Acts 7:1-36

The High Priest asked Stephen, “Is this true?” Stephen answered, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! Before our ancestor Abraham had gone to live in Haran, the God of glory appeared to him in Mesopotamia and said to him, ‘Leave your family and country and go to the land that I will show you.’ And so he left his country and went to live in Haran. After Abraham's father died, God made him move to this land where you now live. God did not then give Abraham any part of it as his own, not even a square metre of ground, but God promised to give it to him, and that it would belong to him and to his descendants. At the time God made this promise, Abraham had no children. This is what God said to him: ‘Your descendants will live in a foreign country, where they will be slaves and will be badly treated for 400 years. But I will pass judgement on the people that they will serve, and afterwards your descendants will come out of that country and will worship me in this place.’ Then God gave Abraham the ceremony of circumcision as a sign of the covenant. So Abraham circumcised Isaac a week after he was born; Isaac circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob circumcised his twelve sons, the famous ancestors of our race. “Jacob's sons became jealous of their brother Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him and brought him safely through all his troubles. When Joseph appeared before the king of Egypt, God gave him a pleasing manner and wisdom, and the king made Joseph governor over the country and the royal household. Then there was a famine all over Egypt and Canaan, which caused much suffering. Our ancestors could not find any food, and when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent his sons, our ancestors, on their first visit there. On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and the king of Egypt came to know about Joseph's family. So Joseph sent a message to his father Jacob, telling him and the whole family, 75 people in all, to come to Egypt. Then Jacob went to Egypt, where he and his sons died. Their bodies were taken to Shechem, where they were buried in the grave which Abraham had bought from the clan of Hamor for a sum of money. “When the time drew near for God to keep the promise he had made to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had grown much larger. At last a king who did not know about Joseph began to rule in Egypt. He tricked our ancestors and was cruel to them, forcing them to put their babies out of their homes, so that they would die. It was at this time that Moses was born, a very beautiful child. He was cared for at home for three months, and when he was put out of his home, the king's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. He was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man in words and deeds. “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to find out how his fellow-Israelites were being treated. He saw one of them being ill-treated by an Egyptian, so he went to his help and took revenge on the Egyptian by killing him. (He thought that his own people would understand that God was going to use him to set them free, but they did not understand.) The next day he saw two Israelites fighting, and he tried to make peace between them. ‘Listen, men,’ he said, ‘you are fellow-Israelites; why are you fighting like this?’ But the one who was ill-treating the other pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?’ he asked. ‘Do you want to kill me, just as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ When Moses heard this, he fled from Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian. There he had two sons. “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. Moses was amazed by what he saw, and went near the bush to get a better look. But he heard the Lord's voice: ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and dared not look. The Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have seen the cruel suffering of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans, and I have come down to set them free. Come now; I will send you to Egypt.’ “Moses is the one who was rejected by the people of Israel. ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?’ they asked. He is the one whom God sent to rule the people and set them free with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush. He led the people out of Egypt, performing miracles and wonders in Egypt and at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert.