Acts 7
7
Stephen’s Sermon
1“Are these things true?” the high priest asked.
2“Brothers and fathers,” he replied, “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,#Gn 11:31; 15:7; Ps 29:3; Ac 22:1; 1Co 2:8 3and said to him: Leave your country and relatives, and come to the land that I will show you.#7:3Gn 12:1#Gn 12:1
4“Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this land in which you are now living.#Gn 11:31; 12:4–5 5He didn’t give him an inheritance in it — not even a foot of ground — but he promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him,#Gn 12:7; 13:15; 15:18; 17:8; Gl 3:16; Heb 8:8–9 even though he was childless. 6God spoke in this way: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and they would enslave and oppress them for four hundred years. 7I will judge the nation that they will serve as slaves, God said. After this, they will come out and worship me in this place.#7:6–7Gn 15:13–14#Gn 15:13–14; Ex 3:12; 12:40 8And so he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. After this, he fathered Isaac and circumcised#Gn 17:9–11; 21:2–4 him on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.#Gn 25:26; 29:31; 30:5; 35:23
The Patriarchs in Egypt
9“The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt, but God was with him#Gn 37:11,28; 39:2,21; 45:4; Ps 105:17 10and rescued him out of all his troubles. He gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole household.#Gn 41:37–43; 42:6; Ps 105:21 11Now a famine and great suffering came over all of Egypt and Canaan,#Gn 41:54; 42:5 and our ancestors could find no food. 12When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there the first time. 13The second time, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14Joseph invited his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five people in all,#Gn 45:1–4,9–10,16,27; 46:26–27; Ex 1:5; Dt 10:22 15and Jacob went down to Egypt. He and our ancestors died there,#Gn 46:5; 49:33; Ex 1:6 16were carried back to Shechem, and were placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.#Gn 23:16; 33:19; 50:13; Ex 13:19; Jos 24:32
Moses, a Rejected Savior
17“As the time was approaching to fulfill the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people flourished and multiplied in Egypt#Gn 15:13; Ex 1:7; Ps 105:24 18until a different king who did not know Joseph ruled over Egypt.#7:18 Other mss omit over Egypt 19He dealt deceitfully with our race and oppressed our ancestors by making them abandon their infants outside so that they wouldn’t survive.#Ex 1:8–10,22; Ps 105:25 20At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. He was cared for in his father’s home for three months. 21When he was put outside, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and raised him as her own son.#Ex 2:2–10; Heb 11:23 22So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his speech and actions.#1Kg 4:30; Is 19:11; Lk 24:19
23“When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24When he saw one of them being mistreated, he came to his rescue and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. 25He assumed his people would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. 26The next day he showed up while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them peacefully, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other? ’ #Ex 2:11–14; Heb 11:24–26
27“But the one who was mistreating his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying: Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? 28Do you want to kill me, the same way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?#7:27–28Ex 2:14#Ex 2:14; Lk 12:14; Ac 7:35
29“When he heard this, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.#Ex 2:15,22; 18:3–4 30After forty years had passed, an angel#7:30 Other mss add of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. 31When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he was approaching to look at it, the voice of the Lord came: 32I am the God of your ancestors — the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.#7:32Ex 3:6,15#Ex 3:6; Mt 22:32; Mk 12:26; Lk 20:37 Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look.
33“The Lord said to him: Take off the sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. And now, come, I will send you to Egypt.#7:33–34Ex 3:5,7–8,10#Ex 3:5,7–8,10
35“This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?#7:35Ex 2:14 — this one God sent as a ruler and a deliverer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.#Ex 14:19; Nm 20:16 36This man led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt,#Ex 12:41; 33:1; Heb 8:9 at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.#Ex 14:21; 16:35; Nm 14:33; Ps 95:10; Ac 13:18
Israel’s Rebellion against God
37“This is the Moses who said to the Israelites: God#7:37 Other mss read The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.#7:37Dt 18:15#Dt 18:15; Ac 3:22 38He is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors.#Ex 19:17; Is 63:9; Ac 7:53 He received living oracles to give to us.#Dt 5:27; 32:47; Jn 1:17; Rm 3:2; Heb 4:12; 5:12; 1Pt 4:11 39Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him. Instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.#Ex 16:3; Nm 11:4; 14:3–4; Ezk 20:8,24 40They told Aaron: Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him.#7:40Ex 32:1,23#Ex 32:1,23 41They even made a calf in those days, offered sacrifice to the idol, and were celebrating what their hands had made.#Dt 9:16; Ps 106:19–20; Rv 9:20 42God turned away#Jos 24:20; Is 63:10 and gave them up to worship#Dt 4:19; 2Kg 21:3; Jr 19:13; Zph 1:5 the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
House of Israel, did you bring me offerings and sacrifices
for forty years in the wilderness?
43 You took up the tent of Moloch
and the star of your god Rephan,
the images that you made to worship.
So I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. # 7:42–43 Am 5:25–27 #
1Kg 11:7; Am 5:25–27; Ac 7:36
God’s Real Tabernacle
44“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.#Ex 25:8–9,40; 38:21; Heb 8:5 45Our ancestors in turn received it and with Joshua brought it in when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before them,#Jos 3:14; 18:1; 23:9; 24:18; Ps 44:2 until the days of David. 46He found favor in God’s sight and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God#7:46 Other mss read house of Jacob.#2Sm 7:1,8; 1Ch 22:7; Ps 89:19; 132:5 47It was Solomon, rather, who built him a house,#1Kg 6:1–2; 8:17–20; 2Ch 3:1 48but the Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands, as the prophet says:#1Kg 8:27; 2Ch 2:6
49 Heaven is my throne,
and the earth my footstool.
What sort of house will you build for me?
says the Lord,
or what will be my resting place?
50 Did not my hand make all these things? # 7:49–50 Is 66:1–2 #
Is 66:1–2; Mt 5:34–35
Resisting the Holy Spirit
51“You stiff-necked#Ex 32:9; Dt 10:16; Heb 3:13 people with uncircumcised hearts and ears!#Lv 26:41; Jr 4:4; 6:10; 9:26 You are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your ancestors did, you do also. 52Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute?#2Ch 36:16; Mt 5:12; 21:35; 23:31,37; 1Th 2:15 They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers#Ac 3:14; 5:28 you have now become. 53You received the law under the direction of angels#Ac 7:38; Gl 3:19; Heb 2:2 and yet have not kept it.”
The First Christian Martyr
54When they heard these things, they were enraged#7:54 Or were cut to the quick and gnashed their teeth at him. 55Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.#Jn 12:41; Ac 6:5 56He said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” #Mt 3:16; Jn 1:51
57They yelled at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him. 58They dragged him out of the city and began to stone#Lv 24:14–16; Dt 13:9; Heb 13:12 him. And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.#Ac 8:1; 22:20 59While they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” #Ps 31:5; Lk 23:46; Ac 9:14 60He knelt down and cried out with a loud voice,#Mt 5:44; Lk 22:41; 23:34; Ac 9:40 “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And after saying this, he fell asleep.#Jn 11:11; 1Co 11:30; 1Th 4:13–15
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Acts 7: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
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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