Stephen Seized

⁸ Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs^(A) among the people. ⁹ Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene^(B) and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia^(C) and Asia^(D)—who began to argue with Stephen. ¹⁰ But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.^(E)

¹¹ Then they secretly^(F) persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”^(G)

¹² So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.^{(H) 13} They produced false witnesses,^(I) who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place^(J) and against the law. ¹⁴ For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place^(K) and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”^(L)

¹⁵ All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin^(M) looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Stephen’s Speech to the Sanhedrin

7 Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”

² To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers,^(N) listen to me! The God of glory^(O) appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran.^{(P) 3} ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’^[a](Q)

⁴ “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living.^{(R) 5} He gave him no inheritance here,^(S) not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land,^(T) even though at that time Abraham had no child. ⁶ God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated.^(U)