Acts 7
7
Stephen’s Address: The Call of Abraham
1Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
2And he said, #Acts 22:1“Brethren and fathers, listen: The #Ps. 29:3; 1 Cor. 2:8God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in #Gen. 11:31, 32Haran, 3and said to him, #Gen. 12:1‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ 4Then #Gen. 11:31; 15:7; Heb. 11:8–10he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was #Gen. 11:32dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell. 5And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, #Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 15:3, 18; 17:8; 26:3He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him. 6But God spoke in this way: #Gen. 15:13, 14, 16; 47:11, 12that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into #Ex. 1:8–14; 12:40, 41; Gal. 3:17bondage and oppress them four hundred years. 7#Gen. 15:14‘And the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will #Ex. 14:13–31judge,’ said God, #Ex. 3:12; Josh. 3:1–17‘and after that they shall come out and serve Me in this place.’ 8#Gen. 17:9–14Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; #Gen. 21:1–5and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; #Gen. 25:21–26and Isaac begot Jacob, and #Gen. 29:31—30:24; 35:18, 22–26Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.
The Patriarchs in Egypt
9#Gen. 37:4, 11, 28; Ps. 105:17“And the patriarchs, becoming envious, #Gen. 37:28sold Joseph into Egypt. #Gen. 39:2, 21, 23But God was with him 10and delivered him out of all his troubles, #Gen. 41:38–44and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11#Gen. 41:54; 42:5Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. 12#Gen. 42:1, 2But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13And the #Gen. 45:4, 16second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh. 14#Gen. 45:9, 27Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and #Gen. 46:26, 27; Deut. 10:22all his relatives to him, seventy-five people. 15#Gen. 46:1–7So Jacob went down to Egypt; #Gen. 49:33; Ex. 1:6and he died, he and our fathers. 16And #Gen. 50:13; Ex. 13:19; Josh. 24:32they were carried back to Shechem and laid in #Gen. 23:16the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.
God Delivers Israel by Moses
17“But when #Gen. 15:13; Ex. 2:23–25; Acts 7:6, 7the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, #Ex. 1:7–9; Ps. 105:24, 25the people grew and multiplied in Egypt 18till another king #Ex. 1:8arose who did not know Joseph. 19This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, #Ex. 1:22making them expose their babies, so that they might not live. 20#Ex. 2:1, 2At this time Moses was born, and #Heb. 11:23was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months. 21But #Ex. 2:3, 4when he was set out, #Ex. 2:5–10Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son. 22And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was #Luke 24:19mighty in words and deeds.
23#Ex. 2:11, 12; Heb. 11:24–26“Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 24And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. 25For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ 27But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, #Ex. 2:14; Luke 12:14; Acts 7:35‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29#Heb. 11:27Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he #Ex. 2:15, 21, 22; 4:20; 18:3had two sons.
30#Ex. 3:1–10; Is. 63:9“And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. 31When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him, 32saying, #Ex. 3:6, 15; (Matt. 22:32); Heb. 11:16‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look. 33#Ex. 3:5, 7, 8, 10‘Then the Lord said to him, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 34I have surely #Ex. 2:24, 25seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will #Ps. 105:26send you to Egypt.” ’
35“This Moses whom they rejected, saying, #Ex. 2:14; Acts 7:27‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer #Ex. 14:21by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36#Ex. 12:41; 33:1; Deut. 6:21, 23; Heb. 8:9He brought them out, after he had #Ex. 7:8, 9; Deut. 6:22; Ps. 105:27; John 4:48shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, #Ex. 14:21and in the Red Sea, #Ex. 16:1, 35; Num. 14:33; Ps. 95:8–10; Acts 7:42; 13:18; Heb. 3:8and in the wilderness forty years.
Israel Rebels Against God
37“This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, #Deut. 18:15, 18, 19; Acts 3:22‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. #Matt. 17:5Him you shall hear.’
38#Ex. 19:3“This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with #Is. 63:9; Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, #Ex. 21:1; Deut. 5:27; John 1:17the one who received the living #Rom. 3:2; Heb. 5:12; 1 Pet. 4:11oracles to give to us, 39whom our fathers #Ps. 95:8–11would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, 40#Ex. 32:1, 23saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41#Ex. 32:2–4; Deut. 9:16; Ps. 106:19And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and #Ex. 32:6, 18, 19rejoiced in the works of their own hands. 42Then #Ps. 81:12; (2 Thess. 2:11)God turned and gave them up to worship #Deut. 4:19; 2 Kin. 21:3the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets:
#Amos 5:25–27‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness,
O house of Israel?
43You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch,
And the star of your god Remphan,
Images which you made to worship;
And #2 Chr. 36:11–21; Jer. 25:9–12I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’
God’s True Tabernacle
44“Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses #Ex. 25:40; (Heb. 8:5)to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, 45#Deut. 32:49; Josh. 3:14; 18:1; 23:9which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, #Neh. 9:24; Ps. 44:2whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the #2 Sam. 6:2–15days of David, 46#2 Sam. 7:1–13; 1 Kin. 8:17who found favor before God and #1 Chr. 22:7; Ps. 132:4, 5asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. 47#1 Kin. 6:1–38; 8:20, 21; 2 Chr. 3:1–17But Solomon built Him a house.
48“However, #1 Kin. 8:27; 2 Chr. 2:6; Acts 17:24the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:
49‘Heaven#Is. 66:1, 2; Matt. 5:34 is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,
Or what is the place of My rest?
50Has My hand not #Ps. 102:25made all these things?’
Israel Resists the Holy Spirit
51“You #Ex. 32:9; Is. 6:10stiff-necked and #Lev. 26:41uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52#2 Chr. 36:16; Matt. 21:35; 23:35; 1 Thess. 2:15Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of #Acts 3:14; 22:14; 1 John 2:1the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 53#Ex. 20:1; Deut. 33:2; Acts 7:38; Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”
Stephen the Martyr
54#Acts 5:33When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55But he, #Matt. 5:8; 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27; Acts 6:5being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the #(Ex. 24:17)glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56and said, “Look! #Matt. 3:16I see the heavens opened and the #Dan. 7:13Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
57Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And #Acts 22:20the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, #Ps. 31:5receive my spirit.” 60Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, #Matt. 5:44; Luke 23:34“Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
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Acts 7: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
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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