Acts 7
7
Stephen's Apologia
1 Now the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And he said:
“Men—brothers and fathers—listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your relatives and come into the land which I will show you.’ 4 Then when he had gone out from the land of the Chaldeans, he lived in Haran. And from there, after his father died, He caused him to migrate to this land in which you are now living. 5 And He did not give to him an inheritance in it, not even the length of a foot, but He promised to give it to him for a possession and to his descendants* after him, although he did not have a child.* 6 And God spoke thus—that his descendants ‘will be sojourners in a foreign land, and they will enslave them and treat them badly for four hundred years.* 7 And the nation to which they will be in slavery, ‘I will judge,’ said God, ‘and after these things they will come out and worship Me’* in this place. 8 And He gave him the covenant of circumcision. And thus he became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.*
9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt. But God was with him, 10 and rescued him from all his distresses and granted him favour and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And he appointed him to rule over Egypt and over all his household.
11 “Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great distress, and our fathers found no food. 12 But when Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time.* 13 And for the second time, Joseph caused himself to be recognised by his brothers, and the family of Joseph became known to Pharaoh. 14 And Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five souls in all. 15 And Jacob went down to Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers; 16 and they were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17 “But as the time of the promise which God had covenanted to Abraham was approaching, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, 18 until another king arose over Egypt* who did not know Joseph. 19 After he had dealt craftily with our nation, he treated our fathers badly, forcing them to expose their infants, so that they would not be preserved alive. 20 At this time, Moses was born, and he was beautiful to God. He was brought up for three months in the house of his father, 21 and when he was exposed, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in his words and deeds.
23 “But when he was forty years old,* it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. 24 And when he saw one of them being wronged, he defended him and avenged* the one who had been harassed by striking down the Egyptian. 25 And he supposed his brothers would understand that God was granting salvation to them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And the next day, he appeared to them while they were quarreling and was exhorting them to peace, saying, ‘Men and brothers, why are you doing wrong to one another?’ 27 But the one who was trying to do wrong to his neighbour pushed him away, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to murder me as you murdered the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 And at this statement, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30 “And when forty years had been completed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of a burning thorn-bush. 31 And when Moses saw it, he marvelled at the sight, and while he came near to observe it, the voice of the Lord came: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ Then Moses became terrified and did not dare to observe it. 33 And the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals* from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have definitely seen* the maltreatment of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their sighs, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’
35 “This Moses, whom they disavowed, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?’—this man, God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 “This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ 38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living utterances* to give to us, 39 to whom our fathers were not willing to become obedient, but pushed him away and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses, who led us out from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has occurred to him. 41 And they made a calf in those days and offered up a sacrifice to the idol, and they were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, just as it is written in the book of the prophets:
‘Did you offer to Me slain beasts and sacrifices
for forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43 And you took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan,
the images that you made, to worship them;
and I will exile you beyond Babylon.’*
44 “The tent of the testimony belonged to our fathers in the wilderness, just as the One who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it, according to the pattern which he had seen, 45 and which, having received it in turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua when they took possession of the nations which God expelled from the presence of our fathers, until the days of David, 46 who found favour before God and requested to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built the house for Him. 48 Yet the Most High does not live in houses made by hands, just as the prophet says,
49 ‘Heaven is My throne,
and the earth is a footstool for My feet.
What sort of house will you build for Me, says the Lord,
or what is the place of My rest?
50 Did not My hand make all these things?’*
51 “You stiff-necked* people and uncircumcised in hearts and ears. You consistently resist the Holy Spirit. Just as your fathers did, so also you are doing.* 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who proclaimed beforehand concerning the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become, 53 you who received the Law by decrees given by angels, and have not kept it.”
54 Now when they heard these things, they were exasperated in their hearts and ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But crying out with a loud voice, they held their ears and rushed at him unanimously.* 58 And when they had driven him out of the city, they began to throw stones at him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man called Saul. 59 And they went on throwing stones at Stephen as he was calling out and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he said this, he fell asleep.
Notes
5 Greek seed
5 The Greek text uses a semantic ellipsis, reading although not to him a child , with the word have implied by the context
6 The Greek text reads: … that his seed will be sojourners in a foreign land, and they will enslave him and treat him badly four hundred years
6-7 Quoted from Gen. 15:13-14
8 The Greek text uses a semantic ellipsis, reading: …and Isaac the Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs , with the words became the father of Jacob implied by the context
12 Greek first
18 Some ancient manuscripts omit over Egypt
23 Greek But when a period of forty years was completed for him
24 Greek performed vengeance
33 Greek sandal
34 Greek Having seen, I saw
38 Or words
42-43 Quoted from Amos 5:25-27
49-50 Quoted from Is. 66:1-2
51 Or obstinate
51 The Greek text uses a semantic ellipsis, reading Just as your fathers, so also you
57 Or at the same time
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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).
