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There was a man in the land of ‘Utz whose name was Iyov. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 pairs of oxen and 500 female donkeys, as well as a great number of servants; so that he was the wealthiest man in the east.

It was the custom of his sons to give banquets, each on his set day in his own house; and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. After a cycle of banquets, Iyov would send for them to come and be consecrated; then he would get up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings for each of them, because Iyov said, “My sons might have sinned and blasphemed God in their thoughts.” This is what Iyov did every time.

It happened one day that the sons of God came to serve Adonai, and among them came the Adversary [a]. Adonai asked the Adversary, “Where are you coming from?” The Adversary answered Adonai, “From roaming through the earth, wandering here and there.” Adonai asked the Adversary, “Did you notice my servant Iyov, that there’s no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil?” The Adversary answered Adonai, “Is it for nothing that Iyov fears God? 10 You’ve put a protective hedge around him, his house and everything he has. You’ve prospered his work, and his livestock are spread out all over the land. 11 But if you reach out your hand and touch whatever he has, without doubt he’ll curse you to your face!” 12 Adonai said to the Adversary, “Here! Everything he has is in your hands, except that you are not to lay a finger on his person.” Then the Adversary went out from the presence of Adonai.

13 One day when Iyov’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking in their oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to him and said, “The oxen were plowing, with the donkeys grazing near them, 15 when a raiding party from Sh’va came and carried them off; they put the servants to the sword too, and I’m the only one who escaped to tell you.”

16 While he was still speaking, another one came and said, “Fire from God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants; it completely destroyed them, and I’m the only one who escaped to tell you.”

17 While he was still speaking, another one came and said, “The Kasdim, three bands of them, fell on the camels and carried them off; they put the servants to the sword too, and I’m the only one who escaped to tell you.”

18 While he was still speaking, another one came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a strong wind blew in from over the desert. It struck the four corners of the house, so that it fell on the young people; they are dead, and I’m the only one who escaped to tell you.”

20 Iyov got up, tore his coat, shaved his head, fell down on the ground and worshipped; 21 he said,

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will return there.
Adonai gave; Adonai took;
blessed be the name of Adonai.”

22 In all this Iyov neither committed a sin nor put blame on God.

Another day came when the sons of God came to serve Adonai, and among them came the Adversary to serve Adonai. Adonai asked the Adversary, “Where are you coming from?” The Adversary answered Adonai, “From roaming through the earth, wandering here and there.” Adonai asked the Adversary, “Did you notice my servant Iyov, that there’s no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil, and that he still holds on to his integrity, even though you provoked me against him to destroy him for no reason?” The Adversary answered Adonai, “Skin for skin! A person will give up everything he has to save his life. But if you reach out your hand and touch his flesh and bone, without doubt he’ll curse you to your face!” Adonai said to the Adversary, “Here! He is in your hands, except that you are to spare his life.”

Then the Adversary went out from the presence of Adonai and struck Iyov down with horrible infected sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. He took a piece of a broken pot to scratch himself and sat down in the pile of ashes. His wife asked him, “Why do you still hold on to your integrity? Curse God, and die!” 10 But he answered her, “You’re talking like a low-class woman! Are we to receive the good at God’s hands but reject the bad?” In all this Iyov did not say one sinful word.

11 Now when Iyov’s three friends heard of all the calamities that had overwhelmed him, they all came. Each came from his own home — Elifaz from Teiman, Bildad from Shuach and Tzofar from Na‘amah. They had agreed to meet together in order to come and offer him sympathy and comfort. 12 When they saw him from a distance, they couldn’t even recognize him. They wept aloud, tore their coats and threw dust over their heads toward heaven. 13 Then they sat down with him on the ground. For seven days and seven nights, no one spoke a word to him; because they saw how much he was suffering. 14 (3:1) At length, Iyov broke the silence and cursed the day of his [birth].

Footnotes

  1. Job 1:6 Hebrew: Satan

Around this time, when the number of talmidim was growing, the Greek-speaking Jews began complaining against those who spoke Hebrew that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution. So the Twelve called a general meeting of the talmidim and said, “It isn’t appropriate that we should neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among yourselves who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will appoint them to be in charge of this important matter, but we ourselves will give our full attention to praying and to serving the Word.”

