Acts 7
7
Stephen’s Speech
1The high priest said to Stephen, “Is all this true?” 2Stephen answered, “My Jewish fathers and brothers, listen to me. Our great and glorious God appeared to Abraham, our ancestor, when he was in Mesopotamia. This was before he lived in Haran. 3God said to him, ‘Leave your country and your people, and go to the country I will show you.’#Quote from Gen. 12:1.
4“So Abraham left the country of Chaldea.#7:4 Chaldea Or “Babylonia,” a land in the southern part of Mesopotamia. See verse 2. He went to live in Haran. After his father died, God sent him to this place, where you live now. 5But God did not give Abraham any of this land, not even a foot of it. But God promised that in the future he would give Abraham this land for himself and for his children. This was before Abraham had any children.
6“This is what God said to him: ‘Your descendants will live in another country. They will be strangers. The people there will make them slaves and mistreat them for 400 years. 7But I will punish the nation that made them slaves.’#Quote from Gen. 15:13-14. And God also said, ‘After those things happen, your people will come out of that country. Then they will worship me here in this place.’#Quote from Gen. 15:14; Ex. 3:12.
8“God made an agreement with Abraham; the sign for this agreement was circumcision. And so when Abraham had a son, he circumcised him when he was eight days old. His son’s name was Isaac. Isaac also circumcised his son Jacob. And Jacob did the same for his sons, who became the twelve great ancestors of our people.
9“These ancestors of ours became jealous of their brother Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him 10and saved him from all his troubles. Pharaoh was the king of Egypt then. He liked Joseph and respected him because of the wisdom God gave him. Pharaoh gave Joseph the job of being a governor of Egypt. He even let him rule over all the people in Pharaoh’s house. 11But all the land of Egypt and of Canaan became dry. It became so dry that food could not grow, and the people suffered very much. Our people could not find anything to eat.
12“But Jacob heard that there was food in Egypt. So he sent our people there. This was their first trip to Egypt. 13Then they went there a second time. This time Joseph told his brothers who he was. And Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14Then Joseph sent some men to tell Jacob, his father, to come to Egypt. He also invited all his relatives, a total of 75 people. 15So Jacob went down to Egypt. He and our other ancestors lived there until they died. 16Later, their bodies were moved to Shechem, where they were put in a tomb. It was the same tomb that Abraham had bought in Shechem from the sons of Hamor. He paid them with silver.
17“The number of our people in Egypt grew. There were more and more of our people there. The promise that God made to Abraham was soon to come true. 18Then a different king began to rule Egypt, one who knew nothing about Joseph. 19This king tricked our people. He treated them badly, making them leave their children outside to die.
20“This was the time when Moses was born. He was a very beautiful child, and for three months his parents took care of him at home. 21When they put him outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him. She raised him as her own son. 22The Egyptians taught Moses everything they knew. He was powerful in all he said and did.
23“When Moses was about 40 years old, he decided to visit his own people, the people of Israel. 24He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he defended him. Moses hit the Egyptian to pay him back for hurting the man. He hit him so hard that it killed him. 25Moses thought that his people would understand that God was using him to save them. But they did not understand.
26“The next day, Moses saw two of his own people fighting. He tried to make peace between them. He said, ‘Men, you are brothers! Why are you trying to hurt each other?’ 27The man who was hurting the other one pushed Moses away and said to him, ‘Did anyone say you could be our ruler and judge? 28Will you kill me just as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’#Quote from Ex. 2:14. 29When Moses heard him say this, he left Egypt. He went to live in the land of Midian, where he was a stranger. During the time he lived there, he had two sons.
30“Forty years later Moses was in the desert near Mount Sinai. An angel appeared to him in the flame of a burning bush. 31When Moses saw this, he was amazed. He went near to look closer at it. He heard a voice; it was the Lord’s. 32The Lord said, ‘I am the same God your ancestors had—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’#Quote from Ex. 3:6. Moses began to shake with fear. He was afraid to look at the bush.
33“The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, because the place where you are now standing is holy ground. 34I have seen my people suffer much in Egypt. I have heard my people crying and have come down to save them. Come now, Moses, I am sending you back to Egypt.’#Quote from Ex. 3:5-10.
