Acts 7
Complete Jewish Bible
7 The cohen hagadol asked, “Are these accusations true?” 2 and Stephen said:
“Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to Avraham avinu in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran 3 and said to him, ‘Leave your land and your family, and go into the land that I will show you.’[a] 4 So he left the land of the Kasdim and lived in Haran. After his father died, God made him move to this land where you are living now. 5 He gave him no inheritance in it, not even space for one foot;[b] yet he promised to give it to him as a possession and to his descendants after him,[c] even though at the time he was childless. 6 What God said to him was, ‘Your descendants will be aliens in a foreign land, where they will be in slavery and oppressed for four hundred years. 7 But I will judge the nation that enslaves them,’ God said, ‘and afterwards they will leave and worship me in this place.’[d] 8 And he gave him b’rit-milah. So he became the father of Yitz’chak and did his b’rit-milah on the eighth day, and Yitz’chak became the father of Ya‘akov, and Ya‘akov became the father of the Twelve Patriarchs.
9 “Now the Patriarchs grew jealous of Yosef and sold him into slavery in Egypt. But Adonai was with him;[e] 10 he rescued him from all his troubles and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him chief administrator over Egypt and over all his household.[f] 11 Now there came a famine that caused much suffering throughout Egypt and Kena‘an[g] 12 But when Ya‘akov heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. 13 The second time, Yosef revealed his identity to his brothers,[h] and Yosef’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 Yosef then sent for his father Ya‘akov and all his relatives, seventy-five people. 15 And Ya‘akov went down to Egypt; there he died, as did our other ancestors. 16 Their bodies were removed to Sh’khem and buried in the tomb Avraham had bought from the family of Hamor in Sh’khem for a certain sum of money.
17 “As the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise God had made to Avraham, the number of our people in Egypt increased greatly, 18 until there arose another king over Egypt who had no knowledge of Yosef.[i] 19 With cruel cunning this man forced our fathers to put their newborn babies outside their homes, so that they would not survive.
20 “It was then that Moshe was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. For three months he was reared in his father’s house; 21 and when he was put out of his home, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22 So Moshe was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became both a powerful speaker and a man of action.
23 “But when he was forty years old, the thought came to him to visit his brothers, the people of Isra’el. 24 On seeing one of them being mistreated, he went to his defense and took revenge by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed his brothers would understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn’t understand. 26 When he appeared the next day, as they were fighting, and tried to make peace between them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers! Why do you want to hurt each other?’ 27 the one who was mistreating his fellow pushed Moshe away and said, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me, the way you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’[j] 29 On hearing this, Moshe fled the country and became an exile in the land of Midyan, where he had two sons.
30 “After forty more years, an angel appeared to him in the desert near Mount Sinai in the flames of a burning thorn bush. 31 When Moshe saw this, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to get a better look, there came the voice of Adonai, 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov.’ But Moshe trembled with fear and didn’t dare to look. 33 Adonai said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have clearly seen how My people are being oppressed in Egypt, I have heard their cry, and I have come down to rescue them, and now I will send you to Egypt.’[k]
35 “This Moshe, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ is the very one whom God sent as both ruler and ransomer by means of the angel that appeared to him in the thorn bush. 36 This man led them out, performing miracles and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moshe who said to the people of Isra’el, ‘God will raise up a prophet like me from among your brothers’[l] 38 This is the man who was in the assembly in the wilderness, accompanied by the angel that had spoken to him at Mount Sinai and by our fathers, the man who was given living words to pass on to us.
39 “But our fathers did not want to obey him. On the contrary, they rejected him and in their hearts turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aharon, ‘Make us some gods to lead us; because this Moshe, who led us out of Egypt — we don’t know what has become of him.’[m] 41 That was when they made an idol in the shape of a calf and offered a sacrifice to it and held a celebration in honor of what they had made with their own hands. 42 So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars[n] — as has been written in the book of the prophets,
‘People of Isra’el, it was not to me
that you offered slaughtered animals
and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness!
43 No, you carried the tent of Molekh
and the star of your god Reifan,
the idols you made so that you could worship them.
