Acts 7
7
The Speech of Stephen
1Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
2He said, “Brothers and fathers, listen! The God of glory # Ps 29:3 appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran, # Ge 11:31 3and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and come to the land which I will show you.’ # Ge 12:1 # 7:3 Ge 12:1.
4“Then he departed from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Harran. When his father died, He removed him from there to this land in which you now live. # Ge 11:31–32; 12:4–5 5He gave him no inheritance in it, nor a foothold, and promised to give it to him as a possession and to his descendants after him while he had no child. # Ge 12:7; 17:8 6God spoke in this way, ‘Your descendants shall be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who will enslave them and mistreat them four hundred years. # Ge 15:13 # 7:6 Ge 15:13. 7And I will judge the nation to whom they will be enslaved,’ # 7:7 Ge 15:14. said God. ‘After that they shall come out and worship Me in this place.’ # Ex 3:12 # 7:7 Ex 3:12. 8Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision. # Ge 17:9–14 And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs. # Ge 35:23–26
9“The patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt. # Ge 45:4 But God was with him, # Ge 39:2 10and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and all his house. # Ge 42:6
11“Then a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan with great affliction, # Ps 105:16 and our fathers found no sustenance. 12But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time. 13During the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14Then Joseph sent and called for his father Jacob and all his kindred, seventy-five souls. # Ge 46:26–27; Dt 10:22 15Then Jacob went down into Egypt. And he and our fathers died, # Ge 49:33; Ex 1:6 16and were carried to Shechem and put in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a price of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. # Ge 23:16; Ex 13:19; Jos 24:32
17“When the time of the promise drew near, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt # Ac 7:6; 13:17 18until another king rose up who did not know Joseph. # Ex 1:8 # 7:18 Ex 1:8. 19He dealt deceitfully with our people and mistreated our fathers, forcing them to expose their infants, so that they would not live. # Ex 1:9–22
20“At that time Moses was born, and was fair in the sight of God. And he was reared for three months in his father’s house. # Heb 11:23 21When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and reared him as her own son. 22Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in words and in deeds. # Isa 19:11; Da 1:4
23“When he was forty years old, it came to his heart to visit his brothers, the Israelites. # Ex 2:11–12; Heb 11:24–26 24But seeing one being wronged, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck the Egyptian. 25He supposed that his brothers would understand that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26On the next day he appeared to them as they fought and tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ # 7:26 Ex 2:13.
27“But the one wronging his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? # Lk 12:14; Ac 7:35 28Will you kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ # 7:28 Ex 2:14. 29Moses fled at this word and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, # 7:29 Ex 2:11–15. where he became the father of two sons.
30“When forty years had passed, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. # Ex 3:1–2 # 7:30 Ex 3:1–4. 31When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight. As he drew near to look at it, the voice of the Lord came to him, # Ex 3:3–4 saying, 32‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ # Ex 3:6; Mt 22:32 # 7:32 Ex 3:6. Moses trembled and dared not look.
33“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the shoes from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. # Ex 3:5; Jos 5:15 # 7:33 Ex 3:5. 34I have indeed seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt. I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you to Egypt.’ # Ex 3:7–10 # 7:34 Ex 3:7, 10.
35“This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?’ # 7:35 Ex 2:14. God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel # Ex 14:19; Nu 20:16 who appeared to him in the bush. 36He led them out after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, # Ex 12:41; 33:1 and at the Red Sea, # Ex 14:21 and for forty years in the wilderness.
37“This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. Him you shall hear.’ # 7:37 Dt 18:15. 38This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living oracles to give to us, # Ac 7:53; Ro 3:2; Heb 5:12 39whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust away. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, # Ex 16:3; Nu 14:3–4 40saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods to go before us. For we do not know what has become of this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt.’ # Ex 32:1, 23 # 7:40 Ex 32:1, 23. 41So they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. 42But God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, # Jer 19:13; Eze 20:39 as it is written in the book of the Prophets:
‘O House of Israel, have you offered to Me slain animals and sacrifices
for forty years in the wilderness? # Am 5:25–27
43Yes, you even raised the shrine of Moloch,
and the star of your god Remphan,
idols which you made to worship;
therefore I will exile you beyond Babylon.’ # 7:42–43 Am 5:25–27.
