Acts of Emissaries of Yeshua (Act) 7
7
1The cohen hagadol asked, “Are these accusations true?” 2and Stephen said:
“Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to Avraham avinu in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran 3and said to him, ‘Leave your land and your family, and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4So he left the land of the Kasdim and lived in Haran. After his father died, God made him move to this land where you are living now. 5He gave him no inheritance in it, not even space for one foot; yet he promised to give it to him as a possession and to his descendants after him, even though at the time he was childless. 6What God said to him was, ‘Your descendants will be aliens in a foreign land, where they will be in slavery and oppressed for four hundred years. 7But I will judge the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and afterwards they will leave and worship me in this place.’ 8And he gave him b’rit-milah. So he became the father of Yitz’chak and did his b’rit-milah on the eighth day, and Yitz’chak became the father of Ya‘akov, and Ya‘akov became the father of the Twelve Patriarchs.
9“Now the Patriarchs grew jealous of Yosef and sold him into slavery in Egypt. But Adonai was with him; 10he rescued him from all his troubles and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him chief administrator over Egypt and over all his household. 11Now there came a famine that caused much suffering throughout Egypt and Kena‘an 12But when Ya‘akov heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. 13The second time, Yosef revealed his identity to his brothers, and Yosef’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14Yosef then sent for his father Ya‘akov and all his relatives, seventy-five people. 15And Ya‘akov went down to Egypt; there he died, as did our other ancestors. 16Their bodies were removed to Sh’khem and buried in the tomb Avraham had bought from the family of Hamor in Sh’khem for a certain sum of money.
17“As the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise God had made to Avraham, the number of our people in Egypt increased greatly, 18until there arose another king over Egypt who had no knowledge of Yosef. 19With cruel cunning this man forced our fathers to put their newborn babies outside their homes, so that they would not survive.
20“It was then that Moshe was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. For three months he was reared in his father’s house; 21and when he was put out of his home, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22So Moshe was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became both a powerful speaker and a man of action.
23“But when he was forty years old, the thought came to him to visit his brothers, the people of Isra’el. 24On seeing one of them being mistreated, he went to his defense and took revenge by striking down the Egyptian. 25He supposed his brothers would understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn’t understand. 26When he appeared the next day, as they were fighting, and tried to make peace between them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers! Why do you want to hurt each other?’ 27the one who was mistreating his fellow pushed Moshe away and said, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us? 28Do you want to kill me, the way you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ 29On hearing this, Moshe fled the country and became an exile in the land of Midyan, where he had two sons.
30“After forty more years, an angel appeared to him in the desert near Mount Sinai in the flames of a burning thorn bush. 31When Moshe saw this, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to get a better look, there came the voice of Adonai, 32‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov.’ But Moshe trembled with fear and didn’t dare to look. 33Adonai said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34I have clearly seen how My people are being oppressed in Egypt, I have heard their cry, and I have come down to rescue them, and now I will send you to Egypt.’
35“This Moshe, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ is the very one whom God sent as both ruler and ransomer by means of the angel that appeared to him in the thorn bush. 36This man led them out, performing miracles and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37This is the Moshe who said to the people of Isra’el, ‘God will raise up a prophet like me from among your brothers’ 38This is the man who was in the assembly in the wilderness, accompanied by the angel that had spoken to him at Mount Sinai and by our fathers, the man who was given living words to pass on to us.
39“But our fathers did not want to obey him. On the contrary, they rejected him and in their hearts turned to Egypt, 40saying to Aharon, ‘Make us some gods to lead us; because this Moshe, who led us out of Egypt — we don’t know what has become of him.’ 41That was when they made an idol in the shape of a calf and offered a sacrifice to it and held a celebration in honor of what they had made with their own hands. 42So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars — as has been written in the book of the prophets,
‘People of Isra’el, it was not to me
that you offered slaughtered animals
and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness!
43No, you carried the tent of Molekh
and the star of your god Reifan,
the idols you made so that you could worship them.
Therefore, I will send you into exile beyond Bavel.’
44“Our fathers had the Tent of Witness in the wilderness. It had been made just as God, who spoke to Moshe, had ordered it made, according to the pattern Moshe had seen. 45Later on, our fathers who had received it brought it in with Y’hoshua when they took the Land away from the nations that God drove out before them.
“So it was until the days of David. 46He enjoyed God’s favor and asked if he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Ya‘akov 47and Shlomo did build him a house. 48But Ha‘Elyon does not live in places made by hand! As the prophet says,
49‘Heaven is my throne,’ says Adonai,
‘and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house could you build for me?
What kind of place could you devise for my rest?
50Didn’t I myself make all these things?’
51“Stiffnecked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You continually oppose the Ruach HaKodesh! You do the same things your fathers did! 52Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who told in advance about the coming of the Tzaddik, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers! — 53you! — who receive the Torah as having been delivered by angels — but do not keep it!”
54On hearing these things, they were cut to their hearts and ground their teeth at him. 55But he, full of the Ruach HaKodesh, looked up to heaven and saw God’s Sh’khinah, with Yeshua standing at the right hand of God. 56“Look!” he exclaimed, “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
57At this, they began yelling at the top of their voices, so that they wouldn’t have to hear him; and with one accord, they rushed at him, 58threw him outside the city and began stoning him. And the witnesses laid down their coats at the feet of a young man named Sha’ul.
59As they were stoning him, Stephen called out to God, “Lord Yeshua! Receive my spirit!” 60Then he kneeled down and shouted out, “Lord! Don’t hold this sin against them!” With that, he died;
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Acts of Emissaries of Yeshua (Act) 7: CJB
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Learn More About Complete Jewish BibleGevurot 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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