35“This Moses was the one his people said they did not want. They said, ‘Did anyone say you could be our ruler and judge?’#Quote from Ex. 2:14. But he is the one God sent to be a ruler and savior. God sent him with the help of an angel, the one Moses saw in the burning bush. 36So Moses led the people out of Egypt. He worked wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and then in the desert for 40 years.
37“This is the same Moses who said these words to the people of Israel: ‘God will give you a prophet. That prophet will come from among your own people. He will be like me.’#Quote from Deut. 18:15. 38This same Moses was with the gathering of God’s people in the desert. He was with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and he was with our ancestors. He received life-giving words from God to give to us.
39“But our ancestors did not want to obey Moses. They rejected him. They wanted to go back to Egypt again. 40They said to Aaron, ‘Moses led us out of the country of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him. So make some gods to go before us and lead us.’#Quote from Ex. 32:1. 41So the people made an idol that looked like a calf. Then they brought sacrifices to it. They were very happy with what they had made with their own hands. 42But God turned against them and let them continue worshiping the army of false gods in the sky. This is what God says in the book that contains what the prophets wrote:
‘People of Israel, you did not bring me blood offerings and sacrifices
in the desert for 40 years;
43You carried with you the tent for worshiping Moloch
and the image of the star of your god Rephan.
These were the idols you made to worship.
So I will send you away beyond Babylon.’ Amos 5:25-27
44“The Holy Tent#7:44 Holy Tent Literally, “Tent of the Testimony.” See “Holy Tent” in the Word List. was with our ancestors in the desert. God told Moses how to make this tent. He made it like the plan that God showed him. 45Later, Joshua led our ancestors to capture the lands of the other nations. Our people went in and God made the other people go out. When our people went into this new land, they took with them this same tent. Our people received this tent from their fathers, and our people kept it until the time of David. 46God was very pleased with David. He asked God to let him build a Temple for the people of Jacob.#7:46 for the people of Jacob Some Greek copies have “for the God of Jacob.” 47But Solomon was the one who built the Temple.
48“But the Most High God does not live in houses built by human hands. This is what the prophet#7:48 prophet Isaiah, who spoke for God about 740–700 B.C. writes:
49‘The Lord says, Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is where I rest my feet.
So do you think you can build a house for me?
Do I need a place to rest?
50Remember, I made all these things!’” Isaiah 66:1-2
51Then Stephen said, “You stubborn Jewish leaders! You refuse to give your hearts to God or even listen to him. You are always against what the Holy Spirit wants you to do. That’s how your ancestors were, and you are just like them! 52They persecuted every prophet who ever lived. They even killed those who long ago said that the Righteous One would come. And now you have turned against that Righteous One and killed him. 53You are the people who received God’s law, which he gave you through his angels. But you don’t obey it!”
Stephen Is Killed
54When those in the council meeting heard this, they became very angry. They were so mad they were grinding their teeth at him. 55But Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. He looked up into heaven and saw the glory of God. And he saw Jesus standing at God’s right side. 56Stephen said, “Look! I see heaven open. And I see the Son of Man standing at God’s right side.”
57Everyone there started shouting loudly, covering their ears with their hands. Together they all ran at Stephen. 58They took him out of the city and began throwing stones at him. The men who told lies against Stephen gave their coats to a young man named Saul. 59As they were throwing the stones at him, Stephen was praying. He said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60He fell on his knees and shouted, “Lord, don’t blame them for this sin!” These were his last words before he died.
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Acts 7: ERV
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Gevurot Meyruach Hakodesh 7
7
1And the Kohen Gadol said, Are these things so?
