Acts 7
7
Stephen Speaks in His Own Defense
1Then the chief priest asked Stephen, “Is this true?”
2Stephen answered, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God who reveals his glory appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia. This happened before Abraham lived in Haran. 3God told him, ‘Leave your land and your relatives. Go to the land that I will show you.’
4“Then Abraham left the country of Chaldea and lived in the city of Haran. After his father died, God made him move from there to this land where we now live.
5“Yet, God didn’t give Abraham anything in this land to call his own, not even a place to rest his feet. But God promised to give this land to him and to his descendants, even though Abraham didn’t have a child. 6God told Abraham that his descendants would be foreigners living in another country and that the people there would make them slaves and mistreat them for 400 years. 7God also told him, ‘I will punish the people whom they will serve. After that, they will leave that country and worship me here.’
8“God gave Abraham circumcision to confirm his promise.#7:8 Or “covenant.” So when Abraham’s son Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac did the same to his son Jacob, and Jacob did the same to his twelve sons (the ancestors of our tribes).
9“Jacob’s sons were jealous of their brother Joseph. They sold him into slavery, and he was taken to Egypt. But God was with Joseph 10and rescued him from all his suffering. When Joseph stood in the presence of Pharaoh (the king of Egypt), God gave Joseph divine favor #7:10 Or “grace.” and wisdom so that he became ruler of Egypt and of Pharaoh’s whole palace. 11Then a famine throughout Egypt and Canaan brought a lot of suffering. Our ancestors couldn’t find any food. 12When Jacob heard that Egypt had food, he sent our ancestors there. That was their first trip. 13On the second trip, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his relatives, 75 people in all. 15So Jacob went to Egypt, and he and our ancestors died there. 16They were taken to Shechem for burial in the tomb that Abraham purchased in Shechem from Hamor’s sons.
17“When the time that God had promised to Abraham had almost come, the number of our people in Egypt had grown very large. 18Then a different king, who knew nothing about Joseph, began to rule in Egypt. 19This king was shrewd in the way he took advantage of our people. He mistreated our ancestors. He made them abandon their newborn babies outdoors, where they would die.
20“At that time Moses was born, and he was a very beautiful child. His parents took care of him for three months. 21When Moses was abandoned outdoors, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and raised him as her son. 22So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man in what he said and did. 23When he was 40 years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24When he saw an Israelite man being treated unfairly by an Egyptian, he defended the Israelite. He took revenge by killing the Egyptian. 25Moses thought his own people would understand that God was going to use him to give them freedom. But they didn’t understand. 26The next day Moses saw two Israelites fighting, and he tried to make peace between them. He said to them, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you treating each other unfairly?’
27“But one of the men pushed Moses aside. He asked Moses, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge? 28Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29After he said that, Moses quickly left Egypt and lived in Midian as a foreigner. In Midian he fathered two sons.
30“Forty years later, a Messenger appeared to him in the flames of a burning bush in the desert of Mount Sinai. 31Moses was surprised when he saw this. As he went closer to look at the bush, the voice of the Lord said to him, 32‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses began to tremble and didn’t dare to look at the bush. 33The Lord told him, ‘Take off your sandals. The place where you’re standing is holy ground. 34I’ve seen how my people are mistreated in Egypt. I’ve heard their groaning and have come to rescue them. So now I’m sending you to Egypt.’
35“This is the Moses whom the Israelites rejected by saying, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge?’ This is the one God sent to free them and to rule them with the help of the Messenger who appeared to him in the bush. 36This is the man who led our ancestors out of Egypt. He is the person who did amazing things and worked miracles in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the desert for 40 years. 37This is the same Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will send you a prophet, an Israelite like me.’ 38This is the Moses who was in the assembly in the desert. Our ancestors and the Messenger who spoke to him on Mount Sinai were there with him. Moses received life-giving messages to give to us, 39but our ancestors were not willing to obey him. Instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt. 40They told Aaron, ‘We don’t know what has happened to this Moses, who led us out of Egypt. So make gods who will lead us.’ 41That was the time they made a calf. They offered a sacrifice to that false god and delighted in what they had made.
