Acts 7

1 And the chief priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And he said: “Men, brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran, † 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred, and come into the land that I will show you.’ [a] 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, he moved him into this land in which you now live; 5 and he gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on, and he promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his seed after him — and he had no child. [b] 6 And God spoke in this way: that his seed would live as strangers in a land belonging to others, and that they would enslave it and mistreat it for four hundred years. 7 ‘And the nation they serve, I will judge,’ God said, ‘and after these things they will come out and serve me in this place.’ [c] 8 And he gave him a covenant of circumcision; and so he fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.

9 “And the patriarchs, envying Joseph, sold him into Egypt. And God was with him, 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he appointed him leader over Egypt and over his whole household. 11 And a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 And Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, sent our fathers out the first time; 13 and on the second, Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became plain to Pharaoh. 14 And Joseph sent and called for Jacob his father and all his kindred — seventy-five souls. [d] 15 And Jacob went down into Egypt. And he died, he and our fathers, 16 and they were carried over to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a price in silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. [e]

17 “But as the time drew near for the promise that God had acknowledged to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, [f] 18 until another king rose up over Egypt, one who did not know Joseph. [g] 19 This one outwitted our race and mistreated our fathers, making their infants exposed so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At that time Moses was born, and he was fine in God’s sight. He was brought up for three months in his father’s house; [h] 21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and brought him up for herself as a son. 22 And Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in his words and deeds.

23 “And when a forty-year span was being filled for him, it came up on his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended him and took vengeance for the man who was being worn down, by striking down the Egyptian. 25 And he supposed his brothers understood that God was giving them rescue through his hand; but they did not understand. 26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting, and he tried to bring them together into peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you wronging each other?’ 27 But the one who was wronging his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you mean to kill me the way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ [i] 29 And at this word Moses fled, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he fathered two sons.

30 “And when forty years were filled, a messenger appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire out of a bush. [j] 31 And Moses, seeing it, marveled at the sight; and as he came near to look closely, there came a voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’ And Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look closely. [k] 33 And the Lord said to him, ‘Take the sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. [l] 34 I have seen — I have truly seen — the affliction of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. And now come: I am sending you to Egypt.’ [m]

35 “This Moses, whom they denied, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ — this one God has sent as both ruler and ransomer, with the hand of the messenger who appeared to him in the bush. [n] 36 This one led them out, doing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet from among your brothers, like me.’ [o] 38 This is the one who was in the gathering in the wilderness with the messenger who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; who received living words to give to us; [p]

39 “to whom our fathers were not willing to become obedient — instead they pushed him away and turned in their hearts to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go ahead of us; as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt — we do not know what has become of him.’ [q] 41 And they made a calf in those days and brought a sacrifice up to the idol, and were glad in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned and handed them over to serve the army of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

44 “The tent of witness was with our fathers in the wilderness, just as the one who spoke to Moses directed — to make it according to the pattern he had seen; 45 which our fathers, receiving it in turn, also brought in with Joshua when they took possession of the nations that God drove out from before our fathers, until the days of David; [s] 46 who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. [t] 47 But Solomon built him a house. 48 Yet the Most High does not live in things made by hands, as the prophet says: †

51 “Stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. [v] 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand about the coming of the Righteous One, whose traitors and murderers you have now become — 53 you who received the law at the ordering of messengers, and did not keep it.” [w]

54 And hearing these things they were cut through in their hearts and ground their teeth at him. [x] 55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and he said, “Look — 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 shut and rushed at him with one mind, 58 and throwing him outside the city they were stoning him. And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul. [y]

59 And they were stoning Stephen as he called out and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And putting his knees down he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not set this sin against them.” And having said this, he fell asleep. [z] †