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 of Emissaries of Yeshua (Act) 7
7
1The cohen hagadol asked, “Are these accusations true?” 2and Stephen said:
“Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to Avraham avinu in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran 3and said to him, ‘Leave your land and your family, and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4So he left the land of the Kasdim and lived in Haran. After his father died, God made him move to this land where you are living now. 5He gave him no inheritance in it, not even space for one foot; yet he promised to give it to him as a possession and to his descendants after him, even though at the time he was childless. 6What God said to him was, ‘Your descendants will be aliens in a foreign land, where they will be in slavery and oppressed for four hundred years. 7But I will judge the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and afterwards they will leave and worship me in this place.’ 8And he gave him b’rit-milah. So he became the father of Yitz’chak and did his b’rit-milah on the eighth day, and Yitz’chak became the father of Ya‘akov, and Ya‘akov became the father of the Twelve Patriarchs.
9“Now the Patriarchs grew jealous of Yosef and sold him into slavery in Egypt. But Adonai was with him; 10he rescued him from all his troubles and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him chief administrator over Egypt and over all his household. 11Now there came a famine that caused much suffering throughout Egypt and Kena‘an 12But when Ya‘akov heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. 13The second time, Yosef revealed his identity to his brothers, and Yosef’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14Yosef then sent for his father Ya‘akov and all his relatives, seventy-five people. 15And Ya‘akov went down to Egypt; there he died, as did our other ancestors. 16Their bodies were removed to Sh’khem and buried in the tomb Avraham had bought from the family of Hamor in Sh’khem for a certain sum of money.
17“As the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise God had made to Avraham, the number of our people in Egypt increased greatly, 18until there arose another king over Egypt who had no knowledge of Yosef. 19With cruel cunning this man forced our fathers to put their newborn babies outside their homes, so that they would not survive.
20“It was then that Moshe was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. For three months he was reared in his father’s house; 21and when he was put out of his home, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22So Moshe was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became both a powerful speaker and a man of action.
23“But when he was forty years old, the thought came to him to visit his brothers, the people of Isra’el. 24On seeing one of them being mistreated, he went to his defense and took revenge by striking down the Egyptian. 25He supposed his brothers would understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn’t understand. 26When he appeared the next day, as they were fighting, and tried to make peace between them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers! Why do you want to hurt each other?’ 27the one who was mistreating his fellow pushed Moshe away and said, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us? 28Do you want to kill me, the way you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ 29On hearing this, Moshe fled the country and became an exile in the land of Midyan, where he had two sons.
30“After forty more years, an angel appeared to him in the desert near Mount Sinai in the flames of a burning thorn bush. 31When Moshe saw this, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to get a better look, there came the voice of Adonai, 32‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov.’ But Moshe trembled with fear and didn’t dare to look. 33Adonai said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34I have clearly seen how My people are being oppressed in Egypt, I have heard their cry, and I have come down to rescue them, and now I will send you to Egypt.’
35“This Moshe, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ is the very one whom God sent as both ruler and ransomer by means of the angel that appeared to him in the thorn bush. 36This man led them out, performing miracles and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37This is the Moshe who said to the people of Isra’el, ‘God will raise up a prophet like me from among your brothers’ 38This is the man who was in the assembly in the wilderness, accompanied by the angel that had spoken to him at Mount Sinai and by our fathers, the man who was given living words to pass on to us.
39“But our fathers did not want to obey him. On the contrary, they rejected him and in their hearts turned to Egypt, 40saying to Aharon, ‘Make us some gods to lead us; because this Moshe, who led us out of Egypt — we don’t know what has become of him.’ 41That was when they made an idol in the shape of a calf and offered a sacrifice to it and held a celebration in honor of what they had made with their own hands. 42So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars — as has been written in the book of the prophets,
‘People of Isra’el, it was not to me
that you offered slaughtered animals
and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness!
43No, you carried the tent of Molekh
and the star of your god Reifan,
the idols you made so that you could worship them.
Therefore, I will send you into exile beyond Bavel.’
44“Our fathers had the Tent of Witness in the wilderness. It had been made just as God, who spoke to Moshe, had ordered it made, according to the pattern Moshe had seen. 45Later on, our fathers who had received it brought it in with Y’hoshua when they took the Land away from the nations that God drove out before them.
“So it was until the days of David. 46He enjoyed God’s favor and asked if he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Ya‘akov 47and Shlomo did build him a house. 48But Ha‘Elyon does not live in places made by hand! As the prophet says,
49‘Heaven is my throne,’ says Adonai,
‘and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house could you build for me?
What kind of place could you devise for my rest?
50Didn’t I myself make all these things?’
51“Stiffnecked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You continually oppose the Ruach HaKodesh! You do the same things your fathers did! 52Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who told in advance about the coming of the Tzaddik, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers! — 53you! — who receive the Torah as having been delivered by angels — but do not keep it!”
54On hearing these things, they were cut to their hearts and ground their teeth at him. 55But he, full of the Ruach HaKodesh, looked up to heaven and saw God’s Sh’khinah, with Yeshua standing at the right hand of God. 56“Look!” he exclaimed, “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
57At this, they began yelling at the top of their voices, so that they wouldn’t have to hear him; and with one accord, they rushed at him, 58threw him outside the city and began stoning him. And the witnesses laid down their coats at the feet of a young man named Sha’ul.
59As they were stoning him, Stephen called out to God, “Lord Yeshua! Receive my spirit!” 60Then he kneeled down and shouted out, “Lord! Don’t hold this sin against them!” With that, he died;
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