Therefore, I will send you into exile beyond Bavel.’[o]
44 “Our fathers had the Tent of Witness in the wilderness. It had been made just as God, who spoke to Moshe, had ordered it made, according to the pattern Moshe had seen. 45 Later on, our fathers who had received it brought it in with Y’hoshua when they took the Land away from the nations that God drove out before them.
“So it was until the days of David. 46 He enjoyed God’s favor and asked if he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Ya‘akov 47 and Shlomo did build him a house. 48 But Ha‘Elyon does not live in places made by hand! As the prophet says,
49 ‘Heaven is my throne,’ says Adonai,
‘and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house could you build for me?
What kind of place could you devise for my rest?
50 Didn’t I myself make all these things?’[p]
51 “Stiffnecked people,[q] with uncircumcised hearts and ears![r] You continually oppose the Ruach HaKodesh![s] You do the same things your fathers did! 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who told in advance about the coming of the Tzaddik, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers! — 53 you! — who receive the Torah as having been delivered by angels — but do not keep it!”
54 On hearing these things, they were cut to their hearts and ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Ruach HaKodesh, looked up to heaven and saw God’s Sh’khinah, with Yeshua standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look!” he exclaimed, “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”[t]
57 At this, they began yelling at the top of their voices, so that they wouldn’t have to hear him; and with one accord, they rushed at him, 58 threw him outside the city and began stoning him. And the witnesses laid down their coats at the feet of a young man named Sha’ul.
59 As they were stoning him, Stephen called out to God, “Lord Yeshua! Receive my spirit!” 60 Then he kneeled down and shouted out, “Lord! Don’t hold this sin against them!” With that, he died;
Footnotes
- Acts 7:3 Genesis 12:1
- Acts 7:5 Deuteronomy 2:5
- Acts 7:5 Genesis 12:7; 13:15; 15:4, 7, 18–21; 17:8; 24:7; 48:4
- Acts 7:7 Genesis 15:13–14, 16
- Acts 7:9 Genesis 37:11, 28; 39:1–3, 21, 23
- Acts 7:10 Genesis 41:37–44
- Acts 7:11 Genesis 41:54; 42:5
- Acts 7:13 Genesis 45:1
- Acts 7:18 Exodus 1:7–8
- Acts 7:28 Exodus 2:14
- Acts 7:34 Exodus 3:1–2
- Acts 7:37 Deuteronomy 18:15
- Acts 7:40 Exodus 32:1, 23
- Acts 7:42 Jeremiah 19:13
- Acts 7:43 Amos 5:25–27
- Acts 7:50 Isaiah 66:1–2
- Acts 7:51 Exodus 32:9; 33:3, 5
- Acts 7:51 Leviticus 26:41; Jeremiah 6:10; 9:25(26)
- Acts 7:51 Isaiah 63:10
- Acts 7:56 Psalm 110:1
Acts 7
1599 Geneva Bible
7 1 Stephen pleading his cause, showeth that God chose the Fathers, 20 before Moses was born, 42 and before the Temple was built: 44 And that all outward ceremonies were ordained according to the heavenly Pattern. 54 The Jews gnashing their teeth, 59 stone him.
1 Then [a]said the chief Priest, Are these things so?
2 [b]And he said, Ye men, brethren, and Fathers, hearken, (A)That God of [c]glory appeared unto our father Abraham, while he was in [d]Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,
3 And said unto him, Come out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee.
4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Haran. And after that his father was dead, God brought him from thence into this land, wherein ye now dwell,
5 And he gave him none inheritance in it, [e]no not the breadth of a foot: yet he [f]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 But God spake thus, that his (B)seed should be a sojourner in a strange land: and that they should keep it in bondage, and entreat it evil [g]four hundred years.
7 But the nation to whom they shall be in bondage, will I judge, saith God: and after that, they shall come forth and serve me in this place.
8 (C)He gave him also the covenant of circumcision: and to Abraham begat(D)Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day: and Isaac begat (E)Jacob, and Jacob the twelve (F)Patriarchs.
9 [h]And the Patriarchs moved with envy, sold (G)Joseph into Egypt: but God was [i]with him,
10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and (H)gave him [j]favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, who made him governor over Egypt, and over his whole house.
