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Acts 7
Legacy Standard Bible

Stephen’s Defense

7 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

2 And he said, “Hear me, (A)brothers and fathers! (B)The God of glory (C)appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in [a]Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘(D)Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’ 4 (E)Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in [b]Haran. (F)From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. 5 But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and (G)He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his seed after him, even when he had no child. 6 But (H)God spoke in this way, that his seed would be sojourners in a foreign land, and that they would [c]be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. 7 ‘And I Myself will judge the nation to which they will be enslaved,’ said God, ‘and (I)after that they will come out and [d]serve Me in this place.’ 8 And He (J)gave him [e]the covenant of circumcision; and so (K)Abraham was the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and (L)Isaac was the father of Jacob, and (M)Jacob of the twelve (N)patriarchs.

9 “And the patriarchs, (O)becoming jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him, 10 and rescued him from all his afflictions, and (P)granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he appointed him governor over Egypt and all his household.

11 “Now (Q)a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers [f]could find no food. 12 But (R)when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. 13 And on the second visit (S)Joseph [g]made himself known to his brothers, and (T)Joseph’s family was disclosed to Pharaoh. 14 Then (U)Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, (V)seventy-five [h](W)persons in all. 15 And (X)Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died. 16 And from there they were removed to [i](Y)Shechem and placed in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of [j]Hamor in [k]Shechem.

17 “But as the (Z)time of the promise was drawing near which God had assured to Abraham, (AA)the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, 18 until (AB)another king arose over Egypt who did not know about Joseph. 19 It was he who (AC)deceitfully took advantage of our family and mistreated our fathers to [l](AD)set their infants outside so that they would not survive. 20 It was at this time that (AE)Moses was born, and he was lovely [m]in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father’s home. 21 And after he had been set outside, (AF)Pharaoh’s daughter [n]took him away and nurtured him as her own son. 22 And Moses was educated in all (AG)the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in words and deeds. 23 But when he was approaching the age of forty, (AH)it entered his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. 24 And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took justice for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. 25 And he supposed that his brothers understood that God was granting them salvation [o]through him, but they did not understand. 26 (AI)On the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers, why are you treating one another unjustly?’ 27 But the one who was treating his neighbor unjustly pushed him away, saying, ‘(AJ)Who made you a ruler and judge over us? 28 (AK)Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 At this remark, (AL)Moses fled and became a sojourner in the land of [p]Midian, where he (AM)was the father of two sons.

30 “And after forty years had passed, (AN)an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was marveling at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the [q]Lord: 32 ‘(AO)I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and would not dare to look. 33 (AP)But the [r]Lord said to him, ‘(AQ)Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. 34 (AR)I have surely seen the oppression of My people in Egypt and have heard their groans, and I have come down to deliver them; [s](AS)come now, and I will send you to Egypt.’

35 “This Moses whom they (AT)disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God [t]sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the [u]help of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 (AU)This man led them out, doing (AV)wonders and [v]signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the (AW)wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘(AX)God will raise up for you a prophet [w]like me from your brothers.’ 38 This is the one who, in (AY)the [x]congregation in the wilderness, was with (AZ)the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai and with our fathers; the one who received (BA)living (BB)oracles to pass on to you. 39 Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but (BC)rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt, 40 (BD)saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 [y]At that time (BE)they made a [z]calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in (BF)the works of their hands. 42 But God (BG)turned away and delivered them up to [aa]serve the [ab]host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘(BH)Did you present Me with slain beasts and sacrifices (BI)forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 (BJ)You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god [ac]Rompha, the images which you made to worship. I also will remove you beyond Babylon.’

44 “Our fathers had (BK)the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He, who spoke to Moses, directed him to make it (BL)according to the pattern which he had seen. 45 And having received it in their turn, our fathers (BM)brought it in with [ad]Joshua when they dispossessed the [ae]nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David. 46 (BN)David found favor in the sight of God, and (BO)asked that he might find a dwelling place for the [af]God of Jacob. 47 But (BP)Solomon built a house for Him. 48 However, (BQ)the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands, as the prophet says:

49 ‘(BR)Heaven is My throne,
And earth is the footstool of My feet.
What kind of house will you build for Me?’ says the Lord,
‘Or what place is there for My rest?
50 (BS)Was it not My hand which made all these things?’

51 “You men—(BT)stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears—are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 (BU)And which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of (BV)the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers (BW)you have now become; 53 you who received the Law as (BX)ordained by angels, and yet did not observe it.”

Stephen Is Stoned to Death

54 Now when they heard this, they became (BY)furious in their hearts, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. 55 But being (BZ)full of the Holy Spirit, he (CA)gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing (CB)at the right hand of God; 56 and he said, “Behold, I see the (CC)heavens opened up and (CD)the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But crying out with a loud voice, they covered their ears and rushed at him with one accord. 58 And when they had (CE)driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and (CF)the witnesses (CG)laid aside their garments at the feet of (CH)a young man named Saul. 59 They went on stoning Stephen as he (CI)was calling out and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 Then (CJ)falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, (CK)do not hold this sin against them!” And having said this, he [ag](CL)fell asleep.

