Acts 7
King James Version
7 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
2 And 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,
3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.
5 And 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.
6 And 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.
7 And 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.
8 And 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.
9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,
10 And 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.
11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
12 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.
13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,
16 And 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.
17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.
19 The 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.
20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months:
21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.
22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
26 And 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?
27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?
29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
30 And 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.
31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,
32 Saying, 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.
33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
34 I 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.
35 This 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.
36 He 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.
37 This 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.
38 This 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:
39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
40 Saying 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.
41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
42 Then 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?
43 Yea, 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.
44 Our 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.
45 Which 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;
46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
47 But Solomon built him an house.
48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
49 Heaven 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?
50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
52 Which 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:
53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
55 But 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,
56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
58 And 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.
59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
60 And 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.
Acts 7
International Standard Version
Stephen Defends Himself
7 Then the high priest asked, “Is this true?”
2 Stephen replied:
“Listen, brothers and fathers!
“The glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran. 3 God[a] told him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land I’ll show you.’[b] 4 So he left the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. Then after the death of his father, God had him move to this country where you now live. 5 God[c] gave him no property here,[d] not even a foot of land,[e] yet he promised to give it to him and to his descendants[f] after him as a permanent possession, even though he had no child.
6 “This is what God promised: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and its people[g] would enslave them and oppress them for 400 years. 7 ‘But I will punish the nation they serve,’ said God, ‘and afterwards they will leave and worship me in this place.’[h]
8 Later, God[i] gave Abraham[j] the covenant of circumcision. Later, he fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. Then Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered[k] the twelve patriarchs.
9 “Joseph’s brothers[l] became jealous of him and sold Joseph as a slave[m] in Egypt. However, God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He granted him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler of Egypt and of his whole household.
11 “But a famine spread throughout Egypt and Canaan, and with it great suffering, and our ancestors couldn’t find any food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors on their first trip. 13 On their second trip, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph introduced his family[n] to Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him in Egypt[o]—75 persons in all. 15 So Jacob went down to Egypt. Then he and our ancestors died. 16 They were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought at a high price[p] from Hamor’s descendants in Shechem.
17 “Now as the time approached for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people’s population increased a great deal in Egypt. 18 Eventually, a different king who had not known Joseph became ruler of Egypt.[q] 19 By shrewdly scheming against our people, he oppressed our ancestors and forced them to abandon their infants to the elements, so that they wouldn’t live.
20 “At this time Moses was born. He was beautiful in the sight of God, and for three months he was cared for in his father’s house. 21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 So Moses learned all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man, both in words and in deeds.
23 “When he was 40 years old, he decided[r] to visit his brothers, the descendants of Israel. 24 When he saw one of them being mistreated, he defended him[s] and avenged the man who was being mistreated by killing the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn’t understand. 26 The next day, he presented himself to some of them while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them. He said, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why should you be hurting another?’
27 “But the man who was harming his neighbor pushed Moses[t] away and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28 You don’t want to kill me like you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’[u] 29 Because of this, Moses fled and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There he had two sons.
30 “After 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and when he approached the bush[v] to look at it, the voice of the Lord said,[w] 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’[x] Moses became terrified and didn’t dare to look. 33 Then the Lord told him, ‘Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the oppression of my people in Egypt, I’ve heard their groans, and I’ve come down to rescue them. Now come, I’ll send you to Egypt.’[y]
35 “This same Moses—whom they rejected by saying, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’[z]—was the man whom God sent to be both their ruler and deliverer with the help of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush. 36 It was he who led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for 40 years. 37 It was this Moses who told the Israelis, ‘God will raise up a prophet for you from among your own brothers, just as he did[aa] me.’[ab] 38 This Moses[ac] is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and to our ancestors. He received living truths to give to us,[ad] 39 but our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and wished to return to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ‘Make gods for us who will lead us. This Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we don’t know what happened to him!’[ae]
41 “At that time they even made a calf to be their idol, offered a sacrifice to it, and delighted in what they had made with their hands. 42 So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the heavenly bodies. As it is written in the book of the Prophets:
‘O house of Israel,
you didn’t offer me slaughtered animals and
sacrifices those 40 years in the wilderness, did you?
43 You even took along the tent of Moloch,
the star of your god Rephan,
and the images you made in order to worship them.
