Acts 7:44-60

Christian Standard Bible

God’s Real Tabernacle

⁴⁴ “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.^{(A) 45} Our ancestors in turn received it and with Joshua brought it in when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before them,^(B) until the days of David. ⁴⁶ He found favor in God’s sight and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God^[a] of Jacob.^{(C) 47} It was Solomon, rather, who built him a house,^{(D) 48} but the Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands, as the prophet says:^(E)

Resisting the Holy Spirit

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked^(G) people with uncircumcised hearts and ears!^(H) You are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your ancestors did, you do also. ⁵² Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute?^(I) They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers^(J) you have now become. ⁵³ You received the law under the direction of angels^(K) and yet have not kept it.”

The First Christian Martyr

⁵⁴ When they heard these things, they were enraged^[c] and gnashed their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.^{(L) 56} He said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” ^(M)

⁵⁷ They yelled at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him. ⁵⁸ They dragged him out of the city and began to stone^(N) him. And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.^{(O) 59} While they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ^{(P) 60} He knelt down and cried out with a loud voice,^(Q) “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And after saying this, he fell asleep.^(R)