42“So God turned away from them and let them worship the sun, moon, and stars. This is written in the book of the prophets: ‘Did you bring me sacrifices and grain offerings in the desert for 40 years, nation of Israel? 43You carried along the shrine of Moloch, the star of the god Rephan, and the statues you made for yourselves to worship. I will send you into exile beyond the city of Babylon.’
44“In the desert our ancestors had the tent of God’s promise. Moses built this tent exactly as God had told him. He used the model he had seen. 45After our ancestors received the tent, they brought it into this land. They did this with Joshua’s help when they took possession of the land from the nations that God forced out of our ancestors’ way. This tent remained here until the time of David, 46who won God’s favor. David asked that he might provide a permanent place for the family of Jacob.#7:46 Some manuscripts and translations read “God of Jacob.” 47But Solomon was the one who built a house for God.
48“However, the Most High doesn’t live in a house built by humans, as the prophet says:
49‘The Lord says,
“Heaven is my throne.
The earth is my footstool.
What kind of house are you going to build for me?
Where will I rest?
50Didn’t I make all these things?” ’
51“How stubborn can you be? How can you be so heartless and disobedient? You’re just like your ancestors. They always opposed the Holy Spirit, and so do you! 52Was there ever a prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute? They killed those who predicted that a man with God’s approval would come. You have now become the people who betrayed and murdered that man. 53You are the people who received Moses’ Teachings, which were put into effect by angels. But you haven’t obeyed those teachings.”
Stephen Is Executed
54As council members listened to Stephen, they became noticeably furious. 55But Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. He looked into heaven, saw God’s glory, and Jesus in the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne. 56So Stephen said, “Look, I see heaven opened and the Son of Man in the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the throne!”
57But the council members shouted and refused to listen. Then they rushed at Stephen with one purpose in mind, 58and after they had thrown him out of the city, they began to stone him to death. The witnesses left their coats with a young man named Saul.
59While council members were executing Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, welcome my spirit.” 60Then he knelt down and shouted, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them.” After he had said this, he died.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Acts 7
7
1 Then the high priest said, "Are these things so?"
2 And Stephen said: "Noble brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he stayed in Haran.
3 And God said to him, 'Depart from your country and from your kindred, and go into the land that I will show to you.'
4 Then he went away from the land of the Chaldeans, and he lived at Haran. And later, after his father was dead, God brought him into this land, in which you now dwell.
5 And he gave him no inheritance in it, not even the space of one step. But he promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his offspring after him, though he did not have a son.
6 Then God told him that his offspring would be a settler in a foreign land, and that they would subjugate them, and treat them badly, for four hundred years.
7 'And the nation whom they will serve, I will judge,' said the Lord. 'And after these things, they shall depart and shall serve me in this place.'
8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so he conceived Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac conceived Jacob, and Jacob, the twelve Patriarchs.
9 And the Patriarchs, being jealous, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him.
10 And he rescued him from all his tribulations. And he gave him grace and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And he appointed him as governor over Egypt and over all his house.
11 Then a famine occurred in all of Egypt and Canaan, and a great tribulation. And our fathers did not find food.
12 But when Jacob had heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers first.
13 And on the second occasion, Joseph was recognized by his brothers, and his ancestry was made manifest to Pharaoh.
14 Then Joseph sent for and brought his father Jacob, with all his kindred, seventy-five souls.
15 And Jacob descended into Egypt, and he passed away, and so did our fathers.
16 And they crossed over into Shechem, and they were placed in the sepulcher which Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the son of Shechem.
17 And when the time of the Promise that God had revealed to Abraham drew near, the people increased and were multiplied in Egypt,
18 even until another king, who did not know Joseph, rose up in Egypt.
