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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Gevurot Meyruach Hakodesh 7
7
1And the Kohen Gadol said, Are these things so?
2And Stefanos said, Achim and Avot, hear me! Elohei Hakavod appeared to Avraham Avinu while he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Charan.#7:2 Ps 29:3; Gn 11:31; 15:7
3And Hashem said to Avram, Depart from your country and from your people and come to the land which I shall show you.#7:3 Gn 12:1; 48:4
4Then having departed from the land of the Chaldeans, he settled in Charan. And from there, after the mavet of his Av, he was settled by Hashem here in this land in which we now are living.#7:4 Gn 12:5
5And Hashem did not give to him a nachalah (inheritance) in it nor AD MIDRACH KAF REGEL (even enough to put your foot on);#7:5 Dt 2:5 and yet, even when he had no ben, the havtachah (promise) of Hashem to him was ES HAARETZ HAZOT E'TEN (This land I will give) to him and to his zera (seed) after him.#7:5 Dt 2:5; Gn 12:7; 13:15; 17:8; 26:3; 48:4
6And Hashem spoke thus, that GER YIHIYEH ZAR'ACHA (your seed will be strangers [aliens]) in anotherʼs#7:6 i.e., foreign land and them they will enslave and they will mistreat them ARBA ME'OT SHANAH (four hundred years).#7:6 Gn 15:13f; Ex 1:8-11; 12:40
7V'GAM ES HAGOY ASHER YA'AVODU DAN ANOCHI (And whatever nation to which they shall be in bondage I myself will judge, said Hashem,) VACHAREI KHEN YETZU (And after that they will come out) and serve me in this place.#7:7 Gn 15:13,14; Ex 3:12
8And he gave to him bris milah. And thus Avraham Avinu became the father of Yitzchak and he did his bris milah on the Yom HaShemini and Yitzchak became the father of Ya'akov and Ya'akov of the Sheneym Asar HaAvot.#7:8 Gn 17:9-14; 21:2-4; 25:26; 29:31-35; 30:5-13,17-24; 35:16-26
9And the Avot had kinah toward Yosef and sold him into Mitzrayim (Egypt), and Hashem was with him.#7:9 Gn 37:4; 11:28; 37:28; Ps 105:17; Gn 39:1,2,21,23; 45:4; Hag 2:4
10And Hashem delivered Yosef from all his tzoros and gave to him Chen v'Chesed Hashem and chochmah before Pharaoh king of Mitzrayim (Egypt) and he appointed him his grand vizier to rule over Mitzrayim and over his whole bais.#7:10 Gn 41:37-45; Ps 105:20-22
11Now a famine came over all Mitzrayim (Egypt) and Kena'an and tzarah gedolah (great tribulation) and Avoteinu were not finding okhel.#7:11 Gn 41:54; 42:2,5
12And when Ya'akov Avinu heard that there was grain in Mitzrayim (Egypt), he sent Avoteinu there pa'am harishonah (the first time).#7:12 Gn 42:1,2
13And on the second visit Yosef was recognized by his Achim, and Yosefʼs mishpochah became known to Pharaoh.#7:13 Gn 45:1-4,16
14And having sent, Yosef summoned Ya'akov his Abba and all his mishpochah, SHIVIM#7:14 Gn 46:27 (Seventy) nefashot (souls).#7:14 Gn 45:9,10; 46:26,27; Ex 1:5; Dt 10:22
15And Ya'akov Avinu went down to Mitzrayim (Egypt) and he died, as did Avoteinu.#7:15 Gn 46:5-7; 49:33; Ex 1:6
16And they were brought back to Shechem and were placed in the kever (tomb) which Avraham bought for a sum of silver from the banim of Chamor in Shechem.#7:16 Gn 23:16-20; 33:18,19; 50:13; Josh 24:32
17Now as the time of the havtachah (promise) was drawing near, which Hashem promised to Avraham Avinu, the people grew and were multiplied in Mitzrayim,#7:17 Ex 1:7; Ps 105:24
18Until over Mitzrayim there appeared a MELECH CHADASH ASHER LO YADA ES YOSEF (a new king who knew not Yosef).#7:18 Ex 1:7,8
19This king exploited by his shrewdness our nation and mistreated Avoteinu so as to make their ollelim (infants) exposed in order not to keep them alive.#7:19 Ex 1:10-22
20And at this time Moshe Rabbenu was born and he was well pleasing to Hashem; and he was nurtured for shloshah chodashim in the bais of his abba.#7:20 Ex 2:2
21And after he had been exposed, the bat Pharaoh took Moshe Rabbeinu away, and brought him up as her own son.#7:21 Ex 2:3-10
22And Moshe Rabbenu was instructed in all the chochmah of the Egyptians and in devarim (words) and pe'ulot (deeds) he was given ko'ach.#7:22 Isa 19:11
23But when arba'im shanah of his days were completed, it entered into his lev (heart) to visit his Achim of the Bnei Yisroel.#7:23 Ex 2:11
24And having seen one of them being treated unjustly he retaliated and brought yashrus (justice) for the one being oppressed by striking down the Egyptian.#7:24 Ex 2:12
25Now he was assuming that his achim had binah that Hashem by the hand of Moshe was giving Yeshu'at Eloheinu to them, but they did not have binah (understanding).
