and over all his household. 11#Gen 41.54-55; 42.5. Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12#Gen 42.2. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent forth our fathers the first time. 13#Gen 45.1-4. And at the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. 14#Gen 45.9-10. #Deut 10.22. And Joseph sent and called to him Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five souls; 15and Jacob went down into Egypt. And he died, himself and our fathers, 16#Josh 24.32; Gen 50.13. and 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.
17 #
Ex 1.7-8. “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt 18till there arose over Egypt another king who had not known Joseph. 19#Ex 1.10-11; 1.15-22. He dealt craftily with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, that they might not be kept alive. 20#Ex 2.2. At this time Moses was born, and was beautiful before God. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house; 21#Ex 2.5-6,10. and 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.
23 #
Ex 2.11-15. “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. 24And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking the Egyptian. 25He supposed that his brethren understood that God was giving them deliverance by his hand, but they did not understand. 26And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and would have reconciled them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren, 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?’ 29#Ex 2.22; 18.3-4. At this retort Moses fled, and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30 #
Ex 3.1-10. “Now 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 wondered at the sight; and as he drew near to look, the voice of the Lord came, 32‘I 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. 33And the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the shoes from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34I have surely seen the ill-treatment of my people that are in Egypt and heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’
35 #
Ex 2.14. “This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ God sent as both ruler and deliverer by the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush. 36#Ex 7.3; 14.21; Num 14.33. He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. 37#Deut 18.15,18. This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet from your brethren as he raised me up.’ 38#Ex 19. This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living oracles to give to us. 39#Num 14.3-4. Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40#Ex 32.1,23. saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods to 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.’ 41#Ex 32.4,6. And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and rejoiced in the works of their hands. 42#Jer 19.13. #Amos 5.25-27. But God turned and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
‘Did you offer to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43And you took up the tent of Moloch,
and the star of the god Rephan,
the figures which you made to worship;
and I will remove you beyond Babylon.’
44 #
Ex 25.9,40. “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45#Josh 3.14-17; Deut 32.49. Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations which God thrust out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46#2 Sam 7.8-16; Ps 132.1-5. who found favor in the sight of God and asked leave to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. 47#1 Kings 6. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands; as the prophet says,
49 #
Is 66.1-2. ‘Heaven is my throne,
and earth my footstool.
What 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?’
51 #
Ex 33.3,5; Jer 9.26; 6.10; Num 27.14; Is 63.10. “You 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 not your fathers 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 against 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 upon 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 prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America