2And Stefanos said, Achim and Avot, hear me! Elohei Hakavod appeared to Avraham Avinu while he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Charan.#7:2 Ps 29:3; Gn 11:31; 15:7
3And Hashem said to Avram, Depart from your country and from your people and come to the land which I shall show you.#7:3 Gn 12:1; 48:4
4Then having departed from the land of the Chaldeans, he settled in Charan. And from there, after the mavet of his Av, he was settled by Hashem here in this land in which we now are living.#7:4 Gn 12:5
5And Hashem did not give to him a nachalah (inheritance) in it nor AD MIDRACH KAF REGEL (even enough to put your foot on);#7:5 Dt 2:5 and yet, even when he had no ben, the havtachah (promise) of Hashem to him was ES HAARETZ HAZOT E'TEN (This land I will give) to him and to his zera (seed) after him.#7:5 Dt 2:5; Gn 12:7; 13:15; 17:8; 26:3; 48:4
6And Hashem spoke thus, that GER YIHIYEH ZAR'ACHA (your seed will be strangers [aliens]) in anotherʼs#7:6 i.e., foreign land and them they will enslave and they will mistreat them ARBA ME'OT SHANAH (four hundred years).#7:6 Gn 15:13f; Ex 1:8-11; 12:40
7V'GAM ES HAGOY ASHER YA'AVODU DAN ANOCHI (And whatever nation to which they shall be in bondage I myself will judge, said Hashem,) VACHAREI KHEN YETZU (And after that they will come out) and serve me in this place.#7:7 Gn 15:13,14; Ex 3:12
8And he gave to him bris milah. And thus Avraham Avinu became the father of Yitzchak and he did his bris milah on the Yom HaShemini and Yitzchak became the father of Ya'akov and Ya'akov of the Sheneym Asar HaAvot.#7:8 Gn 17:9-14; 21:2-4; 25:26; 29:31-35; 30:5-13,17-24; 35:16-26
9And the Avot had kinah toward Yosef and sold him into Mitzrayim (Egypt), and Hashem was with him.#7:9 Gn 37:4; 11:28; 37:28; Ps 105:17; Gn 39:1,2,21,23; 45:4; Hag 2:4
10And Hashem delivered Yosef from all his tzoros and gave to him Chen v'Chesed Hashem and chochmah before Pharaoh king of Mitzrayim (Egypt) and he appointed him his grand vizier to rule over Mitzrayim and over his whole bais.#7:10 Gn 41:37-45; Ps 105:20-22
11Now a famine came over all Mitzrayim (Egypt) and Kena'an and tzarah gedolah (great tribulation) and Avoteinu were not finding okhel.#7:11 Gn 41:54; 42:2,5
12And when Ya'akov Avinu heard that there was grain in Mitzrayim (Egypt), he sent Avoteinu there pa'am harishonah (the first time).#7:12 Gn 42:1,2
13And on the second visit Yosef was recognized by his Achim, and Yosefʼs mishpochah became known to Pharaoh.#7:13 Gn 45:1-4,16
14And having sent, Yosef summoned Ya'akov his Abba and all his mishpochah, SHIVIM#7:14 Gn 46:27 (Seventy) nefashot (souls).#7:14 Gn 45:9,10; 46:26,27; Ex 1:5; Dt 10:22
15And Ya'akov Avinu went down to Mitzrayim (Egypt) and he died, as did Avoteinu.#7:15 Gn 46:5-7; 49:33; Ex 1:6
16And they were brought back to Shechem and were placed in the kever (tomb) which Avraham bought for a sum of silver from the banim of Chamor in Shechem.#7:16 Gn 23:16-20; 33:18,19; 50:13; Josh 24:32
17Now as the time of the havtachah (promise) was drawing near, which Hashem promised to Avraham Avinu, the people grew and were multiplied in Mitzrayim,#7:17 Ex 1:7; Ps 105:24
18Until over Mitzrayim there appeared a MELECH CHADASH ASHER LO YADA ES YOSEF (a new king who knew not Yosef).#7:18 Ex 1:7,8
19This king exploited by his shrewdness our nation and mistreated Avoteinu so as to make their ollelim (infants) exposed in order not to keep them alive.#7:19 Ex 1:10-22
20And at this time Moshe Rabbenu was born and he was well pleasing to Hashem; and he was nurtured for shloshah chodashim in the bais of his abba.#7:20 Ex 2:2
21And after he had been exposed, the bat Pharaoh took Moshe Rabbeinu away, and brought him up as her own son.#7:21 Ex 2:3-10
22And Moshe Rabbenu was instructed in all the chochmah of the Egyptians and in devarim (words) and pe'ulot (deeds) he was given ko'ach.#7:22 Isa 19:11
23But when arba'im shanah of his days were completed, it entered into his lev (heart) to visit his Achim of the Bnei Yisroel.#7:23 Ex 2:11
24And having seen one of them being treated unjustly he retaliated and brought yashrus (justice) for the one being oppressed by striking down the Egyptian.#7:24 Ex 2:12
25Now he was assuming that his achim had binah that Hashem by the hand of Moshe was giving Yeshu'at Eloheinu to them, but they did not have binah (understanding).