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 7:2 Gr Charran
  2. Acts 7:4 Gr Charran
  3. Acts 7:6 Lit enslave them and mistreat them
  4. Acts 7:7 Or worship
  5. Acts 7:8 Or a
  6. Acts 7:11 Lit were not finding
  7. Acts 7:13 Or was made known
  8. Acts 7:14 Lit souls
  9. Acts 7:16 Gr Sychem
  10. Acts 7:16 Gr Emmor
  11. Acts 7:16 Gr Sychem
  12. Acts 7:19 Or put out to die
  13. Acts 7:20 Lit to God
  14. Acts 7:21 Or adopted him
  15. Acts 7:25 Lit through his hand
  16. Acts 7:29 Gr Madiam
  17. Acts 7:31 In OT, Yahweh, cf. Ex 3:4
  18. Acts 7:33 In OT, Yahweh, cf. Ex 3:4
  19. Acts 7:34 Lit and now come!
  20. Acts 7:35 Lit has sent
  21. Acts 7:35 Lit hand
  22. Acts 7:36 Or attesting miracles
  23. Acts 7:37 Or as He raised up me
  24. Acts 7:38 Gr ekklesia
  25. Acts 7:41 Lit in those days
  26. Acts 7:41 Or young bull
  27. Acts 7:42 Or worship
  28. Acts 7:42 Heavenly bodies
  29. Acts 7:43 Other mss spell it: Romphan, or Rempham, or Raiphan, or Rephan
  30. Acts 7:45 Gr Jesus
  31. Acts 7:45 Or Gentiles
  32. Acts 7:46 As in LXX; the earliest mss house
  33. Acts 7:60 Died
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Acts 7
New International Version

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,(A) listen to me! The God of glory(B) appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran.(C) 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’[a](D)

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.(E) 5 He gave him no inheritance here,(F) not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land,(G) 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.(H) 7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’[b](I) 8 Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision.(J) And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth.(K) Later Isaac became the father of Jacob,(L) and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.(M)

9 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph,(N) they sold him as a slave into Egypt.(O) But God was with him(P) 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.(Q)

11 “Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food.(R) 12 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit.(S) 13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was,(T) and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family.(U) 14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family,(V) seventy-five in all.(W) 15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died.(X) 16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.(Y)

17 “As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased.(Z) 18 Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’[c](AA) 19 He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.(AB)

20 “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child.[d] For three months he was cared for by his family.(AC) 21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.(AD) 22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians(AE) and was powerful in speech and action.

23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’

27 “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?(AF) 28 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’[e] 29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.(AG)

30 “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say:(AH) 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers,(AI) the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’[f] Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.(AJ)

33 “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.(AK) 34 I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’[g](AL)

35 “This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’(AM) He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out of Egypt(AN) and performed wonders and signs(AO) in Egypt, at the Red Sea(AP) and for forty years in the wilderness.(AQ)

37 “This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’[h](AR) 38 He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel(AS) who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors;(AT) and he received living words(AU) to pass on to us.(AV)

39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.(AW) 40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’[i](AX) 41 That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made.(AY) 42 But God turned away from them(AZ) and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars.(BA) This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:

“‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
    forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
43 You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek
    and the star of your god Rephan,
    the idols you made to worship.
Therefore I will send you into exile’[j](BB) beyond Babylon.

44 “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law(BC) with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.(BD) 45 After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them.(BE) It remained in the land until the time of David,(BF) 46 who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.[k](BG) 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him.(BH)

48 “However, the Most High(BI) does not live in houses made by human hands.(BJ) As the prophet says:

49 “‘Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool.(BK)
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
    Or where will my resting place be?
50 Has not my hand made all these things?’[l](BL)

51 “You stiff-necked people!(BM) Your hearts(BN) and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?(BO) They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him(BP)— 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels(BQ) but have not obeyed it.”

The Stoning of Stephen

54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious(BR) and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit,(BS) looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.(BT) 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open(BU) and the Son of Man(BV) standing at the right hand of God.”

57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city(BW) and began to stone him.(BX) Meanwhile, the witnesses(BY) laid their coats(BZ) at the feet of a young man named Saul.(CA)

59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”(CB) 60 Then he fell on his knees(CC) and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”(CD) When he had said this, he fell asleep.(CE)

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 7:3 Gen. 12:1
  2. Acts 7:7 Gen. 15:13,14
  3. Acts 7:18 Exodus 1:8
  4. Acts 7:20 Or was fair in the sight of God
  5. Acts 7:28 Exodus 2:14
  6. Acts 7:32 Exodus 3:6
  7. Acts 7:34 Exodus 3:5,7,8,10
  8. Acts 7:37 Deut. 18:15
  9. Acts 7:40 Exodus 32:1
  10. Acts 7:43 Amos 5:25-27 (see Septuagint)
  11. Acts 7:46 Some early manuscripts the house of Jacob
  12. Acts 7:50 Isaiah 66:1,2
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