11 ¶ Then came there a famine over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, that our fathers found no sustenance.
12 But when (I)Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent our fathers first:
13 (J)And at the second time Joseph was known of his brethren, and Joseph’s kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
14 Then sent Joseph and caused his father to be brought, and all his kindred, even threescore and fifteen souls.
15 So (K)Jacob went down into Egypt, and he (L)died, and our fathers,
16 And were [k]removed into Shechem, and were put in the sepulcher, that Abraham had bought (M)for money of the sons of Hamor, son of Shechem.
17 But when the time of the promise drew near, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people (N)grew and multiplied in Egypt,
18 Till another King arose, which knew not Joseph.
19 The same [l]dealt subtly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, and made them to cast out their young children, that they should not remain alive.
20 (O)The same time was Moses born and was [m]acceptable unto God: which was 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 Now when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.
24 (P)And when he saw one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged his quarrel that had the harm done to him, and smote the Egyptian.
25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood, that God by his hand should give them deliverance: but they understood it not.
26 (Q)And the next day, he showed 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 neighbor wrong, thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a prince, and a judge over us?
28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday?
29 Then fled Moses at that saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons.
30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the (R)wilderness of mount Sinai, an [n]Angel of the Lord in a flame of fire, in a bush.
31 And when Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to consider it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying,
32 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 it.
33 Then the Lord said 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, and I will send thee into Egypt.
35 This Moses whom they forsook, saying, Who made thee a prince and a judge? the same God sent for a prince, and a deliverer by the [o]hand of the Angel which appeared to him in the bush.
36 He (S)brought them out, doing wonders, and miracles in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness (T)forty years.
37 [p]This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, (U)A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, even of your brethren, like unto me: him shall ye hear.
38 (V)This is he that was in the Congregation, in the wilderness with the Angel, which spake to him in mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received the lively oracles to give unto us.
39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but refused, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
40 Saying unto Aaron, (W)Make us gods that may go before us: for we know not what is become of this Moses that brought us out of the land of Egypt.
41 And they made a [q]calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
42 Then God turned himself away, and [r]gave them up to serve the [s]host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets, (X)O house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
43 And ye [t]took up the Tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures, which ye made to worship them: therefore I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
44 [u]Our fathers had the Tabernacle of [v]witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto (Y)Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.
45 (Z)Which tabernacle also our fathers [w]received, and brought in with Jesus into the [x]possession of the Gentiles, which God drove out [y]before our fathers, unto the days of David:
46 (AA)Who found favor before God, and desired that he might find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
47 (AB)[z]But Solomon built him an house.
48 Howbeit the most High (AC)dwelleth not in temples made with hands, as saith the Prophet,
49 (AD)Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build for me, saith the Lord? or what place is it that I should rest in?
50 Hath not mine hand made all these things?
51 (AE)[aa]Ye stiff-necked and of [ab]uncircumcised hearts and ears, ye have always resisted the holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do you.
52 Which of the Prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them, which showed before of the coming of that Just, of whom ye are now the betrayers and murderers,
53 (AF)Which have received the law by the [ac]ordinance of Angels, and have not kept it.
54 [ad]But when they heard these things, their hearts brast for anger, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.
55 [ae]But he being full of the holy Ghost, looked steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus [af]standing at the right hand of God,
56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens open, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.
57 [ag]Then they gave a shout with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and [ah]ran upon him violently all at once,
58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the [ai]witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, named Saul.
59 And they stoned Stephen, who called on God, and said, Lord Jesus receive my spirit.
60 [aj]And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, [ak]lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had thus spoken, he [al]slept.
Footnotes
- Acts 7:1 Stephen is admitted to plead his cause, but to this end and purpose, that under a cloak, and color of Law, he might be condemned.
- Acts 7:2 Stephen witnesseth unto the Jews, that he acknowledgeth the true fathers, and the only true God: and showeth moreover, that they are more ancient than the Temple, with all that service appointed by the Law, and therefore they ought to lay another foundation of true religion, that is to say, the free covenant that God made with the fathers.
- Acts 7:2 That mighty God full of glory and majesty.
