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17 The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it.(A)

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For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession.(A)

“It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples.(B) It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.(C)

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And Stephen replied:

“Brothers[a] and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our ancestor Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,(A) and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you.’(B) Then he left the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God had him move from there to this country in which you are now living.(C) He did not give him any of it as a heritage, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as his possession and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child.(D) And God spoke in these terms, that his descendants would be resident aliens in a country belonging to others, who would enslave them and mistreat them during four hundred years.(E) ‘But I will judge the people whom they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’(F) Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham[b] became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac did likewise to Jacob and Jacob to the twelve patriarchs.(G)

“The patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him(H) 10 and rescued him from all his afflictions and enabled him to win favor and to show wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.(I) 11 Now there came a famine throughout Egypt and Canaan and great suffering, and our ancestors could find no food.(J) 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there on their first visit.(K) 13 On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh.(L) 14 Then Joseph sent and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five in all;(M) 15 so Jacob went down to Egypt. He himself died there as well as our ancestors,(N) 16 and their bodies[c] were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.(O)

17 “But as the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham, our people in Egypt increased and multiplied(P) 18 until another king who had not known Joseph ruled over Egypt. 19 He dealt craftily with our people and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so that they would die.(Q) 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful before God. For three months he was brought up in his father’s house, 21 and when he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 So Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.(R)

23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his kinfolk, the Israelites.(S) 24 When he saw one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his kinsfolk would understand that God through him was rescuing them, but they did not understand. 26 The next day he came to some of them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you wrong each other?’ 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor pushed Moses[d] aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 When he heard this, Moses fled and became a resident alien in the land of Midian. There he became the father of two sons.

30 “Now when forty years had passed, 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 amazed at the sight, and as he approached to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look.(T) 33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.(U) 34 I have surely seen the mistreatment of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you to Egypt.’(V)

35 “It was this Moses whom they rejected when they said, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ and whom God now sent as both ruler and liberator through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.(W) 36 He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.(X) 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up a prophet for you from your own people as he raised me up.’(Y) 38 He is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our ancestors, and he received living oracles to give to us.(Z) 39 Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him; instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make gods for us who will lead the way for us; as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’(AA) 41 At that time they made a calf, offered a sacrifice to the idol, and reveled in the works of their hands.(AB) 42 But God turned away from them and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

‘Did you offer to me slain victims and sacrifices
    forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?(AC)
43 No; you took along the tent of Moloch
    and the star of your god Rephan,
        the images that you made to worship;
so I will remove you beyond Babylon.’

44 “Our ancestors had the tent of testimony in the wilderness, as God[e] directed when he spoke to Moses, ordering him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.(AD) 45 Our ancestors in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the peoples whom God drove out before our ancestors. And it was there until the time of David,(AE) 46 who found favor with God and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob.[f](AF) 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with human hands;[g] as the prophet says,(AG)

49 ‘Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
    or what is the place of my rest?(AH)
50 Did not my hand make all these things?’

51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do.(AI) 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers.(AJ) 53 You are the ones who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.”(AK)

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Footnotes

  1. 7.2 Gk Men, brothers
  2. 7.8 Gk he
  3. 7.16 Gk they
  4. 7.27 Gk him
  5. 7.44 Gk he
  6. 7.46 Other ancient authorities read for the God of Jacob
  7. 7.48 Gk with hands

    in all their distress.
It was no messenger or angel
    but his presence that saved them;
in his love and pity it was he who redeemed them;
    he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.(A)

10 But they rebelled
    and grieved his holy spirit;
therefore he became their enemy;
    he himself fought against them.(B)
11 Then they[a] remembered the days of old,
    of Moses his servant.[b]
Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea
    with the shepherds of his flock?
Where is the one who put within them
    his holy spirit,(C)
12 who caused his glorious arm
    to march at the right hand of Moses,
who divided the waters before them
    to make for himself an everlasting name,(D)
13     who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert,
    they did not stumble.(E)
14 Like cattle that go down into the valley,
    the spirit of the Lord gave them rest.
Thus you led your people,
    to make for yourself a glorious name.(F)

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Footnotes

  1. 63.11 Heb he
  2. 63.11 Cn: Heb his people

23 Then Israel came to Egypt;
    Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.(A)
24 And the Lord made his people very fruitful
    and made them stronger than their foes,(B)

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But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people,[a] in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 2.9 Gk a people for his possession

15 As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
    show us[a] marvelous things.(A)
16 The nations shall see and be ashamed
    of all their might;
they shall lay their hands on their mouths;
    their ears shall be deaf;(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 7.15 Cn: Heb I will show him

For I brought you up from the land of Egypt
    and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
    Aaron, and Miriam.(A)

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10 Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt
    and led you forty years in the wilderness,
    to possess the land of the Amorite.(A)

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20 You showed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and to this day in Israel and among all humankind and have made yourself a name that continues to this very day.(A) 21 You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror,(B)

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God’s Blessing on Israel

44 But now hear, O Jacob my servant,
    Israel whom I have chosen!(A)

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But you, Israel, my servant,
    Jacob, whom I have chosen,
    the offspring of Abraham, my friend;(A)
you whom I took from the ends of the earth
    and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant;
    I have chosen you and not cast you off”;(B)

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10 who struck Egypt through their firstborn,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;(A)
11 and brought Israel out from among them,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;(B)
12 with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;(C)
13 who divided the Red Sea[a] in two,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;(D)
14 and made Israel pass through the midst of it,
    for his steadfast love endures forever;(E)
15 but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,[b]
    for his steadfast love endures forever;(F)

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Footnotes

  1. 136.13 Or Sea of Reeds
  2. 136.15 Or Sea of Reeds

He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
    both humans and animals;(A)
he sent signs and wonders
    into your midst, O Egypt,
    against Pharaoh and all his servants.(B)
10 He struck down many nations
    and killed mighty kings—(C)

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For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself,
    Israel as his own possession.(A)

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Psalm 114

God’s Wonders at the Exodus

[a]When Israel went out from Egypt,
    the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,(A)
Judah became God’s[b] sanctuary,
    Israel his dominion.(B)

The sea looked and fled;
    Jordan turned back.(C)
The mountains skipped like rams,
    the hills like lambs.(D)

Why is it, O sea, that you flee?
    O Jordan, that you turn back?
O mountains, that you skip like rams?
    O hills, like lambs?