26And on the next day he came to them as they were fighting and Moshe was trying to reconcile them in shalom, saying, Anashim, you are achim, why are you injuring one another?#7:26 Ex 2:13
27But the one injuring his re'a pushed Moshe aside, saying MI SAMECHA L'ISH SAR V'SHOFET ALENU? (Who made you ruler and judge over us)?#7:27 Ex 2:14
28HALEHARGENI ATAH OMER KA'ASHER HARAGTA yesterday ES HAMITZRI (You do not mean to kill me in the same manner as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?)
29And Moshe Rabbenu fled at this dvar and became a stranger in eretz Midyan, where he became the father of shnei banim.#7:29 Ex 2:11-15
30And at the fulfillment of arba'im shanah a MALACH appeared to him BELABAT EISH MITOCH HASENEH (in flame of fire from within a burning thorn bush) in the desert of the mountain Sinai.#7:30 Ex 3:1-2
31And Moshe Rabbenu having seen this, was nispoyel (standing in awe) at the chazon and, as he was approaching it to look more closely, there came the kol (voice) of Hashem,#7:31 Ex 3:1-4
32I am the G-d of your Avot, I am the G-d of Avraham and the G-d of Yitzchak and the G-d of Ya'akov. But Moshe Rabbenu was trembling with pachad and was not daring to look.#7:32 Ex 3:6
33And Hashem said to him, SAL NE'ALECHA ME'AL RAGLECHA (Take off your sandals from your feet) for the place on which you have stood is admat kodesh (holy ground).#7:33 Ex 3:5; Josh 5:15
34I have seen the ONI AMMI ASHER B'MITZRAYIM (misery of my people in Mitzrayim [Egypt]) and the groaning of them I heard and I came down to deliver them. And now come that I may send you to Mitzrayim (Egypt).#7:34 Ex 3:5,7-10; 2:24
35This Moshe whom they denied, having said MI SAMECHA L'ISH SAR V'SHOFET? (Who made you a ruler and a judge?) is the one whom G-d sent to be both SAR (ruler) and GO'EL (redeemer) with the help of the malach having appeared to him in the thorn bush.#7:35 Ex 2:14
36This one led them out, effecting moftim and otot in eretz Mitzrayim (Egypt) and in the Yam Suf and in the midbar arba'im shanah.#7:36 Ex 7:3; 12:41; 33:1; 11:10; 14:21; 15:25; 17:5,6; Num 14:33
37This is the Moshe who said to the Bnei Yisroel, NAVI MIKIRBECHA ME'ACHECHA KAMONI YAKIM (A prophet from among you from your brothers like me [Hashem] will raise up.)#7:37 Dt 18:15,18
38This is the one having been in the kahal (assembly) in the midbar together with the malach speaking to him at the mountain of Sinai, who was with Avoteinu; he is the one who received torat chayyim to give to us.#7:38 Ex 19:17; Lv 27:34; Dt 32:45-47
39And Avoteinu were not willing to have mishma'at (obedience) to Moshe Rabbenu, but they pushed him aside and they turned their levavot back to Mitzrayim (Egypt),#7:39 Num 14:3,4
40Having said to Aharon, Make for us g-ds who will go before us; for this Moshe who led us out of the land of Mitzrayim we do not know what happened to him.#7:40 Ex 32:1,23
41And at that time they made an egel (calf) and brought a sacrifice offering to the elil (idol) and were taking delight in the ma'asim (works) of their hands.#7:41 Ex 32:4-6; Ps 106:19,20
42But Hashem turned away and handed them over to serve the tzeva Shomayim, just as it has been written in the sefer haNevi'im, HAZEVACHIM UMINCHAH HIGASHTEM LI BAMIDBAR ARBA'IM SHANAH, BET YISROEL (It was not to me that you offered victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, O House of Israel?)#7:42 Am 5:25-27; Josh 24:20; Isa 63:10; Jer 19:13
