Stephen's discourse

1Then the high priest said, “Can these things be so?” ¹⁵⁸

2So he said: “Men, brothers and fathers, listen: ¹⁵⁹The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he resided in Haran,

3and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and come into a land that I will show you.’

4Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and resided in Haran. ¹⁶⁰From there, after his father died, ¹⁶¹God moved him to this land in which you now live; ¹⁶²

5yet He did not give him an inheritance in it, not even a footstep. He promised to give it to him for a possession, that is, to his seed after him, though he had no child. ¹⁶³

6Further, God spoke like this: that his offspring would be aliens in a foreign land—and that they would be enslaved and oppressed—four hundred years. ¹⁶⁴

7‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ¹⁶⁵‘and after that they will come out and serve Me in this place.’

8And He gave him a covenant of circumcision; ¹⁶⁶and so he begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; ¹⁶⁷and Isaac did the same to Jacob, and Jacob to the twelve patriarchs.

Down to Egypt

9“The patriarchs, being envious, sold Joseph into Egypt; yet God was with him

10and delivered him out of all his adversities, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

11And a famine came upon all the land of Egypt and Canaan, even a great affliction, and our fathers could not find food.

12But upon hearing that there was wheat in Egypt, Jacob first sent our fathers.

13On the second trip Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's family was presented to Pharaoh.

14Joseph sent and summoned his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five souls. ¹⁶⁸

15So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers;

16and they were transferred to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor of Shechem. ¹⁶⁹

Enter Moses

17“Now as the time of the promise was approaching which God had sworn to Abraham, the people increased and were multiplied in Egypt,

18until a different ¹⁷⁰king arose who had not known Joseph.

19This man took advantage of our race and oppressed our fathers, making them expose their babies so that they would not stay alive. ¹⁷¹

20At that time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God; he was nurtured in his father's house for three months.

21When he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter took him to herself and brought him up as her own son.

22So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; he was mighty in words and deeds.

23Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. ¹⁷²

24Well seeing one of them being wronged, he defended and avenged the one being oppressed, striking down the Egyptian.

25Now he supposed that his brothers understood that God was giving them deliverance by his hand, ¹⁷³but they did not understand.

26The next day he appeared to them as they were fighting and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you wrong one another?’

27But the one who was wronging his neighbor pushed Moses away, saying: ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

28Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’

29Well Moses fled at that word, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he begot two sons. ¹⁷⁴

Moses commissioned

30“And when another forty years had passed, Angel of the Lord ¹⁷⁵appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, ¹⁷⁶in a flame of fire in a bush.

31Well upon seeing it Moses was amazed at the sight, but as he approached for a closer look the voice of the Lord came to him:

32‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ ¹⁷⁷Moses started trembling and did not dare to look.

33So the Lord said to him: ‘Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

34I have definitely seen the mistreatment of my people in Egypt, and have heard their groaning; and I have come down ¹⁷⁸to deliver them. So now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

35“This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God sent him as leader and deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.

36This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness.

Israel's rebellion

37“This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord our ¹⁷⁹God will raise up to you a Prophet from among your brothers, like me.’ ¹⁸⁰

38This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness, who was with the Angel who spoke with him on Mount Sinai and was with our fathers, ¹⁸¹who received living oracles ¹⁸²to give to us;

39to whom our fathers did not want to be obedient; rather they rejected him and turned back in their heart to Egypt,

40saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us; because this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what has become of him.’ ¹⁸³

41Well they made a calf in those days and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and started rejoicing in the works of their hands.

42But God turned away and gave them over to serve the army of the heaven, ¹⁸⁴just as it is written in Book of the Prophets: ‘House of Israel, did you offer me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness?

43Actually you took along the tent of Moloch, and the star of your god, Rephan,
the images that you made to worship; so I will relocate you beyond Babylon.’ ¹⁸⁵

A dwelling for God

44“The tent of the testimony, according to the pattern that Moses had seen, just as the One speaking to him had commanded to make it, was with our fathers in the wilderness;

45which, having received it in turn, our fathers with Joshua brought into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, until the days of David;

46who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God ¹⁸⁶of Jacob,

47but Solomon built Him a house.

48However, the Most High does not dwell in handmade sanctuaries, just as the prophet says:

49‘Heaven is my throne, while the earth is a footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build me,’ says the Lord, ‘or what place for my rest?

50Did not my hand make all these things?’ ¹⁸⁷

Stephen attacks

51“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always oppose the Holy Spirit; ¹⁸⁸as your fathers did, so you do.

52Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers; ¹⁸⁹

53you who received the Law as ‘ordinances of angels’ and have not kept it!”

Stephen is martyred

54Well as they heard these things their hearts were being sawed in half, ¹⁹⁰and they started gnashing their teeth at him.

55But he, being full of Holy Spirit and looking intently into the heaven, he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing ¹⁹¹on God's right,

56and said, “Wow! I see the heavens opened and the Son of the Man standing at God's right!”

57Yelling at the top of their voice ¹⁹²they covered their ears and rushed at him all at once,

58and throwing him out of the city they stoned him! ¹⁹³(The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.)

59Yes, they stoned Stephen as he called out and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

60Then kneeling down he called out at the top of his voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And upon saying this he fell asleep. ¹⁹⁴(Saul was in full agreement with his murder.)