Acts 7
7
1And the high priest said, “Is this so?” 2#Ps 29.3; Gen 11.31; 15.7. And Stephen said:
“Brethren and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3#Gen 12.1. and said to him, ‘Depart from your land and from your kindred and go into the land which I will show you.’ 4#Gen 11.31; 15.7; 12.5. Then he departed from the land of the Chaldeans, and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living; 5#Deut 2.5; Gen 12.7; 17.8. yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him in possession and to his posterity after him, though he had no child. 6#Gen 15.13-14. And God spoke to this effect, that his posterity would be aliens in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and ill-treat them four hundred years. 7#Ex 3.12. ‘But I will judge the nation which they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ 8#Gen 17.10-14; 21.2-4; 25.26; 29.31-35; 30.1-24; 35.16-18; 35.23-26. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
9 #
Gen 37.11,28; 45.4. #Gen 39.2-3,21. “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him, 10#Gen 41.40-46; Ps 105.21. and rescued him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him governor over Egypt and over all his household. 11#Gen 41.54-55; 42.5. Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12#Gen 42.2. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent forth our fathers the first time. 13#Gen 45.1-4. And at the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. 14#Gen 45.9-10. #Deut 10.22. And Joseph sent and called to him Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five souls; 15and Jacob went down into Egypt. And he died, himself and our fathers, 16#Josh 24.32; Gen 50.13. and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17 #
Ex 1.7-8. “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt 18till there arose over Egypt another king who had not known Joseph. 19#Ex 1.10-11; 1.15-22. He dealt craftily with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, that they might not be kept alive. 20#Ex 2.2. At this time Moses was born, and was beautiful before God. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house; 21#Ex 2.5-6,10. and when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
23 #
Ex 2.11-15. “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. 24And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking the Egyptian. 25He supposed that his brethren understood that God was giving them deliverance by his hand, but they did not understand. 26And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and would have reconciled them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren, why do you wrong each other?’ 27But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29#Ex 2.22; 18.3-4. At this retort Moses fled, and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30 #
Ex 3.1-10. “Now when forty years had passed, an angel 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; and as he drew near to look, the voice of the Lord came, 32‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33And the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the shoes from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34I have surely seen the ill-treatment of my people that are in Egypt and heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’
35 #
Ex 2.14. “This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ God sent as both ruler and deliverer by the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush. 36#Ex 7.3; 14.21; Num 14.33. He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. 37#Deut 18.15,18. This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet from your brethren as he raised me up.’ 38#Ex 19. This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living oracles to give to us. 39#Num 14.3-4. Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40#Ex 32.1,23. saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41#Ex 32.4,6. And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and rejoiced in the works of their hands. 42#Jer 19.13. #Amos 5.25-27. But God turned and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
‘Did you offer to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43And you took up the tent of Moloch,
and the star of the god Rephan,
the figures which you made to worship;
and I will remove you beyond Babylon.’
44 #
Ex 25.9,40. “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45#Josh 3.14-17; Deut 32.49. Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations which God thrust out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46#2 Sam 7.8-16; Ps 132.1-5. who found favor in the sight of God and asked leave to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. 47#1 Kings 6. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands; as the prophet says,
49 #
Is 66.1-2. ‘Heaven is my throne,
and earth my footstool.
What house will you build for me, says the Lord,
or what is the place of my rest?
50Did not my hand make all these things?’
51 #
Ex 33.3,5; Jer 9.26; 6.10; Num 27.14; Is 63.10. “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
54Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth against him. 55But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.” 57But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him. 58Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59And as they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
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Acts 7: RSV
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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America
Acts 7
7
Stephen’s Speech
1The high priest said to Stephen, “Are these things true?”
2Stephen answered, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to Abraham, our ancestor, in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran. 3God said to Abraham, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and go to the land I will show you.’ 4So Abraham left the country of Chaldea and went to live in Haran. After Abraham’s father died, God sent him to this place where you now live. 5God did not give Abraham any of this land, not even a foot of it. But God promised that he would give this land to him and his descendants, even before Abraham had a child. 6This is what God said to him: ‘Your descendants will be strangers in a land they don’t own. The people there will make them slaves and will mistreat them for four hundred years. 7But I will punish the nation where they are slaves. Then your descendants will leave that land and will worship me in this place.’ 8God made an agreement with Abraham, the sign of which was circumcision. And so when Abraham had his son Isaac, Abraham circumcised him when he was eight days old. Isaac also circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob did the same for his sons, the twelve ancestors of our people.
9“Jacob’s sons became jealous of Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him 10and saved him from all his troubles. The king of Egypt liked Joseph and respected him because of the wisdom God gave him. The king made him governor of Egypt and put him in charge of all the people in his palace.
