Acts

¹The high priest asked, “Are these things so?”

²Stephen answered, “Brothers¹³⁵¹ and fathers, hear me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was [still] in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. ³And God said to him, ‘Leave your land and your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.’^{1352 4}This is how Abraham came out of the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land, where you are now living. ⁵He gave Abraham no inheritance in this land, no, not so much as to set his foot on it. But God had promised that he and his descendants¹³⁵³ would possess this land, even when Abraham was still childless. ⁶God spoke in this way: that Abraham’s descendants would live as aliens in a foreign land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. ⁷’I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that [time], they will come out and offer divine service¹³⁵⁴ to me in this place.’^{1355 8}God also gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. Then Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the Twelve patriarchs.

⁹Filled with jealousy against Joseph, the patriarchs sold him into Egypt, but God was with him. ¹⁰He delivered Joseph¹³⁵⁶ from all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh appointed him governor over Egypt and his entire house. ¹¹Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, along with great suffering, and our fathers¹³⁵⁷ could not find any food. ¹²But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on a first visit. ¹³On their second visit, Joseph was revealed to his brothers and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. ¹⁴Joseph sent [a message] and called for his father Jacob as well as all his relatives (seventy-five¹³⁵⁸ souls). ¹⁵So Jacob went down into Egypt where he died, along with our fathers. ¹⁶Later, they were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had purchased for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.

¹⁷As the time of the promise which God had sworn to Abraham came close, the people were growing and multiplying in Egypt. ¹⁸Then a different king, one who did not know Joseph, came to power there. ¹⁹This king took advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers, forcing them to abandon their babies, so that they would not stay alive. ²⁰At that time, Moses was born, and he was pleasing to God. For three months, he was nourished in his father’s house; ²¹and when he was thrown out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and raised him as her own son. ²²Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in his words and actions. ²³But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. ²⁴Seeing one of them treated unjustly, he defended and avenged a man who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian. ²⁵He supposed that his brethren would understand that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance;¹³⁵⁹ but they did not understand.

²⁶The following day, Moses presented himself to them as they were quarreling and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers! Why do you wrong each other?’ ²⁷But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses away, saying: ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’^{1360 29}When he heard this, Moses fled and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. ³¹When Moses saw it, he wondered¹³⁶¹ at the sight. As he came close to see, a 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.’¹³⁶² Moses trembled and did not dare to look. ³³The Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. ³⁴I have indeed seen the affliction of my people in Egypt and heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’¹³⁶³

³⁵This Moses, whom they had rejected by saying: ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God sent as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶Having worked wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, this man led them out in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. ³⁷It is that [same] Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brethren; ¹³⁶⁴you shall listen to him.’^{1365 38}It is this Moses who was in the assembly¹³⁶⁶ in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, receiving living oracles to give to us. ³⁹But our fathers would not be obedient to him; they rejected him and in their heart, turned back to Egypt. ⁴⁰They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us! As for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’^{1367 41}They made a calf in those days and brought a sacrifice to the idol, rejoicing in the works of their hands. ⁴²But God turned [away] and gave them up to offer divine service to the host of heaven,¹³⁶⁸ as it is written in the book of the prophets:

Did you offer me slain animals and sacrifices

[during the] forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³You took up the tabernacle of Moloch,

the star of your god Remphan,

the figures to which you expressed adoration. ¹³⁶⁹

[Therefore] I will carry you away¹³⁷⁰ beyond Babylon.

⁴⁴Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, which he who had spoken to Moses had commanded him to build according to the pattern that he had seen. ⁴⁵It was handed down to our fathers, and in turn, they brought it with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations which God drove out before the face of our fathers. This tabernacle was there until the days of David, ⁴⁶who found favor in the sight of God, and who prayed to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. ⁴⁷Yet, it was Solomon who built him a house. ⁴⁸However, the Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands, as the prophet says:

⁴⁹’Heaven is my throne,

and the earth is a footstool for my feet.

What kind of house will you build for me?’ says the Lord;

‘or what is the place of my rest?’

⁵⁰Did not my hand make all these things?¹³⁷¹

⁵¹You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist¹³⁷² the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, you do likewise. ⁵²Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They [even] killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers. ⁵³You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and did not keep it!”

Stephen’s martyrdom—His vision

⁵⁴Now when they heard these things, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. ⁵⁵But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. ⁵⁶He exclaimed, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

⁵⁷At this, they shouted with a loud voice, blocking their ears, and rushed at him with one accord. ⁵⁸So they threw him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹As they were stoning Stephen, he called in prayer, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”^{1373 60}Kneeling down, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.

Persecution against the Church

1351. Or “brethren”
1352. Genesis 12:1
1353. Literally “seed”
1354. Greek latreu,sousi,n
1355. Genesis 15:13-14
1356. Greek “him”
1357. Or “ancestors”
1358. Seventy-five agrees with the LXX over the MT, which reads “seventy” (Gen 46:27)
1359. The Greek word swthri,an also means “salvation”
1360. Exodus 2:14
1361. Or “was amazed”
1362. Exodus 3:6
1363. Exodus 3:5,7-8,10
1364. CT and MT omit “You shall listen to him”
1365. Deuteronomy 18:15
1366. Or “Church/congregation”
1367. Exodus 32:1
1368. This idiom could also be translated “armies of the sky,” “angelic beings,” or “heavenly bodies.”
1369. proskuneo can also be translated “worship (in the broad sense),” “venerate,” “fall down in reverence,” “do obeisance” (see NT introduction regarding proskuneo)
1370. Amos 5:25-27 LXX
1371. Isaias 66:1-2
1372. Or “fight against”
1373. This may be the first recorded instance of a prayer addressed directly to Jesus Christ as the Risen Lord.