44“Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, telling Moses to make it as He had commanded, # Ex 38:21 according to the pattern that he had seen, # Ex 25:40 45which our fathers, having received it, brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out in front of our fathers until the days of David, # Jos 18:1; Ps 44:2 46who found favor in the presence of God # Ac 13:22 and asked to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. # Ps 132:1–5 47But Solomon built Him a house. # 2Sa 7:13; 1Ki 8:20
48“However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands. # 1Ki 8:27 As the prophet says:
49‘Heaven is My throne,
and the earth is My footstool. # Ps 11:4; Isa 66:1–2; Mt 5:34–35
What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,
or what is the place of My rest?
50Has not My hand made all these things?’ # 7:49–50 Isa 66:1–2.
51“You stiff-necked people, # Ex 32:9 uncircumcised in heart # Lev 26:41 and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52Which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted? # 2Ch 36:16; Mt 5:12 They have even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become the betrayers and murderers, 53who have received the law by the disposition of angels, # Dt 33:2; Gal 3:19; Heb 2:2 but have not kept it.”
The Stoning of Stephen
54When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart with rage, # Ac 5:33 and they gnashed their teeth at him. # Job 16:9 55But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, # Mk 16:19; Jn 12:41 56and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened # Mt 3:16 and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57Then they cried out with a loud voice, closed their ears, and rushed at him in unison. 58And they threw him out of the city and stoned him. # Lk 4:29; Ac 8:1 The witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. # Ac 22:20
59They stoned Stephen as he was calling on God, praying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” # Ps 31:5; Lk 23:46 60Then he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” # Mt 5:44 Having said this, he fell asleep.
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Acts 7: MEV
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The Holy Bible, Modern English Version
Copyright © 2024, 2017, 2014 by United Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House. All rights reserved.
Ma`asei (Acts) 7
7
1And the high priest said, “Is this so?”
2And he replied, “Men, brothers and fathers, listen: The Elohim of esteem appeared to our father Aḇraham when he was in Aram Naharayim, before he dwelt in Ḥaran,
3and said to him, ‘Come out of your land and from your relatives, and come here, into a land that I shall show you.’# Gen. 12:1
4“Then he came out of the land of the Kasdim and dwelt in Ḥaran. And from there, after the death of his father, He removed him to this land in which you now dwell.
5“And He gave him no inheritance in it, not a foot of it.# Deu. 2:5 But He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him,# Gen. 12:7; Gen. 17:8#See also Gen. 13:15; Gen. 15:4; Gen. 15:7; Gen. 15:18-21; Gen. 24:7; Gen. 48:4 when as yet he had no child.
6“And Elohim spoke in this way: that his seed would be sojourning in a foreign land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.# Gen. 15:13
7‘And the nation to whom they shall be enslaved, I shall judge,’# Gen. 15:13 said Elohim, ‘and after that they shall come out and serve Me in this place.’# Gen. 15:14; Exo. 3:12
8“And He gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so he brought forth Yitsḥaq and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Yitsḥaq brought forth Ya‛aqoḇ, and Ya‛aqoḇ brought forth the twelve ancestors.
9“And the ancestors, becoming jealous, sold Yosĕph into Mitsrayim. But Elohim was with him,# Gen. 37:11; Gen. 37:28; Gen. 39:2; Gen. 39:21
10and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour# Gen. 39:21 and wisdom before Pharaoh, sovereign of Mitsrayim. And he appointed him governor over Mitsrayim and all his house.# Gen. 41:37-46
11“Then a scarcity of food and great distress came over all the land of Mitsrayim and Kena’an,# Gen. 41:54; Gen. 42:5 and our fathers found no food.
12“But Ya‛aqoḇ heard that there was grain in Mitsrayim,# Gen. 42:2 and he sent out our fathers the first time,
13and at the second time Yosĕph was made known to his brothers, and Yosĕph’s race became known to the Pharaoh.
14“And Yosĕph sent and called his father Ya‛aqoḇ and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people.
15“And Ya‛aqoḇ went down to Mitsrayim, and died, he and our fathers,# Gen. 46:5; Gen. 49:33; Exo. 1:6
16and they were brought over to Sheḵem and laid in the tomb that Aḇraham bought for a price of silver from the sons of Ḥamor, the father of Sheḵem.
17“But as the time of the promise drew near which Elohim had sworn to Aḇraham, the people increased and multiplied in Mitsrayim
18until another sovereign arose who did not know Yosĕph.# Exo. 1:8
19“Having dealt treacherously with our race, this one mistreated our fathers, making them expose their babies, so that they should not live.
