Acts 7
New Testament for Everyone
Stephen tells the story
7 The high priest addressed Stephen.
“Are these things true?” he said.
2 “My brothers and fathers,” replied Stephen, “please give me a hearing.
“The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he moved to live in Haran. 3 ‘Leave your land and your family,’ he said to him, ‘and go to the land which I will show you.’ 4 So he left the land of the Chaldeans and went to live in Haran. Then, from there, after his father’s death, God moved him on to this land in which you now live. 5 God didn’t give him an inheritance here, not even a place to stand up in. Instead, he promised (when Abraham still had no child) that he would give it as a possession to his seed after him. 6 This is what God said to him: that his seed would be strangers in a foreign land, that they would serve there as slaves, and that they would be afflicted for four hundred years. 7 But God said that he would judge the nation that had enslaved them, and that they would then come out and worship him ‘on this mountain.’ 8 And he gave them the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and he circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of the twelve patriarchs.
9 “Now the patriarchs became angry with Joseph, and were jealous of him. They sold him into Egypt. But God was with him, 10 and rescued him from all his troubles and gave him grace and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, making him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 But then there was a famine over the whole of Egypt and Canaan, which resulted in great hardship. Our ancestors couldn’t find food to eat. 12 Jacob, however, heard that there was grain in Egypt, and sent our ancestors there on an initial visit. 13 On their second trip, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and revealed to Pharaoh what family he was from. 14 So Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all the family, seventy-five people in all. 15 Jacob came to Egypt, and he and our ancestors died there. 16 They were brought back to Shechem, and buried in the tomb which Abraham had bought with silver, at a named price, from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.”
Stephen and Moses
17 “God had sworn an oath to Abraham,” Stephen continued. “When the time drew near for this promise to be fulfilled, the people had increased and multiplied in Egypt, 18 until another king arose over Egypt, one who had not known Joseph. 19 He got the better of our people, and ill-treated our ancestors, forcing them to abandon their newborn children so that they would die.
20 “It was at that time that Moses was born, and he was a noble-looking child. He was nursed for three months in his father’s house. 21 But, when they abandoned him, Pharaoh’s daughter claimed him and brought him up as her own son. 22 So Moses was educated in the full teaching of Egyptian wisdom, and he was powerful in what he said and did.
23 “When he had grown to about forty years old, it came into his heart to see how his family, the children of Israel, were doing. 24 He saw someone being wronged, and came to the man’s defense; he took revenge on behalf of the man who was being oppressed, by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He thought his kinsfolk would grasp the fact that God was sending him to their rescue, but they didn’t.
26 “The next day he showed up as two Hebrews were fighting, and he tried to bring them back together again. ‘Now then, you two,’ he said, ‘you are brothers! Why are you wronging each other?’ 27 But the man who was wronging the other wasn’t having it. ‘Who d’you think you are?’ he retorted, pushing him away. ‘Who made you a ruler or judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me in the same way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 At that word, Moses ran away, and lived as a guest in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.
30 “After another forty years, an angel appeared to him in the desert at Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the vision. But, as he came closer to see, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.’ Moses was very frightened, and didn’t dare to look. 33 But the Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have looked long and hard at the trouble my people are having in Egypt. I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. So, come on now: I’m going to send you to Egypt.’ ”
Handmade shrines
35 “So,” Stephen continued, “this same Moses—the one they rejected, saying ‘Who made you a ruler or judge?’—this is the man God sent as ruler and redeemer, by the hand of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush. 36 He did signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and led them out, through the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness. 37 This is the Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘God will raise up a prophet like me from among your brothers.’ 38 And this is the one who was in the assembly in the desert with the angel who had spoken to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to give to us.
39 “This is the one whom our ancestors had not wanted to obey, but instead rejected him and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, 40 by saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us; for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt—we don’t know what has become of him!’ 41 They made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to an idol. They celebrated things their own hands had made.