What they said was agreeable to the whole gathering. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Ruach HaKodesh, Philip, Prochoros, Nikanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas, who was a proselyte from Antioch. They presented these men to the emissaries, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

So the word of God continued to spread. The number of talmidim in Yerushalayim increased rapidly, and a large crowd of cohanim were becoming obedient to the faith.

Now Stephen, full of grace and power, performed great miracles and signs among the people. But opposition arose from members of the Synagogue of the Freed Slaves (as it was called), composed of Cyrenians, Alexandrians and people from Cilicia and the province of Asia. They argued with Stephen, 10 but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by which he spoke.

11 So they secretly persuaded some men to allege, “We heard him speak blasphemously against Moshe and against God.” 12 They stirred up the people, as well as the elders and the Torah-teachers; so they came and arrested him and led him before the Sanhedrin. 13 There they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and against the Torah; 14 for we have heard him say that Yeshua from Natzeret will destroy this place and will change the customs Moshe handed down to us.”

15 Everyone sitting in the Sanhedrin stared at Stephen and saw that his face looked like the face of an angel.

The cohen hagadol asked, “Are these accusations true?” and Stephen said:

“Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to Avraham avinu in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran and said to him, ‘Leave your land and your family, and go into the land that I will show you.’[a] So he left the land of the Kasdim and lived in Haran. After his father died, God made him move to this land where you are living now. He gave him no inheritance in it, not even space for one foot;[b] yet he promised to give it to him as a possession and to his descendants after him,[c] even though at the time he was childless. What God said to him was, ‘Your descendants will be aliens in a foreign land, where they will be in slavery and oppressed for four hundred years. But I will judge the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and afterwards they will leave and worship me in this place.’[d] And he gave him b’rit-milah. So he became the father of Yitz’chak and did his b’rit-milah on the eighth day, and Yitz’chak became the father of Ya‘akov, and Ya‘akov became the father of the Twelve Patriarchs.

“Now the Patriarchs grew jealous of Yosef and sold him into slavery in Egypt. But Adonai was with him;[e] 10 he rescued him from all his troubles and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him chief administrator over Egypt and over all his household.[f] 11 Now there came a famine that caused much suffering throughout Egypt and Kena‘an[g] 12 But when Ya‘akov heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. 13 The second time, Yosef revealed his identity to his brothers,[h] and Yosef’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 Yosef then sent for his father Ya‘akov and all his relatives, seventy-five people. 15 And Ya‘akov went down to Egypt; there he died, as did our other ancestors. 16 Their bodies were removed to Sh’khem and buried in the tomb Avraham had bought from the family of Hamor in Sh’khem for a certain sum of money.

17 “As the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise God had made to Avraham, the number of our people in Egypt increased greatly, 18 until there arose another king over Egypt who had no knowledge of Yosef.[i] 19 With cruel cunning this man forced our fathers to put their newborn babies outside their homes, so that they would not survive.

20 “It was then that Moshe was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. For three months he was reared in his father’s house; 21 and when he was put out of his home, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22 So Moshe was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became both a powerful speaker and a man of action.

23 “But when he was forty years old, the thought came to him to visit his brothers, the people of Isra’el. 24 On seeing one of them being mistreated, he went to his defense and took revenge by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed his brothers would understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn’t understand. 26 When he appeared the next day, as they were fighting, and tried to make peace between them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers! Why do you want to hurt each other?’ 27 the one who was mistreating his fellow pushed Moshe away and said, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me, the way you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’[j] 29 On hearing this, Moshe fled the country and became an exile in the land of Midyan, where he had two sons.