So I will take you into exile as far as Babylon.’[af]
44 “Our ancestors had the Tent of Testimony[ag] in the wilderness constructed,[ah] just as the one who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern he had seen. 45 Our ancestors brought it here with Joshua when they replaced the nations that God drove out in front of our ancestors, and it was here until the time of David. 46 He found favor with God and asked to design a dwelling for the house[ai] of Jacob, 47 but it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 However, the Most High does not live in buildings made by human[aj] hands. As the prophet says,
49 “‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house can you build for me,’ declares the Lord,[ak]
“or what place is there in which I can rest?
50 It was my hand that made all these things, wasn’t it?’”[al]
51 “You stubborn people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors fail to persecute? They killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers. 53 You received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet you haven’t obeyed it!”
Stephen is Stoned to Death
54 While they were listening to these things, they became more and more furious and began to grind their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen,[am] filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 He said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
57 But they shouted out loud, stopped listening, and together they all rushed at him, 58 ran him outside of the city, and began to stone him to death. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 As they continued to stone Stephen, he kept praying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” After he had said this, he died.[an]
Footnotes
- Acts 7:3 Lit. He
- Acts 7:3 Cf. Gen 12:1
- Acts 7:5 Lit. He
- Acts 7:5 Lit. in it
- Acts 7:5 I.e. about half of a single stride, or about 1.5 feet
- Acts 7:5 Lit. seed
- Acts 7:6 Lit. they
- Acts 7:7 Cf. Gen 15:13-14; Exod 3:12
- Acts 7:8 Lit. he
- Acts 7:8 Lit. him
- Acts 7:8 The Gk. lacks fathered
- Acts 7:9 Lit. The patriarchs
- Acts 7:9 The Gk. lacks as a slave
- Acts 7:13 Lit. Joseph’s family became known
- Acts 7:14 The Gk. lacks in Egypt
- Acts 7:16 Lit. Abraham for a sum of money
- Acts 7:18 Other mss. lack of Egypt
- Acts 7:23 Lit. old, his heart was moved
- Acts 7:24 The Gk. lacks him
- Acts 7:27 Lit. him
- Acts 7:28 Cf. Exod 2:14
- Acts 7:31 The Gk. lacks the bush
- Acts 7:31 Lit. came
- Acts 7:32 Cf. Exod 3:6
- Acts 7:34 Cf. Exod 3:4-10
- Acts 7:35 Cf. Exod 2:14
- Acts 7:37 The Gk. lacks he did
- Acts 7:37 Cf. Deut 18:15
- Acts 7:38 Lit. one
- Acts 7:38 Other mss. read to you
- Acts 7:40 Cf. Exod 32:1, 23
- Acts 7:43 Cf. Amos 5:25-27
- Acts 7:44 I.e. the tent containing the Ark of the Covenant
- Acts 7:44 The Gk. lacks constructed
- Acts 7:46 Other mss. read God
- Acts 7:48 The Gk. lacks human
- Acts 7:49 MT source citation reads Lord
- Acts 7:50 Cf. Isa 66:1-2
- Acts 7:55 Lit. he
- Acts 7:60 Lit. fell asleep
Acts 7
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 7
Stephen’s Discourses. 1 Then the high priest asked, “Is this so?” 2 (A)And he replied,[a] “My brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia,[b] before he had settled in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go forth from your land and [from] your kinsfolk to the land that I will show you.’(B) 4 So he went forth from the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, he made him migrate to this land where you now dwell.(C) 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but he did promise to give it to him and his descendants as a possession, even though he was childless.(D) 6 And God spoke thus,(E) ‘His descendants shall be aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years; 7 but I will bring judgment on the nation they serve,’ God said, ‘and after that they will come out and worship me in this place.’(F) 8 Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision, and so he became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, as Isaac did Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.(G)
9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into slavery in Egypt; but God was with him(H) 10 and rescued him from all his afflictions. He granted him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who put him in charge of Egypt and [of] his entire household.(I) 11 Then a famine and great affliction struck all Egypt and Canaan, and our ancestors could find no food;(J) 12 but when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there a first time.(K) 13 The second time, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh.(L) 14 Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob, inviting him and his whole clan, seventy-five persons;(M) 15 and Jacob went down to Egypt. And he and our ancestors died(N) 16 and were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor at Shechem.(O)
17 “When the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise that God pledged to Abraham, the people had increased and become very numerous in Egypt,(P) 18 until another king who knew nothing of Joseph came to power [in Egypt].(Q) 19 He dealt shrewdly with our people and oppressed [our] ancestors by forcing them to expose their infants, that they might not survive. 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was extremely beautiful. For three months he was nursed in his father’s house;(R) 21 but when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.(S) 22 Moses was educated [in] all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.
