Acts of the Apostles 7
7
1The high priest asked, “Are these accusations true?”
2Stephen responded, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran. 3God told him, ‘Leave your homeland and kin, and go to the land that I will show you.’#7.3 Gen 12:1 4So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After Abraham’s father died, God had him resettle in this land where you now live. 5God didn’t give him an inheritance here, not even a square foot of land. However, God did promise to give the land as his possession to him and to his descendants, even though Abraham had no child. 6God put it this way: “His descendants will be strangers in a land that belongs to others, who will enslave them and abuse them for four hundred years.”#7.6 Gen 15:13 7“And I will condemn the nation they serve as slaves, ”God said, “and afterward they will leave”#7.7 Gen 15:14 that land and serve me in this place. 8God gave him the covenant confirmed through circumcision. Accordingly, eight days after Isaac’s birth, Abraham circumcised him. Isaac did the same with Jacob, and Jacob with the twelve patriarchs.
9“Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him into slavery in Egypt. God was with him, however, 10and rescued him from all his troubles. The grace and wisdom he gave Joseph were recognized by Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole palace. 11A famine came upon all Egypt and Canaan, and great hardship came with it. Our ancestors had nothing to eat. 12When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there for the first time. 13During their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives—seventy-five in all—and invited them to live with him. 15So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. 16Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had purchased for a certain sum of money from Hamor’s children, who lived in Shechem.
17“When it was time for God to keep the promise he made to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly expanded. 18But then “another king rose to power over Egypt who didn’t know anything about Joseph.”#7.18 Exod 1:8 19He exploited our people and abused our ancestors. He even forced them to abandon their newly born babies so they would die. 20That’s when Moses was born. He was highly favored by God, and for three months his parents cared for him in their home. 21After he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and cared for him as though he were her own son. 22Moses learned everything Egyptian wisdom had to offer, and he was a man of powerful words and deeds.
23“When Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit his family, the Israelites. 24He saw one of them being wronged so he came to his rescue and evened the score by killing the Egyptian. 25He expected his own kin to understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn’t. 26The next day he came upon some Israelites who were caught up in an argument. He tried to make peace between them by saying, ‘You are brothers! Why are you harming each other?’ 27The one who started the fight against his neighbor pushed Moses aside and said, “‘Who appointed you as our leader and judge?” 28“Are you planning to kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’”#7.28 Exod 2:14 29When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he lived as an immigrant and had two sons.
30“Forty years later, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush in the wilderness near Mount Sinai. 31Enthralled by the sight, Moses approached to get a closer look and he heard the Lord’s voice: 32‘“I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”’#7.32 Exod 3:6 Trembling with fear, Moses didn’t dare to investigate any further. 33The Lord continued, ‘“Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 34“I have clearly seen the oppression my people have experienced in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning. I have come down to rescue them. Come! I am sending you to Egypt”.’#7.34 Exod 3:5, 7
35“This is the same Moses whom they rejected when they asked, ‘Who appointed you as our leader and judge?’ This is the Moses whom God sent as leader and deliverer. God did this with the help of the angel who appeared before him in the bush. 36This man led them out after he performed wonders and signs in Egypt at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness. 37This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘“God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.”’#7.37 Deut 18:15 38This is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai. He is the one who received life-giving words to give to us. 39He’s also the one whom our ancestors refused to obey. Instead, they pushed him aside and, in their thoughts and desires, returned to Egypt. 40They told Aaron, ‘“Make us gods that will lead us. As for this Moses who led us out of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him!”’#7.40 Exod 32:1 41That’s when they made an idol in the shape of a calf, offered a sacrifice to it, and began to celebrate what they had made with their own hands. 42So God turned away from them and handed them over to worship the stars in the sky, just as it is written in the scroll of the Prophets:
“Did you bring sacrifices and offerings to me”
“for forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel?”
43“No! Instead, you took the tent of Moloch with you,”
“and the star of your god Rephan,”
“the images that you made in order to worship them.”
“Therefore, I will send you far away, farther than Babylon.”#7.43 Amos 5:25-27
44“The tent of testimony was with our ancestors in the wilderness. Moses built it just as he had been instructed by the one who spoke to him and according to the pattern he had seen. 45In time, when they had received the tent, our ancestors carried it with them when, under Joshua’s leadership, they took possession of the land from the nations whom God expelled. This tent remained in the land until the time of David. 46God approved of David, who asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.#7.46 Critical editions of the Gk New Testament read house of Jacob. 47But it was Solomon who actually built a house for God. 48However, the Most High doesn’t live in houses built by human hands. As the prophet says,
49“Heaven is my throne,”
“and the earth is my footstool.”
“‘What kind of house will you build for me,’ says the Lord,”
“‘or where is my resting place?”
50“Didn’t I make all these things with my own hand?’”#7.50 Isa 66:1-2
51“You stubborn people! In your thoughts and hearing, you are like those who have had no part in God’s covenant! You continuously set yourself against the Holy Spirit, just like your ancestors did. 52Was there a single prophet your ancestors didn’t harass? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one, and you’ve betrayed and murdered him! 53You received the Law given by angels, but you haven’t kept it.”
54Once the council members heard these words, they were enraged and began to grind their teeth at Stephen. 55But Stephen, enabled by the Holy Spirit, stared into heaven and saw God’s majesty and Jesus standing at God’s right side. 56He exclaimed, “Look! I can see heaven on display and the Human One#7.56 Or Son of Man standing at God’s right side!” 57At this, they shrieked and covered their ears. Together, they charged at him, 58threw him out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses placed their coats in the care of a young man named Saul. 59As they battered him with stones, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, accept my life!” 60Falling to his knees, he shouted, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” Then he died.