11“Then all the land of Egypt and Canaan became so dry that nothing would grow, and the people suffered very much. Jacob’s sons, our ancestors, could not find anything to eat. 12But when Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent his sons there. This was their first trip to Egypt. 13When they went there a second time, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and the king learned about Joseph’s family. 14Then Joseph sent messengers to invite Jacob, his father, to come to Egypt along with all his relatives (seventy-five persons altogether). 15So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and his sons died. 16Later their bodies were moved to Shechem and put in a grave there. (It was the same grave Abraham had bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.)
17“The promise God made to Abraham was soon to come true, and the number of people in Egypt grew large. 18Then a new king, who did not know who Joseph was, began to rule Egypt. 19This king tricked our people and was cruel to our ancestors, forcing them to leave their babies outside to die. 20At this time Moses was born, and he was very beautiful. For three months Moses was cared for in his father’s house. 21When they put Moses outside, the king’s daughter adopted him and raised him as if he were her own son. 22The Egyptians taught Moses everything they knew, and he was a powerful man in what he said and did.
23“When Moses was about forty years old, he thought it would be good to visit his own people, the people of Israel. 24Moses saw an Egyptian mistreating one of his people, so he defended the Israelite and punished the Egyptian by killing him. 25Moses thought his own people would understand that God was using him to save them, but they did not. 26The next day when Moses saw two men of Israel fighting, he tried to make peace between them. He said, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you hurting each other?’ 27The man who was hurting the other pushed Moses away and said, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge? 28Are you going to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29When Moses heard him say this, he left Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian where he was a stranger. While Moses lived in Midian, he had two sons.
30“Forty years later an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush as he was in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31When Moses saw this, he was amazed and went near to look closer. Moses heard the Lord’s voice say, 32‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses began to shake with fear and was afraid to look. 33The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground. 34I have seen the troubles my people have suffered in Egypt. I have heard their cries and have come down to save them. And now, Moses, I am sending you back to Egypt.’
35“This Moses was the same man the two men of Israel rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ Moses is the same man God sent to be a ruler and savior, with the help of the angel that Moses saw in the burning bush. 36So Moses led the people out of Egypt. He worked miracles and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and then in the desert for forty years. 37This is the same Moses that said to the people of Israel, ‘God will give you a prophet like me, who is one of your own people.’ 38This is the Moses who was with the gathering of the Israelites in the desert. He was with the angel that spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and he was with our ancestors. He received commands from God that give life, and he gave those commands to us.
39“But our ancestors did not want to obey Moses. They rejected him and wanted to go back to Egypt. 40They said to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 41So the people made an idol that looked like a calf. Then they brought sacrifices to it and were proud of what they had made with their own hands. 42But God turned against them and did not try to stop them from worshiping the sun, moon, and stars. This is what is written in the book of the prophets: God says,
‘People of Israel, you did not bring me sacrifices and offerings
while you traveled in the desert for forty years.
43You have carried with you
the tent to worship Molech
and the idols of the star god Rephan that you made to worship.
So I will send you away beyond Babylon.’#Amos 5:25–27
44“The Holy Tent where God spoke to our ancestors was with them in the desert. God told Moses how to make this Tent, and he made it like the plan God showed him. 45Later, Joshua led our ancestors to capture the lands of the other nations. Our people went in, and God forced the other people out. When our people went into this new land, they took with them this same Tent they had received from their ancestors. They kept it until the time of David, 46who pleased God and asked God to let him build a house for him, the God of Jacob. 47But Solomon was the one who built the Temple.
48“But the Most High does not live in houses that people build with their hands. As the prophet says:
49‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
So do you think you can build a house for me? says the Lord.
Do I need a place to rest?
50Remember, my hand made all these things!’ ” #Isaiah 66:1–2
51Stephen continued speaking: “You stubborn people! You have not given your hearts to God, nor will you listen to him! You are always against what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell you, just as your ancestors were. 52Your ancestors tried to hurt every prophet who ever lived. Those prophets said long ago that the One who is good would come, but your ancestors killed them. And now you have turned against and killed the One who is good. 53You received the law of Moses, which God gave you through his angels, but you haven’t obeyed it.”
Stephen Is Killed
54When the leaders heard this, they became furious. They were so mad they were grinding their teeth at Stephen. 55But Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. He looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at God’s right side. 56He said, “Look! I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at God’s right side.”
57Then they shouted loudly and covered their ears and all ran at Stephen. 58They took him out of the city and began to throw stones at him to kill him. And those who told lies against Stephen left their coats with a young man named Saul. 59While they were throwing stones, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60He fell on his knees and cried in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” After Stephen said this, he died.
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.