23 (T)“When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his kinsfolk, the Israelites. 24 When he saw one of them treated unjustly, he defended and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He assumed [his] kinsfolk would understand that God was offering them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. 26 (U)The next day he appeared to them as they were fighting and tried to reconcile them peacefully, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you harming one another?’ 27 Then the one who was harming his neighbor pushed him aside, saying, ‘Who appointed you ruler and judge over us? 28 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 Moses fled when he heard this and settled as an alien in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.(V)
30 (W)“Forty years later, an angel appeared to him in the desert near Mount Sinai in the flame of a burning bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look at it, the voice of the Lord came, 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.’ Then Moses, trembling, did not dare to look at it. 33 But the Lord said to him, ‘Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 34 I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you to Egypt.’ 35 This Moses, whom they had rejected with the words, ‘Who appointed you ruler and judge?’ God sent as [both] ruler and deliverer, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.(X) 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the desert for forty years.(Y) 37 It was this Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you, from among your own kinsfolk, a prophet like me.’(Z) 38 It was he who, in the assembly in the desert, was with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our ancestors, and he received living utterances to hand on to us.(AA)
39 “Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him; instead, they pushed him aside and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,(AB) 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will be our leaders. As for that Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’(AC) 41 (AD)So they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifice to the idol, and reveled in the works of their hands. 42 Then God turned and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:(AE)
‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
for forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?(AF)
43 No, you took up the tent of Moloch
and the star of [your] god Rephan,
the images that you made to worship.
So I shall take you into exile beyond Babylon.’
44 Our ancestors had the tent of testimony in the desert just as the One who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.(AG) 45 Our ancestors who inherited it brought it with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out from before our ancestors, up to the time of David,(AH) 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob.(AI) 47 But Solomon built a house for him.(AJ) 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:(AK)
49 ‘The heavens are my throne,
the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house can you build for me?
says the Lord,
or what is to be my resting place?(AL)
50 Did not my hand make all these things?’
Conclusion. 51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the holy Spirit; you are just like your ancestors. 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They put to death those who foretold the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.(AM) 53 You received the law as transmitted by angels, but you did not observe it.”(AN)
Stephen’s Martyrdom. 54 When they heard this, they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 (AO)But he, filled with the holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,[c] 56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears,[d] and rushed upon him together. 58 They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.(AP) 59 As they were stoning Stephen,(AQ) he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”[e] 60 Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them”; and when he said this, he fell asleep.(AR)
Footnotes
- 7:2–53 Stephen’s speech represents Luke’s description of Christianity’s break from its Jewish matrix. Two motifs become prominent in the speech: (1) Israel’s reaction to God’s chosen leaders in the past reveals that the people have consistently rejected them; and (2) Israel has misunderstood God’s choice of the Jerusalem temple as the place where he is to be worshiped.
- 7:2 God…appeared to our father Abraham…in Mesopotamia: the first of a number of minor discrepancies between the data of the Old Testament and the data of Stephen’s discourse. According to Gn 12:1, God first spoke to Abraham in Haran. The main discrepancies are these: in Acts 7:16 it is said that Jacob was buried in Shechem, whereas Gn 50:13 says he was buried at Hebron; in the same verse it is said that the tomb was purchased by Abraham, but in Gn 33:19 and Jos 24:32 the purchase is attributed to Jacob himself.
- 7:55 He…saw…Jesus standing at the right hand of God: Stephen affirms to the Sanhedrin that the prophecy Jesus made before them has been fulfilled (Mk 14:62).
- 7:57 Covered their ears: Stephen’s declaration, like that of Jesus, is a scandal to the court, which regards it as blasphemy.
- 7:59 Compare Lk 23:34, 46.
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