Acts 7
7
1 The high priest said, “Are these things so?”
2 He said, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3and said to him, ‘Get out of your land and away from your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.’#Genesis 12:1 4Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land where you are now living. 5He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his offspring after him, when he still had no child. 6God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. 7‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve me in this place.’#Genesis 15:13-14 8He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
9“The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him 10and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food. 12But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time. 13On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh. 14Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his relatives, seventy-five souls. 15Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, himself and our fathers; 16and they were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.
17“But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, 18until there arose a different king who didn’t know Joseph. 19The same took advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to abandon their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive. 20At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome to God. He was nourished three months in his father’s house. 21When he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and reared him as her own son. 22Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works. 23But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers,#7:23 The word for “brothers” here and where the context allows may be also correctly translated “brothers and sisters” or “siblings.” the children of Israel. 24Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian. 25He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.
26“The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’ 27But he who did his neighbour wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’#Exodus 2:14 29Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30“When forty years were fulfilled, an 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 sight. As he came close to see, the voice of the Lord came to him, 32‘I am the God of your fathers: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’#Exodus 3:6 Moses trembled and dared not look. 33The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 34I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’#Exodus 3:5,7-8,10
35“This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. 37This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from amongst your brothers, like me.’#7:37 TR adds “You shall listen to him.”#Deuteronomy 18:15 38This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us, 39to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, 40saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’#Exodus 32:1 41They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. 42But God turned away and gave them up to serve the army of the sky,#7:42 This idiom could also be translated “host of heaven”, or “angelic beings”, or “heavenly bodies.” as it is written in the book of the prophets,
‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices
forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43 You took up the tabernacle of Moloch,
the star of your god Rephan,
the figures which you made to worship,
so I will carry you away#Amos 5:25-27 beyond Babylon.’
44“Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen; 45which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations whom God drove out before the face of our fathers to the days of David, 46who found favour in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. 47But Solomon built him a house. 48However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,
49‘heaven is my throne,
and the earth a footstool for my feet.
What kind of house will you build me?’ says the Lord.
‘Or what is the place of my rest?
50Didn’t my hand make all these things?’#Isaiah 66:1-2
51“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do. 52Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers. 53You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and didn’t keep it!”
54 Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at 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 at the right hand of God!”
57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears, then rushed at him with one accord. 58They threw him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60He knelt down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
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Acts 7
7
1“Are these allegations true?” the high priest asked.
2“Brothers and fathers, listen to me!” Stephen replied. “God in his glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was living in Mesopotamia, before he moved to Haran.
3God told him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and go to the country that I'm going to show you.’#7:3. Quoting Genesis 12:1. 4So he left the country of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. After his father's death, God sent him here to this country where you now live. 5God didn't give Abraham an inheritance here, not even one square foot. But God did promise Abraham that he would give him and his descendants possession of the land, even though he had no children. 6God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign country, and that they would be enslaved there, and would be mistreated for four hundred years. 7God said, ‘I will punish the nation that enslaves them. Eventually they will leave and come here to worship me.’#7:7. Quoting Genesis 15:13-14; Exodus 3:12. 8God also gave Abraham the agreement regarding circumcision,#7:8. Or “circumcision covenant.” and so when Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac was the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of the twelve patriarchs.
9The patriarchs, who were jealous of Joseph, sold him into slavery in Egypt. But God was with him, 10and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave him wisdom and helped him gain the favor of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him governor over Egypt and the royal household.
11Now a famine occurred throughout Egypt and Canaan. It caused terrible misery, and our forefathers had no food. 12When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt he sent our forefathers down on their first visit. 13During their second visit, Joseph revealed to his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh discovered Joseph's family background. 14Joseph sent for his father and all his relatives—seventy-five in total. 15Jacob traveled to Egypt, and died there—as did our forefathers. 16Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought with silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17As the time approached regarding the promise that God had made to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt increased. 18A new king came to the throne in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph. 19He took advantage of our people and treated our ancestors badly, forcing them to abandon their babies so they would die. 20It was at this time that Moses was born. He was a handsome child, and for three months he was looked after in his father's home. 21When he had to be abandoned, Pharaoh's daughter rescued him and took care of him as her own son.
