Seven Men Are Chosen

6 More and more people were becoming followers of Jesus. But during this same time, the Greek-speaking followers had an argument with the other Jewish followers. The Greek-speaking Jews said that their widows were not getting their share of the food that was given out every day. ² The 12 apostles called the whole group of followers together. They said, “It is not right for us to stop our work of teaching God’s word in order to serve tables. ³ So, brothers, choose seven of your own men. They must be men who are good. They must be full of wisdom and full of the Spirit. We will put them in charge of this work. ⁴ Then we can use all our time to pray and to teach the word of God.”

⁵ The whole group liked the idea. So they chose these seven men: Stephen (a man with great faith and full of the Holy Spirit), Philip,^[a] Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas (a man from Antioch who had become a Jew). ⁶ Then they put these men before the apostles. The apostles prayed and laid their hands on^[b] the men.

⁷ The word of God was reaching more and more people. The group of followers in Jerusalem became larger and larger. A great number of the Jewish priests believed and obeyed.