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Acts of the Apostles 7: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Acts 7
7
Stephen’s Speech
1Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
2#Ge 11:31; Ps 29:3He said, “Brothers and fathers, listen! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran, 3#Ge 12:1and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and come to the land which I will show you.’#Ge 12:1.
4#Ge 12:4–5; 11:31–32“Then he departed from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Harran. When his father died, He removed him from there to this land in which you now live. 5#Ge 12:7; 17:8He gave him no inheritance in it, nor a foothold, and promised to give it to him as a possession and to his descendants after him while he had no child. 6#Ge 15:13God spoke in this way, ‘Your descendants shall be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who will enslave them and mistreat them four hundred years.#Ge 15:13. 7#Ex 3:12And I will judge the nation to whom they will be enslaved,’#Ge 15:14. said God. ‘After that they shall come out and worship Me in this place.’#Ex 3:12. 8#Ge 17:9–14; 35:23–26Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision. And 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#Ge 39:2; 45:4“The patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him, 10#Ge 42:6and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him governor over Egypt and all his house.
11#Ps 105:16“Then a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan with great affliction, and our fathers found no sustenance. 12But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time. 13During the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14#Dt 10:22; Ge 46:26–27Then Joseph sent and called for his father Jacob and all his kindred, seventy-five souls. 15#Ge 49:33; Ex 1:6Then Jacob went down into Egypt. And he and our fathers died, 16#Jos 24:32; Ge 23:16; Ex 13:19and were carried to Shechem and put in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a price of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.
17#Ac 7:6; 13:17“When the time of the promise drew near, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt 18#Ex 1:8until another king rose up who did not know Joseph.#Ex 1:8. 19#Ex 1:9–22; Ps 105:25He dealt deceitfully with our people and mistreated our fathers, forcing them to put out their young children, that they might not live.
20#Heb 11:23“At that time Moses was born, and was fair in the sight of God. And he was reared for three months in his father’s house. 21When he was put out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and reared him as her own son. 22#Isa 19:11; Da 1:4Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in words and in deeds.
23#Ex 2:11–12; Heb 11:24–26“When he was forty years old, it came to his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. 24But seeing one being wronged, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck the Egyptian. 25He supposed that his brothers would understand that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26On the next day he appeared to them as they fought and tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’#Ex 2:13.
27#Ac 7:35; Lk 12:14“But the one wronging his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? 28Will you kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’#Gk. 15 orguias, about 27 meters. 29Moses fled at this word and became a sojourner in the land of Midian,#Ex 2:11–15. where he became the father of two sons.
30#Ac 7:35; Ex 3:1–2“When forty years had passed, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.#Ex 3:1–4. 31#Ex 3:3–4When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight. As he drew near to look at it, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying, 32#Ex 3:6; Mt 22:32‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’#Ex 3:6. Moses trembled and dared not look.
33#Ex 3:5; Jos 5:15“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the shoes from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.#Ex 3:5. 34#Ex 3:7–10I have indeed seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt. I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you to Egypt.’#Ex 3:7, 10.
35#Ex 14:19; Nu 20:16“This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?’#Ex 2:14. God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36#Ex 12:41; 14:21; 33:1He led them out after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness.
37“This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. Him you shall hear.’#Dt 18:15. 38#Ro 3:2; Ac 7:53; Heb 5:12This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living oracles to give to us, 39#Nu 14:3–4; Ex 16:3whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust away. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, 40#Ex 32:1; 32:23saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods to go before us. For we do not know what has become of this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt.’#Ex 32:1, 23. 41So 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; Eze 20:39But God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets:
‘O House of Israel, have you offered to Me slain animals and sacrifices
for forty years in the wilderness?
43Yes, you even raised the shrine of Moloch,
and the star of your god Remphan,
idols which you made to worship;
therefore I will exile you beyond Babylon.’
44#Ex 25:40; 38:21“Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, telling Moses to make it as He had commanded, according to the pattern that he had seen, 45#Ps 44:2; Jos 18:1which our fathers, having received it, brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out in front of our fathers until the days of David, 46#Ps 132:1–5; Ac 13:22who found favor in the presence of God and asked to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. 47#1Ki 8:20; 2Sa 7:13But Solomon built Him a house.
48#1Ki 8:27“However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands. As the prophet says:
49#Mt 5:34–35; Ps 11:4 ‘Heaven is My throne,
and the earth is My footstool.
What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,
or what is the place of My rest?
50Has not My hand made all these things?’
51#Ex 32:9; Lev 26:41“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52#Mt 5:12; 2Ch 36:16Which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted? They have even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become the betrayers and murderers, 53#Gal 3:19; Heb 2:2; Dt 33:2who have received the law by the disposition of angels, but have not kept it.”
The Stoning of Stephen
54#Ac 5:33; Job 16:9When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed their teeth at him. 55#Mk 16:19; Jn 12:41But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56#Mt 3:16and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57Then they cried out with a loud voice, closed their ears, and rushed at him in unison. 58#Ac 22:20; Lk 4:29; Ac 8:1And they threw him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59#Ps 31:5; Lk 23:46They stoned Stephen as he was calling on God, praying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60#Mt 5:44; Lk 22:41Then he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Having said this, he fell asleep.
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