- Acts 7:2 When he saith afterward, verse 4, that Abraham came out of Chaldea, it is evident that Mesopotamia contained Chaldea which was near unto it, and bordering upon it, and so writeth Plinius, book 6, chap. 27.
- Acts 7:5 Not so much ground as to set his foot upon.
- Acts 7:5 The promise of the possession was certain and belonged to Abraham, though his posterity enjoyed it a great while after his death: and this is the figure Synecdoche.
- Acts 7:6 There are reckoned four hundred years, from the beginning of Abraham’s progeny, which was at the birth of Isaac: and four hundred and thirty years which are spoken of by Paul, Gal. 3:17, from the time that Abraham and his father departed together out of Ur of the Chaldeans.
- Acts 7:9 Stephen reckoneth up diligently the horrible mischiefs of some of the Fathers, to teach the Jews that they ought not rashly to rest in the authority or examples of the Fathers.
- Acts 7:9 By this kind of speech, is meant the peculiar favor that God showeth men: for he seemeth to be away from them, whom he helpeth not, and on the other side, he is with them whom he delivereth out of whatsoever great troubles.
- Acts 7:10 Gave him favor in Pharaoh’s sight for his wisdom.
- Acts 7:16 The Patriarchs the sons of Jacob, though there be mention made of no more than Joseph, Josh. 24:32.
- Acts 7:19 He devised a subtle invention against our stock, in that he commanded all the males to be cast out.
- Acts 7:20 That child was born through God’s merciful goodness and favor, to be of a goodly and fair countenance.
- Acts 7:30 Now he calleth the Son of God an Angel, for he is the Angel of great counsel, and therefore, straightway after he showeth him, saying to Moses, I am that God of thy Fathers, etc.
- Acts 7:35 By the power.
- Acts 7:37 He acknowledgeth Moses for the lawgiver, but so that he proveth by his own witness, that the Law had respect to a more perfect thing, that is to say, to the prophetic office which tended to Christ, the head of all Prophets.
- Acts 7:41 This was the superstition of the Egyptians’ idolatry: for they worshipped Apis a strange and marvelous calf, and made goodly images of Kine, Herodias, lib. 2.
- Acts 7:42 Being destitute and void of his Spirit, he gave them up to Satan, and wicked lusts to worship stars.
- Acts 7:42 By the host of heaven, here he meaneth not the Angels, but the moon and sun and other stars.
- Acts 7:43 You took it upon your shoulders and carried it.
- Acts 7:44 Moses indeed erected a Tabernacle, but that was to call them back to that form which he had seen in the mountain.
- Acts 7:44 That is, of the covenant.
- Acts 7:45 Delivered from hand to hand.
- Acts 7:45 By the figure Metonymy, for the countries which the Gentiles possessed.
- Acts 7:45 God drove them out, that they should yield up the possession of those countries to our fathers, when they entered into the land.
- Acts 7:47 Solomon built a Temple, according to God’s commandment, but not with any such condition, that the Majesty of God should be enclosed therein.
- Acts 7:51 Stephen moved with the zeal of God, at length judgeth his own judges.
- Acts 7:51 They are of uncircumcised hearts, which lie drowned still in the sins of nature, and stick fast in them: for otherwise all the Jews were circumcised as touching the flesh, and therefore there were two kinds of circumcision, Rom. 2:28.
- Acts 7:53 By the ministry of Angels.
- Acts 7:54 The more Satan is pressed, the more he brasteth out into an open rage.
- Acts 7:55 The nearer that the Martyrs approach to death, the nearer they beholding Christ, do rise up even into heaven.
- Acts 7:55 Ready to confirm him in the confession of the truth, and to receive him to him.
- Acts 7:57 The zeal of hypocrites and superstitious people, breaketh out at length into most open madness.
- Acts 7:57 This was done in a rage and fury: for at that time the Jews could put no man to death by law, as they confess before Pilate, saying that it was not lawful for them to put any man to death, and therefore it is reported by Josephus, lib. 20, that Ananus a Sadducee slew James the brother of the Lord, and for so doing, was accused before Albinus the President of the country.
- Acts 7:58 It was appointed by the Law, that the witnesses should cast the first stones, Deut. 17:7.