22Moses received instruction in all areas of Egyptian knowledge, and he became a powerful speaker and leader. 23However, when he was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the Israelites. 24He saw one of them being mistreated, so he intervened to defend him. On behalf of the man he took revenge and killed the Egyptian. 25Moses thought his fellow Israelites would see that God was rescuing them through him, but they didn't. 26The next day when he arrived, two Israelites were fighting one another. He tried to reconcile them and stop the fight. ‘Men! You are brothers!’ he told them. ‘Why are you attacking each other?’
27But the man who had started the fight pushed Moses away. ‘Who put you in charge over us? Are you our judge now?’ he asked. 28‘Are you going to kill me like you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’#7:28. Quoting Exodus 2:13-14. 29When he heard this, Moses ran away. He went and lived in exile in the land of Midian, where two sons were born to him.
30Forty years later, in the desert of Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to him in the flames of a burning bush. 31When Moses saw this, he was amazed at the sight, and went over to take a closer look. The voice of the Lord spoke to him: 32‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’#7:32. Quoting Exodus 3:6. Moses shook with fear and didn't dare look up. 33The Lord told him, ‘Take off your sandals, because where you are standing is holy ground. 34I have closely observed the suffering of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their groans. I have come down to rescue them. Now come over here, for I'm sending you to Egypt.’#7:34. Quoting Exodus 3:5-10.
35This was the same Moses that the people had rejected when they said, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’#7:35. Quoting Exodus 2:14. God sent him to be both a ruler and a liberator, by means of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36Moses led them out after performing miraculous signs in Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and continued to do so in the desert for forty years. 37This is the same Moses who promised the Israelites, ‘God will send you a prophet like me from among your people.’#7:37. Quoting Deuteronomy 18:15. 38Moses was with God's assembled people in the desert when the angel spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and there with our forefathers he received God's living word to give to us. 39He was the one our fathers wouldn't listen to. They rejected him and decided to return to Egypt. 40They told Aaron, ‘Make gods for us to lead us, because we don't know what's happened to this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt.’#7:40. Quoting Exodus 32:1. 41Then they made an idol in the shape of a calf, sacrificed to it, and celebrated what they themselves had made!
42So God gave up on them. He left them to their worship of the stars in the sky. This is what the prophets wrote, ‘Were you giving offerings or making sacrifices to me during the forty years in the desert, you Israelites? 43No, you carried the Tabernacle of the god Moloch and the image of the god Rephan's star, images that you made so you could worship them. So I will banish you in exile beyond Babylon.’#7:43. Quoting Amos 5:25-27.
44Our ancestors had the Tabernacle of Testimony#7:44. Meaning that it gave God's message, and provided evidence of his presence. in the desert. God had told Moses how he should make it following the blueprint he had seen. 45Later on, our forefathers carried it with them when they went in with Joshua to occupy the land taken from the nations the Lord drove out before them. It stayed there until the time of David. 46David found favor with God and asked to make a more permanent home for the God of Jacob. 47But it was Solomon who built a Temple#7:47. Literally, “house.” for him. 48Of course the Almighty doesn't live in temples we make. As the prophet said, 49‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth the place I put my feet. What kind of dwelling could you build for me?’ the Lord asks. ‘What bed could you make for me to rest in? 50Didn't I make everything?’#7:50. Quoting Isaiah 66:1-2.
51You arrogant, hard-hearted people! You never listen!#7:51. Literally, “uncircumcised in heart and ears.” You always fight against the Holy Spirit! You act just like your fathers did! 52Was there ever a prophet your fathers didn't persecute? They killed those who prophesied about the coming of the one who is truly good and right. He is the one you betrayed and murdered— 53you who received the law by means of the angels, but refused to keep it.”
54When they heard this, the council members became mad with rage, and snarled at him, grinding their teeth. 55But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed up into heaven and saw God's glory, with Jesus standing at God's right hand. 56“Look,” he said, “I see heaven open, and the Son of Man standing at God's right hand.”
57But they held their hands over their ears and shouted as loudly as they could. They rushed together at him, 58dragged him out of the city, and began to stone him. His accusers laid their coats down beside a young man called Saul. 59As they went on stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60He kneeled down, calling out, “Lord, please don't hold this sin against them!” And after he said this, he died.#7:60. Literally, “fell asleep.” Death is often spoken of as a sleep in the New Testament.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com