20“At that time Mosheh was born, and he was well-pleasing to Elohim. And he was reared three months in the house of his father.
21“But when he was exposed, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up and reared him as her own son.
22“And Mosheh was instructed in all the wisdom of the Mitsrites, and was mighty in words and works.
23“And when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Yisra’ĕl.
24“And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended and revenged him who was oppressed, smiting the Mitsrian.
25“And he thought that his brothers would have understood that Elohim would give deliverance to them by his hand, but they did not understand.
26“And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and urged them to peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers, why do you wrong one another?’
27“But he who was wronging his neighbour pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
28‘Do you wish to kill me as you killed the Mitsrian yesterday?’# Exo. 2:14
29“And at this saying, Mosheh fled and became a sojourner in the land of Miḏyan,# Exo. 2:15 where he fathered two sons.
30“And after forty years were completed, a Messenger of יהוה appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush,# Exo. 3:2 in the wilderness of Mount Sinai.
31“And Mosheh, seeing it, marvelled at the sight, and coming near to look, the voice of יהוה came to him,
32saying, ‘I am the Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Aḇraham and the Elohim of Yitsḥaq and the Elohim of Ya‛aqoḇ.’ And Mosheh trembled and did not have the courage to look.
33‘But יהוה said to him, Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is set-apart ground.
34“I have certainly seen the evil treatment of my people who are in Mitsrayim, and I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, let Me send you to Mitsrayim.” ’# Exo. 3:6-10
35“This Mosheh whom they had refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’# Exo. 2:14 – this one Elohim sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Messenger who appeared to him in the bush.
36“This one led them out, after he had done wonders and signs in the land of Mitsrayim, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
37“This is the Mosheh who said to the children of Yisra’ĕl, ‘יהוה your Elohim shall raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brothers. Him you shall hear.’# Deu. 18:15
38“This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the Messenger who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received the living Words to give to us,
39unto whom our fathers would not become obedient, but thrust away, and in their hearts they turned back to Mitsrayim,
40saying to Aharon, ‘Make us mighty ones to go before us, for this Mosheh who led us out of the land of Mitsrayim, we do not know what has become of him.’# Exo. 32:1; Exo. 32:23
41“And they made a calf in those days, and brought an offering to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their own hands.
42“So Elohim turned and gave them up to worship the host of the heaven,#See Deu. 4:19; Deu. 17:3; 2Kings 23:5 as it has been written in the book of the Prophets, ‘Did you bring slaughtered beasts and offerings unto Me during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Yisra’ĕl?
43‘And you took up the tent of Moleḵ, and the star of your mighty one Kiyyun, images which you made to bow before them. Therefore I shall remove you beyond Baḇel.’# Amos 5:25-27
44“The Tent of Witness was with our fathers in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Mosheh to make it according to the pattern that he had seen,
45which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Yehoshua into the land possessed by the nations, whom Elohim drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of Dawiḏ,
46who found favour before Elohim and asked to find a dwelling for the Elohim of Ya‛aqoḇ,
47but Shelomoh built Him a house.
48“However, the Most High does not dwell in dwellings made with hands,#See Acts 17:24 as the prophet says:
49‘The heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What house shall you build for Me? says יהוה, or what is the place of My rest?
50‘Has My hand not made all these?’# Isa. 66:1, 2
51“You stiff-necked# Exo. 32:9; Exo. 33:3; Exo. 33:5 and uncircumcised in heart and ears!# Lev. 26:41; Jer. 6:10 You always resist the Set-apart Spirit, as your fathers did, you also do.
52“Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who before announced the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,
53who received the Torah as it was ordained by messengers, but did not watch over#See Mat. 5:20 it.”
54And hearing this they were cut to the hearts and gnashed the teeth at him.
55But he, being filled with the Set-apart Spirit, looked steadily into the heaven and saw the esteem of Elohim, and יהושע standing at the right hand of Elohim,
56and he said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Aḏam standing at the right hand of Elohim!”# Psa. 110:1
57And crying out with a loud voice, they stopped their ears, and rushed upon him with one mind,
58and threw him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Sha’ul.
59And they were stoning Stephanos as he was calling and saying, “Master יהושע, receive my spirit.”
60And kneeling down he cried out with a loud voice, “Master, do not hold this sin against them.” And having said this, he fell asleep.
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