42 “Then God turned and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, as it stands written in the book of the prophets: ‘Did you bring sacrifices and offerings to me in those forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 You took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of your god Rhephan, the carved images you made to worship! I will remove you beyond Babylon!’
44 “Our ancestors had the ‘tent of meeting’ in the desert. God had commanded Moses to make it according to the pattern which he had seen. 45 Our ancestors in their turn brought it in when, with Joshua, they dispossessed the nations whom God drove out before our ancestors, and it was there until the time of David. 46 David found favor with God, and requested permission to establish a Tabernacle for the house of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built him a house.
48 “The Most High, however, does not live in shrines made by human hands. The prophet put it like this:
49 Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool!
What sort of house will you build me, says the Lord,
or what place will you give me to rest in?
50 My own hand made all these, did it not?
51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are uncircumcised! You always resist the holy spirit, just as your ancestors did before you! 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? And you killed those who announced in advance the coming of the Righteous One—and now you have betrayed him and murdered him. 53 You received the law at the command of angels, but you didn’t keep it!”
The stoning of Stephen
54 What Stephen said was a blow right to the heart. When they heard it, they gnashed their teeth against him. 55 He, however, was filled with the holy spirit, and looked steadily up into heaven. There he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand.
56 “Look!” he said. “I can see heaven opened, and the son of man standing at God’s right hand!”
57 But they yelled at him at the tops of their voices, blocked their ears and made a concerted dash at him. 58 They bundled him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 So they stoned Stephen.
“Lord Jesus,” he cried out, “receive my spirit.”
60 Then he knelt down and shouted at the top of his voice, “Lord, don’t let this sin stand against them.”
Once he had said this, he fell asleep.
Atti 7
La Nuova Diodati
7 Allora il sommo sacerdote gli disse: «Stanno queste cose proprio cosí?».
2 Egli disse: «Fratelli e padri, ascoltate. Il Dio della gloria apparve ad Abrahamo, nostro padre, mentre egli era in Mesopotamia, prima che abitasse in Carran.
3 e gli disse: "Usci dal tuo paese e dal tuo parentado e va' nel paese che io ti mostrerò".
4 Allora egli uscí dal paese dei Caldei e abitò in Carran; di là, dopo che suo padre morí, Dio lo fece venire in questo paese, nel quale ora voi abitate.
5 E non gli diede alcuna eredità, neppure lo spazio per posarvi un piede. Ma promise di darlo in proprietà a lui e alla sua progenie dopo di lui, quand'egli non aveva ancora alcun figlio.
6 E Dio parlò cosí: che la sua progenie dimorerebbe come forestiera in paese straniero, e che là sarebbe tenuta in schiavitú e maltrattata quattrocento anni.
7 Ma Dio aggiunse: "Io giudicherò la nazione alla quale avranno servito; e dopo ciò, essi usciranno e mi serviranno in questo luogo".
8 Poi gli diede il patto della circoncisione. E cosí Abrahamo generò Isacco e lo circoncise nell'ottavo giorno Isacco generò Giacobbe, e Giacobbe i dodici patriarchi.
9 I patriarchi, portando invidia a Giuseppe, lo vendettero perché fosse condotto in Egitto, ma Dio era con lui;
10 e lo liberò da tutte le sue tribolazioni e gli diede grazia e sapienza davanti al Faraone, re di Egitto, il quale lo costituí governatore sull'Egitto e su tutta la sua casa.
11 Or sopravvenne una carestia e una grande calamità in tutto il paese d'Egitto e di Canaan, e i nostri padri non trovavano viveri.
12 Ma Giacobbe, saputo che in Egitto c'era del grano, vi mandò una prima volta i nostri padri.
13 La seconda volta Giuseppe si fece riconoscere dai suoi fratelli e fu svelata al Faraone la parentela di Giuseppe.
14 Allora Giuseppe mandò a chiamare suo padre Giacobbe e tutto il suo parentado, in tutto settantacinque persone.
15 Giacobbe scese in Egitto, dove morí lui e i nostri padri.
16 Essi furono poi trasportati a Sichema e posti nel sepolcro, che Abrahamo aveva comprato a prezzo d'argento dai figli di Emor, padre di Sichem.