43You also took up the ohel of Moloch and the KOKHAV of your g-d Reifan, the tzelamim (idols) which you made to worship them; therefore N'HIGLEITI ETKHEM MEHALAH (I will exile you beyond) Babylon.#7:43 Jer 7:18; TARGUM HASHIVIM 19:13; Am 5:27
44Avoteinu had the Mishkan HaEdut in the midbar just as the One who spoke to Moshe [Rabbeinu] directed him to make it according to the TAVNIT (pattern) which he had seen.#7:44 Ex 27:21; 38:21; Num 1:50; 17:7; Ex 25:8,9,40; Josh 3:14; 18:1
45And having received it in their turn, Avoteinu brought it in with Yehoshua (Joshua) upon the dispossessing of the land of the Goyim, which Hashem drove out from the presence of Avoteinu until the yamim of Dovid.#7:45 Josh 3:14-17; 18:1; 23:9; 24:18; Ps 44:2; 2Sm 7:2,6; Gn 17:8; 48:4; Dt 32:49
46And Dovid found Chen v'Chesed Hashem before G-d, and asked that he might find a mishkan for Elohei Ya'akov.#7:46 2Sm 7:2,8-16; 1Kgs 8:17; Ps 132:1-5
47And Sh'lomo (Solomon) built for him a Beis.#7:47 1Kgs 6:1-38
48But HaElyon does not dwell in battim made by human hands, just as the Navi (prophet) says,#7:48 1Kgs 8:27; 2Kgs 2:6
49HASHOMAYIM KISSI V'HAARETZ HADOM RAGLAI (Heaven is my throne and earth is the footstool for my feet). EI-ZEH BAYIT ASHER TIVNU LI (What kind of House will you build for me?) says Hashem, V'EI ZEH MAKOM MENUCHATI (Or where will my resting place be?)
50Did not my hand ASATAH (make) all these things?#7:50 Isa 66:1,2
51You AM KESHEH OREF (stiff-necked people),#7:51 Ex 33:5 you who are without the “bris milah” of the lev (heart) and of the oznayim (ears), you always resist the Ruach Hakodesh; you are doing like your Avot.#7:51 Ex 32:9; 33:3,5; Lv 26:41; Dt 10:16; Jer 4:4; 9:25; Isa 63:10
52Which of the Nevi'im (prophets) did your Avot not persecute? And they killed the ones having announced beforehand about the Bias HaMoshiach, the coming of the Tzaddik of whom now you became bogedim and rotzechim (murderers);
53You who received the Torah at the directions of malachim and were not shomer of it.
54And hearing these things, they were infuriated in their levavot, and they were grinding their teeth at him.
55But being full of the Ruach Hakodesh and having gazed into Shomayim, Stefanos saw the kavod (glory) of Hashem and Yehoshua standing limin Hashem.
56And Stefanos said, Hinei, I see Shomayim having been opened and the Bar Enosh#7:56 Dan 7:13-14 (Moshiach) standing limin Hashem.
57And having cried out with a kol gadol, they shut their oznayim and they rushed down with one impulse upon Stefanos.
58And having driven Stefanos outside the Ir (City), they were stoning him. And the edim took off their garments at the feet of a bochur named Sha'ul.#7:58 Lv 24:14,16; Dt 17:7
59And they went on stoning Stefanos as he called upon Hashem, saying, Adoneinu, receive my neshamah.#7:59 Ps 31:5
60And having fallen down, he cried out in a kol gadol, Adoneinu, may this aveirah not be held against them! And having said this, Stefanos fell asleep. And Rav Sha'ul was giving approval to the murder of Stefanos.
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