Acts 7

1. And the high priest said, “Now then, are these things so?”

2. And he said, “Men, brethren and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,

3. And said to him, ‘Leave your land and your kindred, and come into the land that I will show you.’

4. Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Charran; and from there, after his father died, He removed him to this country in which you now dwell.

5. Now He did not give him an inheritance in it, not even as much as a foot of ground; but He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when he did not yet have a child.

6. And God spoke after this manner: that his seed would be a sojourner in a strange land, and they would enslave them and treat them harshly for four hundred years;

7. ‘Then will I judge the nation to which they shall be enslaved,’ said God, ‘and after these things they shall come forth and serve Me in this place.’

8. And He gave to him a covenant of circumcision. And so he begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.

9. And the patriarchs, who envied Joseph, sold him into Egypt. But God was with him,

10. And delivered him out of all his tribulations, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he appointed him ruler over Egypt and his whole house.

11. Then a famine came upon the whole land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction; and our fathers could not find sustenance.

12. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers first;

13. And at the second time, Joseph was made known to his brethren, and the family of Joseph became known to Pharaoh.

14. Then Joseph sent and called for his father Jacob, and all his kindred, being seventy-five souls.

15. And Jacob went down into Egypt; and he and our fathers died,

16. And were carried over to Sychem, and were placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of money from the sons of Emmor of Sychem.

17. But when the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise that God had sworn to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,

18. Until another king arose who did not know Joseph.

19. He dealt subtly with our kindred and treated our fathers harshly, making them cast out their infants so that they might not live.

20. During this time Moses was born, who was beautiful to God, and was brought up three months in his father’s house.

21. And after he was discovered, 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 mighty in words and in deeds.

23. But when a period of forty years was fulfilled for him, it came into his heart to look upon his brethren, the children of Israel;

24. And when he saw a certain one suffering wrongly, he defended him, and avenged the one who was being oppressed, and killed the Egyptian.

25. For he thought that his brethren would understand that God would give them deliverance by his hand. But they did not understand.

26. And on the following day, he appeared to those who were contending and urged them to make peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren. Why do you wrong one another?’

27. But the one who was doing wrong to his neighbor shoved him away, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and judge over us?

28. Do you intend to kill me, just as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

29. And at this saying, Moses fled; and he became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he begot two sons.

30. And when forty years were fulfilled, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush in the desert of Mount Sinai.

31. Now when Moses saw it, he was amazed at the vision; and as he drew near to consider it, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying,

32. ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ Then Moses began to tremble, and he dared not look upon it.

33. And the Lord said to him, ‘Loose the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.

34. I have been watching, and I have seen the harsh treatment of My people in Egypt; and I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to bring them out; and now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

35. This Moses, whom they refused, saying, ‘Who appointed you as ruler and judge?’ This one did God send to be ruler and deliverer by the hand of the Angel Who appeared to him in the bush.

36. This one led them out, after working 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, ‘A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up for you from among your brethren, like me; Him shall you hear.’

38. This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the Angel Who spoke to him in Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; who received the living oracles to give to us;

39. To whom our fathers would not be subject, but thrust him away, and turned their hearts back to Egypt,

40. Saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us; for this Moses who brought us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’

41. And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

42. Then God turned and delivered them over to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer slain beasts and sacrifices to Me those forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

43. But you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, even the images that you had made to worship them; and so I will remove you beyond Babylon.’

44. The tabernacle of the testimony was among our fathers in the wilderness, as He Who spoke to Moses had commanded, to make it according to the pattern which he had seen;

45. Which also our fathers, who received it by succession, brought in with Joshua, when they took possession of the land from the nations whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, until the days of David;

46. Who found grace before God, and sought to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob;

47. But Solomon built Him a house.

48. However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made by hands, as the prophet says:

49. ‘The heaven is My throne, and the earth is a footstool for My feet. What house will you build for Me, says the Lord, or what is the place of My rest?

50. Have not My hands made all these things?’

51. O stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so also do you.

52. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of Whom you have become the betrayers and murderers;

53. Who received the law by the disposition of angels, but have not kept it.”

54. And when they heard these things, they were cut to their hearts, and they gnashed their teeth at him.

55. But he, being filled with the Holy Spirit, looked 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, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.”

57. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed upon him with one accord,

58. And cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul.

59. And they stoned Stephen, who called upon God, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

60. And he fell to his knees and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not lay this sin to their charge.” And after he had said this, he died.