19 This one, encompassing our kindred, afflicted our fathers, so that they would expose their infants, lest they be kept alive.
20 In the same time, Moses was born. And he was in the grace of God, and he was nourished for three months in the house of his father.
21 Then, having been abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh took him in, and she raised him as her own son.
22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And he was mighty in his words and in his deeds.
23 But when forty years of age were completed in him, it rose up in his heart that he should visit his brothers, the sons of Israel.
24 And when he had seen a certain one suffering injury, he defended him. And striking the Egyptian, he wrought a retribution for him who was enduring the injury.
25 Now he supposed that his brothers would understand that God would grant them salvation through his hand. But they did not understand it.
26 So truly, on the following day, he appeared before those who were arguing, and he would have reconciled them in peace, saying, 'Men, you are brothers. So why would you harm one another?'
27 But he who was causing the injury to his neighbor rejected him, saying: 'Who has appointed you as leader and judge over us?
28 Could it be that you want to kill me, in the same way that you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'
29 Then, at this word, Moses fled. And he became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he produced two sons.
30 And when forty years were completed, there appeared to him, in the desert of Mount Sinai, an Angel, in a flame of fire in a bush.
31 And upon seeing this, Moses was amazed at the sight. And as he drew near in order to gaze at it, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying:
32 'I am the God of your fathers: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses, being made to tremble, did not dare to look.
33 But the Lord said to him: 'Loosen the shoes from your feet. For the place in which you stand is holy ground.
34 Certainly, I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning. And so, I am coming down to free them. And now, go forth and I will send you into Egypt.'
35 This Moses, whom they rejected by saying, 'Who has appointed you as leader and judge?' is the one God sent to be leader and redeemer, by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36 This man led them out, accomplishing signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and at the Red Sea, and in the desert, for forty years.
37 This is Moses, who said to the sons of Israel: 'God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own brothers. You shall listen to him.'
38 This is he who was in the Church in the wilderness, with the Angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. It is he who received the words of life to give to us.
39 It is he whom our fathers were not willing to obey. Instead, they rejected him, and in their hearts they turned away toward Egypt,
40 saying to Aaron: 'Make gods for us, which may go before us. For this Moses, who led us away from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.'
41 And so they fashioned a calf in those days, and they offered sacrifices to an idol, and they rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
42 Then God turned, and he handed them over, to subservience to the armies of heaven, just as it was written in the Book of the Prophets: 'Did you not offer victims and sacrifices to me for forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
43 And yet you took up for yourselves the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, figures which you yourselves formed in order to adore them. And so I will carry you away, beyond Babylon.'
44 The tabernacle of the testimony was with our fathers in the desert, just as God ordained for them, speaking to Moses, so that he would make it according to the form that he had seen.
45 But our fathers, receiving it, also brought it, with Joshua, into the land of the Gentiles, whom God expelled before the face of our fathers, even until the days of David,
46 who found grace before God and who asked that he might obtain a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him.
48 Yet the Most High does not live in houses built by hands, just as he said through the prophet:
49 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house would you build for me? says the Lord. And which is my resting place?
50 Has not my hand made all these things?'
51 Stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you ever resist the Holy Spirit. Just as your fathers did, so also do you do.
52 Which of the Prophets have your fathers not persecuted? And they killed those who foretold the advent of the Just One. And you have now become the betrayers and murderers of him.
53 You received the law by the actions of Angels, and yet you have not kept it."
54 Then, upon hearing these things, they were deeply wounded in their hearts, and they gnashed their teeth at him.
55 But he, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and gazing intently toward heaven, saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God."
56 Then they, crying out with a loud voice, blocked their ears and, with one accord, rushed violently toward him.
57 And driving him out, beyond the city, they stoned him. And witnesses placed their garments beside the feet of a youth, who was called Saul.
58 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
59 Then, having been brought to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord. And Saul was consenting to his murder.
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