- Acts 7:60 Faith and charity never forsake the true servants of God, even to the last breath.
- Acts 7:60 The word which he useth here noteth out such a kind of imputing or laying to one’s charge, as remaineth firm, and steady forever, never to be remitted.
- Acts 7:60 See 1 Thess. 4:13.
Acts 7
The Message
Stephen, Full of the Holy Spirit
7 Then the Chief Priest said, “What do you have to say for yourself?”
2-3 Stephen replied, “Friends, fathers, and brothers, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was still in Mesopotamia, before the move to Haran, and told him, ‘Leave your country and family and go to the land I’ll show you.’
4-7 “So he left the country of the Chaldees and moved to Haran. After the death of his father, he immigrated to this country where you now live, but God gave him nothing, not so much as a foothold. He did promise to give the country to him and his son later on, even though Abraham had no son at the time. God let him know that his offspring would move to an alien country where they would be enslaved and brutalized for four hundred years. ‘But,’ God said, ‘I will step in and take care of those slaveholders and bring my people out so they can worship me in this place.’
8 “Then he made a covenant with him and signed it in Abraham’s flesh by circumcision. When Abraham had his son Isaac, within eight days he reproduced the sign of circumcision in him. Isaac became father of Jacob, and Jacob father of twelve ‘fathers,’ each faithfully passing on the covenant sign.
9-10 “But then those ‘fathers,’ burning up with jealousy, sent Joseph off to Egypt as a slave. God was right there with him, though—he not only rescued him from all his troubles but brought him to the attention of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He was so impressed with Joseph that he put him in charge of the whole country, including his own personal affairs.
11-15 “Later a famine descended on that entire region, stretching from Egypt to Canaan, bringing terrific hardship. Our hungry fathers looked high and low for food, but the cupboard was bare. Jacob heard there was food in Egypt and sent our fathers to scout it out. Having confirmed the report, they went back to Egypt a second time to get food. On that visit, Joseph revealed his true identity to his brothers and introduced the Jacob family to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and everyone else in the family, seventy-five in all. That’s how the Jacob family got to Egypt.
15-16 “Jacob died, and our fathers after him. They were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb for which Abraham paid a good price to the sons of Hamor.
17-19 “When the four hundred years were nearly up, the time God promised Abraham for deliverance, the population of our people in Egypt had become very large. And there was now a king over Egypt who had never heard of Joseph. He exploited our race mercilessly. He went so far as forcing us to abandon our newborn infants, exposing them to the elements to die a cruel death.
20-22 “In just such a time Moses was born, a most beautiful baby. He was hidden at home for three months. When he could be hidden no longer, he was put outside—and immediately rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter, who mothered him as her own son. Moses was educated in the best schools in Egypt. He was equally impressive as a thinker and an athlete.
23-26 “When he was forty years old, he wondered how everything was going with his Hebrew kin and went out to look things over. He saw an Egyptian abusing one of them and stepped in, avenging his underdog brother by knocking the Egyptian flat. He thought his brothers would be glad that he was on their side, and even see him as an instrument of God to deliver them. But they didn’t see it that way. The next day two of them were fighting and he tried to break it up, told them to shake hands and get along with each other: ‘Friends, you are brothers, why are you beating up on each other?’
27-29 “The one who had started the fight said, ‘Who put you in charge of us? Are you going to kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ When Moses heard that, realizing that the word was out, he ran for his life and lived in exile over in Midian. During the years of exile, two sons were born to him.
30-32 “Forty years later, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to him in the guise of flames of a burning bush. Moses, not believing his eyes, went up to take a closer look. He heard God’s voice: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Frightened nearly out of his skin, Moses shut his eyes and turned away.
33-34 “God said, ‘Kneel and pray. You are in a holy place, on holy ground. I’ve seen the agony of my people in Egypt. I’ve heard their groans. I’ve come to help them. So get yourself ready; I’m sending you back to Egypt.’
35-39 “This is the same Moses whom they earlier rejected, saying, ‘Who put you in charge of us?’ This is the Moses that God, using the angel flaming in the burning bush, sent back as ruler and redeemer. He led them out of their slavery. He did wonderful things, setting up God-signs all through Egypt, down at the Red Sea, and out in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to his congregation, ‘God will raise up a prophet just like me from your descendants.’ This is the Moses who stood between the angel speaking at Sinai and your fathers assembled in the wilderness and took the life-giving words given to him and handed them over to us, words our fathers would have nothing to do with.
