1Then the high priest questioned Stephen. ‘Is what these people are saying true?’ he asked.2‘Brothers and fathers, listen to me!’ Stephen replied. ‘The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham. At that time Abraham was still in Mesopotamia. He had not yet begun living in Harran.3“Leave your country and your people,” God said. “Go to the land I will show you.” (Ge 12:1)4‘So Abraham left the land of Babylonia. He settled in Harran. After his father died, God sent Abraham to this land where you are now living.5God didn’t give him any property here. He didn’t even give him enough land to set his foot on. But God made a promise to him and to all his family after him. He said they would possess the land. The promise was made even though at that time Abraham had no child.6Here is what God said to him. “For 400 years your family after you will be strangers in a country not their own. They will be slaves and will be treated badly.7But I will punish the nation that makes them slaves,” God said. “After that, they will leave that country and worship me here.” (Ge 15:13; Ge 15:14)8Then God made a covenant with Abraham. God told him that circumcision would show who the members of the covenant were. Abraham became Isaac’s father. He circumcised Isaac eight days after he was born. Later, Isaac became Jacob’s father. Jacob had 12 sons. They became the founders of the 12 tribes of Israel.9‘Jacob’s sons were jealous of their brother Joseph. So they sold him as a slave. He was taken to Egypt. But God was with him.10He saved Joseph from all his troubles. God made Joseph wise. He helped him to become the friend of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made Joseph ruler over Egypt and his whole palace.11‘There was not enough food for all Egypt and Canaan. This brought great suffering. Jacob and his sons couldn’t find food.12But Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt. So he sent his sons on their first visit.13On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was. Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family.14After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family. The total number of people was 75.15Then Jacob went down to Egypt. There he and his family died.16Some of their bodies were brought back to Shechem. They were placed in a tomb Abraham had bought. He had purchased it from Hamor’s sons at Shechem. He had purchased it for a certain amount of money.17‘In Egypt the number of our people grew and grew. It was nearly time for God to make his promise to Abraham come true.18Then “a new king came to power in Egypt. Joseph didn’t mean anything to him.” (Ex 1:8)19The king was very evil and dishonest with our people. He treated them badly. He forced them to throw out their newborn babies to die.20‘At that time Moses was born. He was not an ordinary child. For three months he was taken care of by his family.21Then he was placed outside. But Pharaoh’s daughter took him home. She brought him up as her own son.22Moses was taught all the knowledge of the people of Egypt. He became a powerful speaker and a man of action.23‘When Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit the people of Israel. They were his own people.24He saw one of them being treated badly by an Egyptian. So he went to help him. He got even by killing the man.25Moses thought his own people would realise that God was using him to save them. But they didn’t.26The next day Moses saw two Israelites fighting. He tried to make peace between them. “Men, you are both Israelites,” he said. “Why do you want to hurt each other?”27‘But the man who was treating the other one badly pushed Moses to one side. He said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?28Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?” (Ex 2:14)29When Moses heard this, he escaped to Midian. He lived there as an outsider. He became the father of two sons there.30‘Forty years passed. Then an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush. This happened in the desert near Mount Sinai.31When Moses saw the bush, he was amazed. He went over for a closer look. There he heard the Lord say,32“I am the God of your fathers. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Moses shook with fear. He didn’t dare to look. (Ex 3:6)33‘Then the Lord said to him, “Take off your sandals. You must do this because the place where you are standing is holy ground.34I have seen my people beaten down in Egypt. I have heard their groans. I have come down to set them free. Now come. I will send you back to Egypt.” (Ex 3:5; Ex 3:7; Ex 3:8; Ex 3:10)35‘This is the same Moses the two men of Israel would not accept. They had said, “Who made you ruler and judge?” But God himself sent Moses to rule the people of Israel and set them free. He spoke to Moses through an angel. The angel had appeared to him in the bush.36So Moses led them out of Egypt. He did wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for 40 years in the desert.37‘This is the same Moses who spoke to the Israelites. “God will send you a prophet,” he said. “He will be like me. He will come from your own people.” (De 18:15)38Moses was with the Israelites in the desert. He was with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai. Moses was with our people of long ago. He received living words to pass on to us.39‘But our people refused to obey Moses. They would not accept him. In their hearts, they wished they were back in Egypt.40They told Aaron, “Make us a god who will lead us. This fellow Moses brought us up out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him!” (Ex 32:1)41That was the time they made a statue to be their god. It was shaped like a calf. They brought sacrifices to it. They even enjoyed what they had made with their own hands.42But God turned away from them. He let them go on worshipping the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets. There it says, ‘ “People of Israel, did you bring me sacrifices and offerings for 40 years in the desert?43You have taken with you the shrine of your false god Molek. You have taken with you the star of your false god Rephan. You made statues of those gods to worship. So I will send you away from your country.” God sent them to Babylon and even further. (Am 5:25)44‘Long ago our people were in the desert. They had with them the holy tent. The tent was where the tablets of the covenant law were kept. Moses had made the holy tent as God had commanded him. Moses made it like the pattern he had seen.45Our people received the tent from God. Then they brought it with them when they took the land of Canaan. God drove out the nations that were in their way. At that time Joshua was Israel’s leader. The tent remained in the land until David’s time.46David was blessed by God. So David asked if he could build a house for the God of Jacob.47But it was Solomon who built the temple for God.48‘But the Most High God does not live in houses made by human hands. As God says through the prophet,49‘ “Heaven is my throne. The earth is under my control. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Where will my resting-place be?50Didn’t my hand make all these things?” (Isa 66:1; Isa 66:2)51‘You stubborn people! You won’t obey! You won’t listen! You are just like your people of long ago! You always oppose the Holy Spirit!52Was there ever a prophet your people didn’t try to hurt? They even killed those who told about the coming of the Blameless One. And now you have handed him over to his enemies. You have murdered him.53The law you received was given by angels. But you haven’t obeyed it.’
Stephen is killed
54When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they became very angry. They were so angry they ground their teeth at Stephen.55But he was full of the Holy Spirit. He looked up to heaven and saw God’s glory. He saw Jesus standing at God’s right hand.56‘Look!’ he said. ‘I see heaven open. The Son of Man is standing at God’s right hand.’57When the Sanhedrin heard this, they covered their ears. They yelled at the top of their voices. They all rushed at him.58They dragged him out of the city. They began to throw stones at him to kill him. The people who had brought false charges against Stephen took off their coats. They placed them at the feet of a young man named Saul.59While the members of the Sanhedrin were throwing stones at Stephen, he prayed. ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,’ he said.60Then he fell on his knees. He cried out, ‘Lord! Don’t hold this sin against them!’ When he had said this, he died.
Acts 7
English Standard Version
Stephen’s Speech
1And the high priest said, “Are these things so?”2And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, (Ge 11:31; Ge 15:7; Jos 24:3; Ne 9:7; Ps 29:3; Ac 22:1; 1Co 2:8; Jas 2:1)3and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ (Ge 12:1)4Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. (Ge 11:32; Ge 12:4; Ac 7:2)5Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. (Ge 12:7; Ge 13:15; Ge 15:3; Ge 15:18; Ge 17:8; Ge 18:10; Ge 48:4; Heb 11:8)6And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. (Ge 15:13; Ex 2:22; Ex 12:40; Ac 7:17; Heb 11:9)7‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ (Ex 3:12; Jer 25:12; Jer 30:20)8And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. (Ge 17:9; Ge 21:2; Ge 25:26; Ge 29:31; Ge 30:5; Ge 35:18; Ge 35:23; Lu 