26And on the next day he came to them as they were fighting and Moshe was trying to reconcile them in shalom, saying, Anashim, you are achim, why are you injuring one another?#7:26 Ex 2:13
27But the one injuring his re'a pushed Moshe aside, saying MI SAMECHA L'ISH SAR V'SHOFET ALENU? (Who made you ruler and judge over us)?#7:27 Ex 2:14
28HALEHARGENI ATAH OMER KA'ASHER HARAGTA yesterday ES HAMITZRI (You do not mean to kill me in the same manner as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?)
29And Moshe Rabbenu fled at this dvar and became a stranger in eretz Midyan, where he became the father of shnei banim.#7:29 Ex 2:11-15
30And at the fulfillment of arba'im shanah a MALACH appeared to him BELABAT EISH MITOCH HASENEH (in flame of fire from within a burning thorn bush) in the desert of the mountain Sinai.#7:30 Ex 3:1-2
31And Moshe Rabbenu having seen this, was nispoyel (standing in awe) at the chazon and, as he was approaching it to look more closely, there came the kol (voice) of Hashem,#7:31 Ex 3:1-4
32I am the G-d of your Avot, I am the G-d of Avraham and the G-d of Yitzchak and the G-d of Ya'akov. But Moshe Rabbenu was trembling with pachad and was not daring to look.#7:32 Ex 3:6
33And Hashem said to him, SAL NE'ALECHA ME'AL RAGLECHA (Take off your sandals from your feet) for the place on which you have stood is admat kodesh (holy ground).#7:33 Ex 3:5; Josh 5:15
34I have seen the ONI AMMI ASHER B'MITZRAYIM (misery of my people in Mitzrayim [Egypt]) and the groaning of them I heard and I came down to deliver them. And now come that I may send you to Mitzrayim (Egypt).#7:34 Ex 3:5,7-10; 2:24
35This Moshe whom they denied, having said MI SAMECHA L'ISH SAR V'SHOFET? (Who made you a ruler and a judge?) is the one whom G-d sent to be both SAR (ruler) and GO'EL (redeemer) with the help of the malach having appeared to him in the thorn bush.#7:35 Ex 2:14
36This one led them out, effecting moftim and otot in eretz Mitzrayim (Egypt) and in the Yam Suf and in the midbar arba'im shanah.#7:36 Ex 7:3; 12:41; 33:1; 11:10; 14:21; 15:25; 17:5,6; Num 14:33
37This is the Moshe who said to the Bnei Yisroel, NAVI MIKIRBECHA ME'ACHECHA KAMONI YAKIM (A prophet from among you from your brothers like me [Hashem] will raise up.)#7:37 Dt 18:15,18
38This is the one having been in the kahal (assembly) in the midbar together with the malach speaking to him at the mountain of Sinai, who was with Avoteinu; he is the one who received torat chayyim to give to us.#7:38 Ex 19:17; Lv 27:34; Dt 32:45-47
39And Avoteinu were not willing to have mishma'at (obedience) to Moshe Rabbenu, but they pushed him aside and they turned their levavot back to Mitzrayim (Egypt),#7:39 Num 14:3,4
40Having said to Aharon, Make for us g-ds who will go before us; for this Moshe who led us out of the land of Mitzrayim we do not know what happened to him.#7:40 Ex 32:1,23
41And at that time they made an egel (calf) and brought a sacrifice offering to the elil (idol) and were taking delight in the ma'asim (works) of their hands.#7:41 Ex 32:4-6; Ps 106:19,20
42But Hashem turned away and handed them over to serve the tzeva Shomayim, just as it has been written in the sefer haNevi'im, HAZEVACHIM UMINCHAH HIGASHTEM LI BAMIDBAR ARBA'IM SHANAH, BET YISROEL (It was not to me that you offered victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, O House of Israel?)#7:42 Am 5:25-27; Josh 24:20; Isa 63:10; Jer 19:13
