⁹ Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others of those from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen. ¹⁰ But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit^[a] with which he spoke.^{(A) 11} Then they secretly instigated some men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”^{(B) 12} They stirred up the people as well as the elders and the scribes; then they suddenly confronted him, seized him, and brought him before the council. ¹³ They set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law,^{(C) 14} for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth^[b] will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed on to us.”^(D)

⁵⁸ Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him, and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.^{(A) 59} While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”^{(B) 60} Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.^[a](C) 8 ¹ And Saul approved of their killing him.

Saul Persecutes the Church

That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria.^(D)