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
    at the presence of the God of Jacob,(E)
who turns the rock into a pool of water,
    the flint into a spring of water.(F)

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Footnotes

  1. 114.1 Psalms 114–115 are a single psalm in the earliest witnesses
  2. 114.2 Heb his

Our ancestors, when they were in Egypt,
    did not consider your wonderful works;
they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love
    but rebelled against the Most High[a] at the Red Sea.[b](A)
Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,
    so that he might make known his mighty power.(B)
He rebuked the Red Sea,[c] and it became dry;
    he led them through the deep as through a desert.(C)
10 So he saved them from the hand of the foe
    and delivered them from the hand of the enemy.(D)
11 The waters covered their adversaries;
    not one of them was left.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. 106.7 Cn: Heb rebelled at the sea
  2. 106.7 Or Sea of Reeds
  3. 106.9 Or Sea of Reeds

42 For he remembered his holy promise
    and Abraham, his servant.(A)

43 So he brought his people out with joy,
    his chosen ones with singing.

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26 He sent his servant Moses
    and Aaron, whom he had chosen.(A)
27 They performed his signs among them
    and miracles in the land of Ham.(B)
28 He sent darkness and made the land dark;
    they rebelled[a] against his words.(C)
29 He turned their waters into blood
    and caused their fish to die.(D)
30 Their land swarmed with frogs,
    even in the chambers of their kings.(E)
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies
    and gnats throughout their country.(F)
32 He gave them hail for rain
    and lightning that flashed through their land.(G)
33 He struck their vines and fig trees
    and shattered the trees of their country.
34 He spoke, and the locusts came,
    and young locusts without number;(H)
35 they devoured all the vegetation in their land
    and ate up the fruit of their ground.
36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
    the first issue of all their strength.(I)

37 Then he brought Israel[b] out with silver and gold,
    and there was no one among their tribes who stumbled.(J)
38 Egypt was glad when they departed,
    for dread of them had fallen upon it.(K)
39 He spread a cloud for a covering
    and fire to give light by night.(L)

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Footnotes

  1. 105.28 Cn Compare Gk Syr: Heb they did not rebel
  2. 105.37 Heb them

O offspring of his servant Abraham,[a]
    children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

He is the Lord our God;
    his judgments are in all the earth.(A)
He is mindful of his covenant forever,
    of the word that he commanded for a thousand generations,
the covenant that he made with Abraham,
    his sworn promise to Isaac,(B)
10 which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,
    to Israel as an everlasting covenant,(C)
11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
    as your portion for an inheritance.”(D)

12 When they were few in number,
    of little account and strangers in it,(E)

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Footnotes

  1. 105.6 Or Israel

42 They did not keep in mind his power
    or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
43 when he displayed his signs in Egypt
    and his miracles in the fields of Zoan.
44 He turned their rivers to blood,
    so that they could not drink of their streams.(A)
45 He sent among them swarms of flies that devoured them
    and frogs that destroyed them.(B)
46 He gave their crops to the caterpillar
    and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail
    and their sycamores with frost.(C)
48 He gave over their cattle to the hail
    and their flocks to thunderbolts.(D)
49 He let loose on them his fierce anger,
    wrath, indignation, and distress,
    a company of destroying angels.(E)
50 He made a path for his anger;
    he did not spare them from death
    but gave their lives over to the plague.
51 He struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
    the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham.(F)
52 Then he led out his people like sheep
    and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.(G)
53 He led them in safety so that they were not afraid,
    but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.(H)

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12 In the sight of their ancestors he worked marvels
    in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.(A)
13 He divided the sea and let them pass through it
    and made the waters stand like a heap.(B)

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13 Your way, O God, is holy.
    What god is so great as our God?(A)
14 You are the God who works wonders;
    you have displayed your might among the peoples.
15 With your strong arm you redeemed your people,
    the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Selah(B)

16 When the waters saw you, O God,
    when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
    the very deep trembled.(C)
17 The clouds poured out water;
    the skies thundered;
    your arrows flashed on every side.(D)
18 The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
    your lightnings lit up the world;
    the earth trembled and shook.(E)
19 Your way was through the sea,
    your path through the mighty waters,
    yet your footprints were unseen.(F)
20 You led your people like a flock
    by the hand of Moses and Aaron.(G)

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You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham;(A) and you found his heart faithful before you and made with him a covenant to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, and you have fulfilled your promise, for you are righteous.(B)

“And you saw the distress of our ancestors in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea.[a](C) 10 You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted insolently against our ancestors. You made a name for yourself that remains to this day.(D) 11 And you divided the sea before them, so that they passed through the sea on dry land, but you threw their pursuers into the depths like a stone into mighty waters.(E) 12 Moreover, you led them by day with a pillar of cloud and by night with a pillar of fire, to give them light on the way in which they should go.(F)

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Footnotes

  1. 9.9 Or Sea of Reeds

Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness.

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