39-41 “They craved the old Egyptian ways, whining to Aaron, ‘Make us gods we can see and follow. This Moses who got us out here miles from nowhere—who knows what’s happened to him!’ That was the time when they made a calf-idol, brought sacrifices to it, and congratulated each other on the wonderful religious program they had put together.
42-43 “God wasn’t at all pleased; but he let them do it their way, worship every new god that came down the pike—and live with the consequences, consequences described by the prophet Amos:
Did you bring me offerings of animals and grains
those forty wilderness years, O Israel?
Hardly. You were too busy building shrines
to war gods, to sex goddesses,
Worshiping them with all your might.
That’s why I put you in exile in Babylon.
44-47 “And all this time our ancestors had a tent shrine for true worship, made to the exact specifications God provided Moses. They had it with them as they followed Joshua, when God cleared the land of pagans, and still had it right down to the time of David. David asked God for a permanent place for worship. But Solomon built it.
48-50 “Yet that doesn’t mean that Most High God lives in a building made by carpenters and masons. The prophet Isaiah put it well when he wrote,
“Heaven is my throne room;
I rest my feet on earth.
So what kind of house
will you build me?” says God.
“Where I can get away and relax?
It’s already built, and I built it.”
51-53 “And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, you’re just like your ancestors. Was there ever a prophet who didn’t get the same treatment? Your ancestors killed anyone who dared talk about the coming of the Just One. And you’ve kept up the family tradition—traitors and murderers, all of you. You had God’s Law handed to you by angels—gift-wrapped!—and you squandered it!”
54-56 At that point they went wild, a rioting mob of catcalls and whistles and invective. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, hardly noticed—he only had eyes for God, whom he saw in all his glory with Jesus standing at his side. He said, “Oh! I see heaven wide open and the Son of Man standing at God’s side!”
57-58 Yelling and hissing, the mob drowned him out. Now in full stampede, they dragged him out of town and pelted him with rocks. The ringleaders took off their coats and asked a young man named Saul to watch them.
59-60 As the rocks rained down, Stephen prayed, “Master Jesus, take my life.” Then he knelt down, praying loud enough for everyone to hear, “Master, don’t blame them for this sin”—his last words. Then he died.
Saul was right there, congratulating the killers.
Acts 7
Young's Literal Translation
7 And the chief priest said, `Are then these things so?'
2 and he said, `Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken: The God of the glory did appear to our father Abraham, being in Mesopotamia, before his dwelling in Haran,
3 and He said to him, Go forth out of thy land, and out of thy kindred, and come to a land that I shall shew thee.
4 `Then having come forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, he dwelt in Haran, and from thence, after the death of his father, He did remove him to this land wherein ye now dwell,
5 and He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a footstep, and did promise to give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him -- he having no child.
6 `And God spake thus, That his seed shall be sojourning in a strange land, and they shall cause it to serve, and shall do it evil four hundred years,
7 and the nation whom they shall serve I will judge, said God; and after these things they shall come forth and shall do Me service in this place.
8 `And He gave to him a covenant of circumcision, and so he begat Isaac, and did circumcise him on the eighth day, and Isaac [begat] Jacob, and Jacob -- the twelve patriarchs;
9 and the patriarchs, having been moved with jealousy, sold Joseph to Egypt, and God was with him,
10 and did deliver him out of all his tribulations, and gave him favour and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he did set him -- governor over Egypt and all his house.
11 `And there came a dearth upon all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great tribulation, and our fathers were not finding sustenance,
12 and Jacob having heard that there was corn in Egypt, sent forth our fathers a first time;
13 and at the second time was Joseph made known to his brethren, and Joseph's kindred became manifest to Pharaoh,
14 and Joseph having sent, did call for his father Jacob, and all his kindred -- with seventy and five souls --
15 and Jacob went down to Egypt, and died, himself and our fathers,
16 and they were carried over into Sychem, and were laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in money from the sons of Emmor, of Sychem.
