Acts 6
6
The Choosing of the Seven Deacons
1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a grumbling arose by the Hellenists* against the Hebrews* because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 Then the twelve summoned the large number of disciples and said, “It is not acceptable for us to abandon the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men who are well-attested, full of the Spirit* and of wisdom, whom we will appoint over this task. 4 But we will constantly devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And the statement pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte from Antioch, 6 whom they set before the apostles. And when they prayed, they laid their hands on them.
7 And the word of God* continued to spread, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem was increasing greatly, and a large class of priests began to be obedient to the faith.
The Persecution of Stephen
8 Now Stephen, full of grace* and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.* 9 But some of those from the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia,* arose and disputed with Stephen. 10 But they were not able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly incited men who said, “We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and when they came up, they seized him and brought him to the Sanhedrin. 13 And they put forward false witnesses who said, “This man does not cease speaking words* against this holy place and the Law, 14 for we have heard him saying that this Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and will change the customs which Moses handed down to us.” 15 And gazing intently at him, all those who were sitting in the Sanhedrin saw his face like the face of an angel.
Notes
1 Or Greek-speaking Jews
1 Or Hebraic Jews
3 Some ancient manuscripts read Holy Spirit
7 Some ancient manuscripts replace God with [the] Lord
8 Some ancient manuscripts substitute grace for faith , while one ancient Greek manuscript conflates both terms as grace and faith
8 Some Greek manuscripts expand the text to read through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
9 Two ancient Greek manuscripts omit and Asia
13 Some ancient Greek manuscripts read blasphemous words to harmonise the reading with a parallel in v. 11
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Copyright © 2026 Michael Adeyemi Adegbola. This Scripture text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