1:59)9“And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him (Ge 37:11; Ge 37:28; Ge 39:2; Ge 39:21; Ge 39:23; Ge 45:4; Ps 105:17)10and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. (Ge 41:37; Ge 41:41; Ge 41:43; Ge 41:46; Ge 42:6; Ps 105:21)11Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. (Ge 41:54; Ge 42:5; Ps 105:16)12But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. (Ge 42:1)13And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. (Ge 43:2; Ge 45:1; Ge 45:16)14And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. (Ge 45:9; Ge 45:27; Ge 46:26; Ex 1:5; De 10:22)15And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, (Ge 46:5; Ge 46:28; Ge 49:33; Ex 1:6; Ps 105:23)16and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. (Ge 23:16; Ge 33:19; Ge 50:25; Ex 13:19; Jos 24:32)17“But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt (Ex 1:7; Ex 1:12; Ps 105:24; Ac 7:5; Ac 13:17)18until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. (Ex 1:8)19He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. (Ex 1:9; Ex 1:16; Ex 1:22; Ps 105:25)20At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, (Ex 2:2; Heb 11:23)21and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. (Ex 2:3)22And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. (1Ki 4:30; Isa 19:11; Da 1:4; Da 1:17; Lu 24:19)23“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. (Ex 2:11)24And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.25He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.26And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ (Ex 2:13)27But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? (Lu 12:14; Ac 7:35)28Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’29At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. (Ex 2:15; Ex 2:22; Ex 18:3)30“Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. (Ex 3:1; Ex 3:2)31When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord:32‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. (Ex 3:6)33Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. (Ex 3:5; Jos 5:15)34I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’ (Ex 2:24; Ex 3:7; Ex 3:8; Ex 3:10)35“This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made 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. (Ex 3:2; Ex 14:19; Ex 23:20; Nu 20:16; Ac 7:27)36This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. (Ex 7:3; Ex 12:41; Ex 14:21; Ex 14:27; Ex 16:1; Ex 16:35; Ex 17:1; Ex 33:1; Nu 14:33; Ps 78:15; Ps 78:43; Ps 78:53; Ps 95:10; Ps 105:27; Ps 106:9; Ac 7:42; Ac 13:18; Heb 3:9; Heb 3:17; Heb 8:9)37This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ (De 18:15; Ac 3:22)38This 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. He received living oracles to give to us. (Ex 19:3; Ex 19:17; De 5:27; De 5:31; De 32:47; De 33:4; Isa 63:9; Joh 1:17; Ac 7:53; Ro 3:2; Heb 5:12; 1Pe 4:11)39Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, (Ex 16:3; Nu 11:4; Nu 14:3; Eze 20:8; Eze 20:24)40saying to Aaron, ‘Make for 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 become of him.’ (Ex 32:1; Ex 32:23)41And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. (Ex 32:4; Ex 32:35; De 9:16; Ps 106:19; Isa 2:8; Jer 1:16; Jer 25:6; Am 6:13)42But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: “‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices, during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? (De 4:19; Jos 24:20; 2Ki 17:16; 2Ki 21:3; 2Ki 23:5; Ps 81:12; Isa 63:10; Jer 19:13; Eze 20:39; Am 5:25; Zep 1:5; Ac 7:36; Ro 1:28)43You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’ (1Ki 11:7)44“Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. (Ex 25:40; Ex 38:21; Re 15:5)45Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, (Nu 32:5; De 32:49; Jos 3:10; Jos 3:14; Jos 23:9; Jos 24:18; 2Sa 7:1; 2Ch 20:7; Ac 13:19)46who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.[1] (Ge 49:24; 1Sa 16:1; 1Ki 8:17; 1Ch 22:7; Ps 89:19; Ps 132:5; Isa 49:26; Ac 13:22)47But it was Solomon who built a house for him. (2Sa 7:13; 1Ki 6:1; 1Ki 8:20; 2Ch 3:1)48Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, (1Ki 8:27; 2Ch 2:6; Ac 17:24)49“‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? (Ps 11:4; Isa 66:1; Mt 5:34)50Did not my hand make all these things?’51“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. (Ex 32:9; Le 26:41; De 10:16; Jer 6:10; Jer 9:26; Eze 44:7; Eze 44:9; Mal 3:7)52Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, (1Ki 19:10; 2Ch 36:16; Jer 2:30; Mt 5:12; Mt 21:35; Mt 23:31; Mt 23:37; Ac 3:14; Ac 5:28)53you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” (De 33:2; Joh 7:19; Ac 7:38; Ga 3:19; Heb 2:2)