17 `And according as the time of the promise was drawing nigh, which God did swear to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,
18 till another king rose, who had not known Joseph;
19 this one, having dealt subtilely with our kindred, did evil to our fathers, causing to expose their babes, that they might not live;
20 in which time Moses was born, and he was fair to God, and he was brought up three months in the house of his father;
21 and he having been exposed, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up, and did rear him to herself for a son;
22 and Moses was taught in all wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in words and in works.
23 `And when forty years were fulfilled to him, it came upon his heart to look after his brethren, the sons of Israel;
24 and having seen a certain one suffering injustice, he did defend, and did justice to the oppressed, having smitten the Egyptian;
25 and he was supposing his brethren to understand that God through his hand doth give salvation; and they did not understand.
26 `On the succeeding day, also, he shewed himself to them as they are striving, and urged them to peace, saying, Men, brethren are ye, wherefore do ye injustice to one another?
27 and he who is doing injustice to the neighbour, did thrust him away, saying, Who set thee a ruler and a judge over us?
28 to kill me dost thou wish, as thou didst kill yesterday the Egyptian?
29 `And Moses fled at this word, and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons,
30 and forty years having been fulfilled, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai a messenger of the Lord, in a flame of fire of a bush,
31 and Moses having seen did wonder at the sight; and he drawing near to behold, there came a voice of the Lord unto him,
32 I [am] the God of thy fathers; the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. `And Moses having become terrified, durst not behold,
33 and the Lord said to him, Loose the sandal of thy feet, for the place in which thou hast stood is holy ground;
34 seeing I have seen the affliction of My people that [is] in Egypt, and their groaning I did hear, and came down to deliver them; and now come, I will send thee to Egypt.
35 `This Moses, whom they did refuse, saying, Who did set thee a ruler and a judge? this one God a ruler and a redeemer did send, in the hand of a messenger who appeared to him in the bush;
36 this one did bring them forth, having done wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years;
37 this is the Moses who did say to the sons of Israel: A prophet to you shall the Lord your God raise up out of your brethren, like to me, him shall ye hear.
38 `This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the messenger who is speaking to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers who did receive the living oracles to give to us;
39 to whom our fathers did not wish to become obedient, but did thrust away, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,
40 saying to Aaron, Make to us gods who shall go on before us, for this Moses, who brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, we have not known what hath happened to him.
41 `And they made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands,
42 and God did turn, and did give them up to do service to the host of the heaven, according as it hath been written in the scroll of the prophets: Slain beasts and sacrifices did ye offer to Me forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43 and ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan -- the figures that ye made to bow before them, and I will remove your dwelling beyond Babylon.
44 `The tabernacle of the testimony was among our fathers in the wilderness, according as He did direct, who is speaking to Moses, to make it according to the figure that he had seen;
45 which also our fathers having in succession received, did bring in with Joshua, into the possession of the nations whom God did drive out from the presence of our fathers, till the days of David,
46 who found favour before God, and requested to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob;
47 and Solomon built Him an house.
48 `But the Most High in sanctuaries made with hands doth not dwell, according as the prophet saith:
49 The heaven [is] My throne, and the earth My footstool; what house will ye build to Me? saith the Lord, or what [is] the place of My rest?
50 hath not My hand made all these things?
51 `Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and in ears! ye do always the Holy Spirit resist; as your fathers -- also ye;
52 which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? and they killed those who declared before about the coming of the Righteous One, of whom now ye betrayers and murderers have become,
53 who received the law by arrangement of messengers, and did not keep [it].'
54 And hearing these things, they were cut to the hearts, and did gnash the teeth at him;
55 and being full of the Holy Spirit, having looked stedfastly to the heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
56 and he said, `Lo, I see the heavens having been opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.'
57 And they, having cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and did rush with one accord upon him,
58 and having cast him forth outside of the city, they were stoning [him] -- and the witnesses did put down their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul --
59 and they were stoning Stephen, calling and saying, `Lord Jesus, receive my spirit;'
60 and having bowed the knees, he cried with a loud voice, `Lord, mayest thou not lay to them this sin;' and this having said, he fell asleep.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson