Acts 7
7
Stephen's Speech
1The High Priest asked Stephen, “Is this true?”
2 #
Gen 12.1
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 3and said to him, ‘Leave your family and country and go to the land that I will show you.’ 4#Gen 11.31; 12.4And 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. 5#Gen 12.7; 13.15; 15.18; 17.8God 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. 6#Gen 15.13–14This 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. 7#Ex 3.12But 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.’ 8#Gen 17.10–14; 21.2–4; 25.26; 29.31—35.18Then 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.
9 #
Gen 37.11, 28; 39.2, 21 “Jacob's sons became jealous of their brother Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him 10#Gen 41.39–41and 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. 11#Gen 42.1–2Then there was a famine all over Egypt and Canaan, which caused much suffering. Our ancestors could not find any food, 12and when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent his sons, our ancestors, on their first visit there. 13#Gen 45.1, 16On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and the king of Egypt came to know about Joseph's family. 14#Gen 45.9–10, 17–18; 46.27So Joseph sent a message to his father Jacob, telling him and the whole family, 75 people in all, to come to Egypt. 15#Gen 46.1–7; 49.33Then Jacob went to Egypt, where he and his sons died. 16#Gen 23.3–16; 33.19; 50.7–13; Josh 24.32Their 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.
17 #
Ex 1.7–8
“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. 18At last a king who did not know about Joseph began to rule in Egypt. 19#Ex 1.10–11, 22He tricked our ancestors and was cruel to them, forcing them to put their babies out of their homes, so that they would die. 20#Ex 2.2It was at this time that Moses was born, a very beautiful child. He was cared for at home for three months, 21#Ex 2.3–10and when he was put out of his home, the king's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22He was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man in words and deeds.
23 #
Ex 2.11–15
“When Moses was forty years old, he decided to find out how his fellow-Israelites were being treated. 24He 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. 25(He thought that his own people would understand that God was going to use him to set them free, but they did not understand.) 26The 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?’ 27But the one who was ill-treating the other pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?’ he asked. 28‘Do you want to kill me, just as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ 29#Ex 18.3–4When Moses heard this, he fled from Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian. There he had two sons.
30 #
Ex 3.1–10
“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31Moses was amazed by what he saw, and went near the bush to get a better look. But he heard the Lord's voice: 32‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and dared not look. 33The Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34I 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.’
35 #
Ex 2.14
“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. 36#Ex 7.5; 14.21; Num 14.33He led the people out of Egypt, performing miracles and wonders in Egypt and at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert. 37#Deut 18.15, 18Moses is the one who said to the people of Israel, ‘God will send you a prophet, just as he sent me,#7.37 just as he sent me; or like me. and he will be one of your own people.’ 38#Ex 19.1—20.17; Deut 5.1–33He is the one who was with the people of Israel assembled in the desert; he was there with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and he received God's living messages to pass on to us.
39“But our ancestors refused to obey him; they pushed him aside and wished that they could go back to Egypt. 40#Ex 32.1So they said to Aaron, ‘Make us some gods who will lead us. We do not know what has happened to that man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.’ 41#Ex 32.2–6It was then that they made an idol in the shape of a bull, offered sacrifice to it, and had a feast in honour of what they themselves had made. 42#Amos 5.25–27 (LXX)So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
‘People of Israel! It was not to me
that you slaughtered and sacrificed animals
for forty years in the desert.
43It was the tent of the god Molech that you carried,
and the image of Rephan, your star god;
they were idols that you had made to worship.
And so I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
44 #
Ex 25.9, 40 “Our ancestors had the Tent of God's presence with them in the desert. It had been made as God had told Moses to make it, according to the pattern that Moses had been shown. 45#Josh 3.14–17Later on, our ancestors who received the tent from their fathers carried it with them when they went with Joshua and took over the land from the nations that God drove out as they advanced. And it stayed there until the time of David. 46#2 Sam 7.1–16; 1 Chr 17.1–14He won God's favour and asked God to allow him to provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.#7.46 the God of Jacob; some manuscripts have the people of Israel. 47#1 Kgs 6.1–38; 2 Chr 3.1–17But it was Solomon who built him a house.
