Acts 7

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

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

³and said to him, "Go forth from thy country and thy kindred, and come into the land which I will show thee."

⁴Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Haran; and from thence, after his father was dead, he caused him to remove into this land wherein ye now dwell;

⁵and he gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on; and he promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his posterity after him, when as yet he had no child.

⁶And God spoke in this manner: "That his posterity should sojourn in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into bondage, and ill-treat them four hundred years;

⁷and the nation to which they shall be in bondage will I judge," said God; "and after that they shall come forth, and shall worship me in this place."

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

⁹And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt; and God was with him,

¹⁰and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt, and all his house.

¹¹Now there came a famine over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great distress; and our fathers found no Sustenance.

¹²But Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, sent out our fathers first.

¹³And at the second time Joseph was recognized by his brothers, and the kindred of Joseph became known to Pharaoh.

¹⁴Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, seventy five souls.

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

¹⁶And they were removed to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

¹⁷But as the time of the promise drew near, which God solemnly made to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸until another king arose, who knew not Joseph.

¹⁹The same dealt subtly with our race, and ill-treated our fathers, so that they should cast out their infants, that they might not be preserved alive.

²⁰In which time Moses was born, and was exceedingly fair; who was nourished in his father’s house three months.

²¹And when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for herself as a son.

²²And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in his worlds and deeds.

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

²⁴And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed by smiting the Egyptian.

²⁵For he supposed his brethren would understand that God through his hand would give them salvation; but they understood not.

²⁶And the next day he showed himself to them as they were contending, and urged them to peace, saying, Ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one another?

²⁷But he who was wronging his neighbor thrust him away, saying, "Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸Dost thou mean to kill me, as thou didst kill the Egyptian yesterday?"

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

³⁰And when forty years were completed, there appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an angel in the flaming fire of a bush.

³¹And Moses seeing it wondered at the sight; and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came [to him],

³²saying, "I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob." And Moses trembled and durst not behold.

³³And the Lord said to him, "Loose the sandals from thy feet; for the place where thou standest is holy ground.

³⁴I have surely seen the oppression of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them; and now, come, I will send thee into Egypt."

³⁵This Moses, whom they denied, saying, "Who made thee a ruler and a judge?" this very man did God send both as a ruler and a redeemer with the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶This very man brought them out, working 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 will God raise up to you from among your brethren, as he raised up me."

³⁸This is he that was in the assembly in the wilderness with the anger who spake to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; who received the living oracles to give to us;

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

⁴⁰saying to Aaron, "Make us gods who shall go before us; for as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of 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 God turned away, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the Prophets, "Did ye offer to me slain beasts and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³And ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of the god Rephan, the figures which ye made to worship them; and I will carry you away beyond Babylon."

⁴⁴Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, as he that spoke to Moses commanded that he should make it according to the pattern that he had seen;

⁴⁵which also our fathers received and brought in with Joshua, at their taking possession of the gentiles whom God drove out from before our fathers, until the days of David;

⁴⁶who found favor before God, and asked that he might find a habitation for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷But Solomon built him a house.

⁴⁸Yet the Most High dwelleth not in [temples] made with hands; as saith the prophet,

⁴⁹"Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What house will ye build for me? saith the Lord; or what is the place of my rest?

⁵⁰Did not my hands make all these things?"

⁵¹Stiffnecked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears! ye do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do ye.

⁵²Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they slew those who foretold the coming of the righteous one, of whom ye have now become the betrayers and murderers;

⁵³ye who received the Law as ordained through angels, and did not keep it.

⁵⁴But when they heard these things, their hearts were filled with rage, and they gnashed their teeth at him.

⁵⁵But, being full of the Holy Spirit, he looked up earnestly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

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

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

⁵⁸and having cast him out of the city, they stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul;

⁵⁹and they stoned Stephen, making supplication, 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 saying this, he fell asleep.

Acts 7

¹Then said the high priest, Are these things so?

²And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,

³And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.

⁴Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.

⁵And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.

⁶And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.

⁷And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.

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

⁹And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,

¹⁰And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

¹¹Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.

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

¹³And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.

¹⁴Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

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

¹⁶And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.

¹⁷But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,

¹⁸Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.

¹⁹The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.

²⁰In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house three months:

²¹And when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

²²And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.

²³And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.

²⁴And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:

²⁵For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.

²⁶And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?

²⁷But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?

²⁸Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?

²⁹Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.

³⁰And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,

³²Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold.

³³Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.

³⁴I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt.

³⁵This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.

³⁶He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

³⁷This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.

³⁸This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

³⁹To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,

⁴⁰Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

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

⁴²Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?

⁴³Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

⁴⁴Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.

⁴⁵Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;

⁴⁶Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.

⁴⁷But Solomon built him an house.

⁴⁸Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,

⁴⁹Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?

⁵⁰Hath not my hand made all these things?

⁵¹Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

⁵²Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:

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

⁵⁴When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.

⁵⁵But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

⁵⁶And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

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

⁵⁸And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.

⁵⁹And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

⁶⁰And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.