1And the high priest said, Are these things then so?

2And he said, Brethren and fathers, hearken. The ⁴⁰God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,

3and said to him, Go out of thy land and out of thy kindred, and come into the land which I will shew thee.

4Then going out of the land of the Chaldeans he dwelt in Charran, and thence, after his father died, he removed him into this land in which ye now dwell.

5And he did not give him an inheritance in it, not even what his foot could stand on; and promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when he had no child.

6And ⁴¹God spoke thus: His seed shall be a sojourner in a strange land, and they shall enslave them and evil entreat [them] four hundred years;

7and the nation to which they shall be in bondage will I judge, said ⁴²God; and after these things they shall come forth and serve me in this place.

8And he gave to him [the] covenant of circumcision; and thus he begat Isaac and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.

9And the patriarchs, envying Joseph, sold him away into Egypt. And ⁴³God was with him,

10and delivered him out of all his tribulations, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he appointed him chief over Egypt and all his house.

11But a famine came upon all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great distress, and our fathers found no food.

12But Jacob, having heard of there being corn in Egypt, sent out our fathers first;

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

14And Joseph sent and called down to him his father Jacob and all [his] kindred, seventy-five souls.

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

16and were carried over to Sychem and placed in the sepulchre which Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the [father] of Sychem.

17But as the time of promise drew near which ⁴⁴God had promised to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,

18until another king over Egypt arose who did not know Joseph.

19He dealt subtilly with our race, and evil entreated the fathers, casting out their infants that they might not live.

20In which time Moses was born, and was exceedingly lovely, who was nourished three months in the house of his father.

21And when he was cast out, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up, and brought him up for herself [to be] for a son.

22And Moses was instructed in all [the] wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

23And when a period of forty years was fulfilled to him, it came into his heart to look upon his brethren, the sons of Israel;

24and seeing a certain one wronged, he defended [him], and avenged him that was being oppressed, smiting the Egyptian.

25For he thought that his brethren would understand that ⁴⁵God by his hand was giving them deliverance. But they understood not.

26And on the morrow he shewed himself to them as they were contending, and compelled them to peace, saying, Ye are brethren, why do ye wrong one another?

27But he that was wronging his neighbour thrust him away, saying, Who established thee ruler and judge over us?

28Dost thou wish to kill me as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday?

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

30And when forty years were fulfilled, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai, in a flame of fire of a bush.

31And Moses seeing it wondered at the vision; and as he went up to consider it, there was a voice of [the] Lord,

32I am the ⁴⁶God of thy fathers, the ⁴⁷God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. And Moses trembled, and durst not consider [it].

33And the Lord said to him, Loose the sandal of thy feet, for the place on which thou standest is holy ground.

34I have surely seen the ill treatment of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groan, and have come down to take them out of it; and now, come, I will send thee to Egypt.

35This Moses, whom they refused, saying, Who made thee ruler and judge? him did ⁴⁸God send [to be] a ruler and deliverer with the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

36He led them out, having wrought wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

37This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, A prophet shall ⁴⁹God raise up to you out of your brethren like me [him shall ye hear].

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

39to whom our fathers would not be subject, but thrust [him] from them, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,

40saying to Aaron, Make us ⁵⁰gods who shall go before us; for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has happened to him.

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

42But ⁵¹God turned and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in [the] book of the prophets, Have ye offered me victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

43Yea, ye took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of [your] ⁵²god Remphan, the forms which ye made to do homage to them; and I will transport you beyond Babylon.

44Our fathers had the tent of the testimony in the wilderness, as he that spoke to Moses commanded to make it according to the model which he had seen;

45which also our fathers, receiving from their predecessors, brought in with Joshua when they entered into possession of [the lands of] the nations, whom ⁵³God drove out from [the] face of our fathers, until the days of David;

46who found favour before ⁵⁴God, and asked to find a tabernacle for the ⁵⁵God of Jacob;

47but Solomon built him a house.

48But the Most High dwells not in [places] made with hands; as says the prophet,

49The heaven [is] my throne and the earth the footstool of my feet: what house will ye build me? saith [the] Lord, or where [is the] place of my rest?

50has not my hand made all these things?

51O stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers, ye also.

52Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain those who announced beforehand concerning the coming of the Just One, of whom ye have now become deliverers up and murderers!

53who have received the law as ordained by [the] ministry of angels, and have not kept [it].

54And hearing these things they were cut to the heart, and gnashed their teeth against him.

55But being full of [the] Holy Spirit, having fixed his eyes on heaven, he saw [the] glory of ⁵⁶God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of ⁵⁷God,

56and said, Lo, I behold the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of ⁵⁸God.

57And they cried out with a loud voice, and held their ears, and rushed upon him with one accord;

58and having cast [him] out of the city, they stoned [him]. And the witnesses laid aside their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul.

59And they stoned Stephen, praying, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

60And kneeling down, he cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And having said this, he fell asleep.