48“But the Most High God does not live in houses built by human hands; as the prophet says:
49 #
Is 66.1–2
‘Heaven is my throne, says the Lord,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house would you build for me?
Where is the place for me to live in?
50Did not I myself make all these things?’
51 #
Is 63.10
“How stubborn you are!” Stephen went on to say. “How heathen your hearts, how deaf you are to God's message! You are just like your ancestors: you too have always resisted the Holy Spirit! 52Was there any prophet that your ancestors did not persecute? They killed God's messengers, who long ago announced the coming of his righteous Servant. And now you have betrayed and murdered him. 53You are the ones who received God's law, that was handed down by angels — yet you have not obeyed it!”
The Stoning of Stephen
54As the members of the Council listened to Stephen, they became furious and ground their teeth at him in anger. 55But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God's glory and Jesus standing at the right-hand side of God. 56“Look!” he said. “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right-hand side of God!”
57With a loud cry the members of the Council covered their ears with their hands. Then they all rushed at him at once, 58threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses left their cloaks in the care of a young man named Saul. 59They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!” He said this and died.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Acts 7
7
Stephen's Defense
1Then said the high priest, Are these things so? 2#Gen 12.1. And he said,
Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopota´mi-a, before he dwelt in Haran, 3and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee. 4#Gen 11.31; Gen 12.4. Then came he out of the land of the Chalde´ans, and dwelt in Haran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. 5#Gen 12.7; 13.15; 15.18; 17.8. And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. 6#Gen 15.13,14. And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. 7And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place. 8#Gen 17.10-14; Gen 21.2-4; Gen 25.26; Gen 29.31—35.18. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.
9 #
Gen 37.11;
Gen 37.28;
Gen 39.2,21. And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, 10#Gen 41.39-41. and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11#Gen 41.54-57. Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance. 12#Gen 42.1,2. But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13#Gen 45.1; Gen 45.16. And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh. 14#Gen 45.9,10,17,18; Gen 46.27. Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. 15#Gen 46.1-7; Gen 49.33. So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers, 16#Gen 23.3-16; 33.19; 50.7-13; Josh 24.32. and were carried over into Shechem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.#7.16 the father of Shechem. Some early manuscripts have in Shechem.
17 #
Exod 1.7,8. But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, 18till another king arose, which knew not Joseph. 19#Exod 1.10,11; Exod 1.22. The same dealt subtilely with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live. 20#Exod 2.2. In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months: 21#Exod 2.3-10. and when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. 22And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
23 #
Exod 2.11-15. And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. 24And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: 25for he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them; but they understood not. 26And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another? 27But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? 28Wilt thou kill me, as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday? 29#Exod 18.3,4. Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Mid´i-an, where he begat two sons.
30 #
Exod 3.1-10. And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Si´nai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. 31When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, 32saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. 33Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground. 34I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.
35This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. 36#Exod 7.3; Exod 14.21; Num 14.33. He brought them out, after that he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. 37#Deut 18.15,18. This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. 38#Exod 19.1—20.17; Deut 5.1-33. This is he, that was in the church#7.38 church or congregation. in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Si´nai, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: 39to whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, 40#Exod 32.1. saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 41#Exod 32.2-6. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. 42#Amos 5.25-27. Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets,
O ye house of Israel,
have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices
by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
43Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch,
and the star of your god Remphan,
figures which ye made to worship them:
and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
44 #
Exod 25.9,40. Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. 45#Josh 3.14-17. Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Joshua into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; 46#2 Sam 7.1-16; 1 Chr 17.1-14. who found favor before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. 47#1 Kgs 6.1-38; 2 Chr 3.1-17. But Solomon built him a house. 48Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
49 #
Isa 66.1,2. Heaven is my throne,
and earth is my footstool:
what house will ye build me? saith the Lord:
or what is the place of my rest?
50Hath not my hand made all these things?
51 #
Isa 63.10. Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. 52Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: 53who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
The Stoning of Stephen
54When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. 55But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, 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 on the right hand of God. 57Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58and cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. 59And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.