30 “After forty more years, an angel appeared to him in the desert near Mount Sinai in the flames of a burning thorn bush. 31 When Moshe saw this, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to get a better look, there came the voice of Adonai, 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov.’ But Moshe trembled with fear and didn’t dare to look. 33 Adonai said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have clearly seen how My people are being oppressed in Egypt, I have heard their cry, and I have come down to rescue them, and now I will send you to Egypt.’[k]

35 “This Moshe, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ is the very one whom God sent as both ruler and ransomer by means of the angel that appeared to him in the thorn bush. 36 This man led them out, performing miracles and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moshe who said to the people of Isra’el, ‘God will raise up a prophet like me from among your brothers’[l] 38 This is the man who was in the assembly in the wilderness, accompanied by the angel that had spoken to him at Mount Sinai and by our fathers, the man who was given living words to pass on to us.

39 “But our fathers did not want to obey him. On the contrary, they rejected him and in their hearts turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aharon, ‘Make us some gods to lead us; because this Moshe, who led us out of Egypt — we don’t know what has become of him.’[m] 41 That was when they made an idol in the shape of a calf and offered a sacrifice to it and held a celebration in honor of what they had made with their own hands. 42 So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars[n] — as has been written in the book of the prophets,

‘People of Isra’el, it was not to me
that you offered slaughtered animals
and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness!
43 No, you carried the tent of Molekh
and the star of your god Reifan,
the idols you made so that you could worship them.
Therefore, I will send you into exile beyond Bavel.’[o]

44 “Our fathers had the Tent of Witness in the wilderness. It had been made just as God, who spoke to Moshe, had ordered it made, according to the pattern Moshe had seen. 45 Later on, our fathers who had received it brought it in with Y’hoshua when they took the Land away from the nations that God drove out before them.

“So it was until the days of David. 46 He enjoyed God’s favor and asked if he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Ya‘akov 47 and Shlomo did build him a house. 48 But Ha‘Elyon does not live in places made by hand! As the prophet says,

49 ‘Heaven is my throne,’ says Adonai,
‘and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house could you build for me?
What kind of place could you devise for my rest?
50 Didn’t I myself make all these things?’[p]

51 Stiffnecked people,[q] with uncircumcised hearts and ears![r] You continually oppose the Ruach HaKodesh![s] You do the same things your fathers did! 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who told in advance about the coming of the Tzaddik, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers! — 53 you! — who receive the Torah as having been delivered by angels — but do not keep it!”

54 On hearing these things, they were cut to their hearts and ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Ruach HaKodesh, looked up to heaven and saw God’s Sh’khinah, with Yeshua standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look!” he exclaimed, “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God![t]

57 At this, they began yelling at the top of their voices, so that they wouldn’t have to hear him; and with one accord, they rushed at him, 58 threw him outside the city and began stoning him. And the witnesses laid down their coats at the feet of a young man named Sha’ul.

59 As they were stoning him, Stephen called out to God, “Lord Yeshua! Receive my spirit!” 60 Then he kneeled down and shouted out, “Lord! Don’t hold this sin against them!” With that, he died;

Footnotes

  1. Acts 7:3 Genesis 12:1
  2. Acts 7:5 Deuteronomy 2:5
  3. Acts 7:5 Genesis 12:7; 13:15; 15:4, 7, 18–21; 17:8; 24:7; 48:4
  4. Acts 7:7 Genesis 15:13–14, 16
  5. Acts 7:9 Genesis 37:11, 28; 39:1–3, 21, 23
  6. Acts 7:10 Genesis 41:37–44
  7. Acts 7:11 Genesis 41:54; 42:5
  8. Acts 7:13 Genesis 45:1
  9. Acts 7:18 Exodus 1:7–8
  10. Acts 7:28 Exodus 2:14
  11. Acts 7:34 Exodus 3:1–2
  12. Acts 7:37 Deuteronomy 18:15
  13. Acts 7:40 Exodus 32:1, 23
  14. Acts 7:42 Jeremiah 19:13
  15. Acts 7:43 Amos 5:25–27
  16. Acts 7:50 Isaiah 66:1–2
  17. Acts 7:51 Exodus 32:9; 33:3, 5
  18. Acts 7:51 Leviticus 26:41; Jeremiah 6:10; 9:25(26)
  19. Acts 7:51 Isaiah 63:10
  20. Acts 7:56 Psalm 110:1

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