43You also took up the ohel of Moloch and the KOKHAV of your g-d Reifan, the tzelamim (idols) which you made to worship them; therefore N'HIGLEITI ETKHEM MEHALAH (I will exile you beyond) Babylon.#7:43 Jer 7:18; TARGUM HASHIVIM 19:13; Am 5:27
44Avoteinu had the Mishkan HaEdut in the midbar just as the One who spoke to Moshe [Rabbeinu] directed him to make it according to the TAVNIT (pattern) which he had seen.#7:44 Ex 27:21; 38:21; Num 1:50; 17:7; Ex 25:8,9,40; Josh 3:14; 18:1
45And having received it in their turn, Avoteinu brought it in with Yehoshua (Joshua) upon the dispossessing of the land of the Goyim, which Hashem drove out from the presence of Avoteinu until the yamim of Dovid.#7:45 Josh 3:14-17; 18:1; 23:9; 24:18; Ps 44:2; 2Sm 7:2,6; Gn 17:8; 48:4; Dt 32:49
46And Dovid found Chen v'Chesed Hashem before G-d, and asked that he might find a mishkan for Elohei Ya'akov.#7:46 2Sm 7:2,8-16; 1Kgs 8:17; Ps 132:1-5
47And Sh'lomo (Solomon) built for him a Beis.#7:47 1Kgs 6:1-38
48But HaElyon does not dwell in battim made by human hands, just as the Navi (prophet) says,#7:48 1Kgs 8:27; 2Kgs 2:6
49HASHOMAYIM KISSI V'HAARETZ HADOM RAGLAI (Heaven is my throne and earth is the footstool for my feet). EI-ZEH BAYIT ASHER TIVNU LI (What kind of House will you build for me?) says Hashem, V'EI ZEH MAKOM MENUCHATI (Or where will my resting place be?)
50Did not my hand ASATAH (make) all these things?#7:50 Isa 66:1,2
51You AM KESHEH OREF (stiff-necked people),#7:51 Ex 33:5 you who are without the “bris milah” of the lev (heart) and of the oznayim (ears), you always resist the Ruach Hakodesh; you are doing like your Avot.#7:51 Ex 32:9; 33:3,5; Lv 26:41; Dt 10:16; Jer 4:4; 9:25; Isa 63:10
52Which of the Nevi'im (prophets) did your Avot not persecute? And they killed the ones having announced beforehand about the Bias HaMoshiach, the coming of the Tzaddik of whom now you became bogedim and rotzechim (murderers);
53You who received the Torah at the directions of malachim and were not shomer of it.
54And hearing these things, they were infuriated in their levavot, and they were grinding their teeth at him.
55But being full of the Ruach Hakodesh and having gazed into Shomayim, Stefanos saw the kavod (glory) of Hashem and Yehoshua standing limin Hashem.
56And Stefanos said, Hinei, I see Shomayim having been opened and the Bar Enosh#7:56 Dan 7:13-14 (Moshiach) standing limin Hashem.
57And having cried out with a kol gadol, they shut their oznayim and they rushed down with one impulse upon Stefanos.
58And having driven Stefanos outside the Ir (City), they were stoning him. And the edim took off their garments at the feet of a bochur named Sha'ul.#7:58 Lv 24:14,16; Dt 17:7
59And they went on stoning Stefanos as he called upon Hashem, saying, Adoneinu, receive my neshamah.#7:59 Ps 31:5
60And having fallen down, he cried out in a kol gadol, Adoneinu, may this aveirah not be held against them! And having said this, Stefanos fell asleep. And Rav Sha'ul was giving approval to the murder of Stefanos.
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