17 Ora, mentre si avvicinava il tempo della promessa che Dio aveva giurata ad Abrahamo, il popolo crebbe e si moltiplicò a in Egitto,
18 finché sorse in Egitto un altro re che non aveva conosciuto Giuseppe.
19 Questi, usando malizia contro la nostra stirpe, maltrattò i nostri padri fino a far esporre i loro bambini, perché non sopravvivessero.
20 In quel tempo nacque Mosé, ed era bello agli occhi di Dio; egli fu nutrito per tre mesi in casa di suo padre.
21 E, quando fu esposto, la figlia del Faraone lo raccolse e lo allevò come suo figlio.
22 Cosí Mosé fu istruito in tutta la sapienza degli Egiziani, ed era potente in parole ed opere.
23 Ma, quando giunse all'età di quarant'anni, gli venne in cuore di andare a visitare i suoi fratelli: i figli d'Israele.
24 E, vedendone uno che subiva un torto, lo difese e vendicò l'oppresso, uccidendo l'Egiziano.
25 Or egli pensava che i suoi fratelli avrebbero capito che Dio stava per dar loro liberazione per mezzo suo, ma essi non compresero.
26 Il giorno seguente egli comparve in mezzo a loro, mentre litigavano e li esortò alla pace, dicendo: "O uomini, voi siete fratelli, perché vi fate torto l'un l'altro?".
27 Ma colui che faceva torto al suo vicino lo respinse, dicendo: "Chi ti ha costituito principe e giudice su di noi?
28 Vuoi uccidere me, come ieri hai ucciso l'Egiziano?".
29 A queste parole Mosé fuggí e dimorò come forestiero nel paese Dimadian dove generò due figli.
30 Passati quarant'anni, l'angelo del Signore gli apparve nel deserto del monte Sinai, nella fiamma di fuoco di un roveto,
31 Alla vista di ciò, Mosé rimase stupito di quel che vedeva, e come si avvicinava per osservare, udì la voce del Signore,
32 che diceva: "Io sono il Dio dei tuoi padri, il Dio di Abrahamo, il Dio di Isacco e il Dio di Giacobbe". Ma Mosé, tremando tutto, non ardiva alzare lo sguardo.
33 Allora il Signore gli disse: "Togliti i calzari dai piedi, perché il luogo sul quale stai è terra santa.
34 Ho certamente visto l'afflizione del mio popolo in Egitto e ho udito i loro sospiri, e sono disceso per liberarli; or dunque vieni, io ti manderò in Egitto".
35 Quel Mosé che avevano rifiutato, di cendo: "Chi ti ha costituito principe e giudice?". Quello mandò loro Dio come capo e liberatore, per mezzo dell'angelo che gli era apparso nel roveto.
36 Egli li condusse fuori, operando segni e prodigi nel paese di Egitto, nel Mar Rosso e nel deserto, per quarant'anni.
37 Questi è quel Mosé che disse ai figli d'Israele: Il Signore Dio vostro susciterà per voi, tra i vostri fratelli, un profeta come me. Ascoltatelo!.
38 Questi è colui che nell'assemblea nel deserto fu con l'angelo che gli parlava sul monte Sinai e con i nostri padri; e ricevette le parole viventi per trasmetterle a noi.
39 A lui i padri nostri non vollero ubbidire; anzi lo respinsero e si rivolsero con i loro cuori all'Egitto,
40 dicendo ad Aaronne: "Facci degli dèi che vadano davanti a noi, perché a questo Mosé che ci ha condotti fuori dal paese di Egitto non sappiamo che cosa sia accaduto".
41 E in quei giorni fecero un vitello, offrirono un sacrificio all'idolo e si rallegrarono nell'opera delle loro mani.
42 Allora Dio si ritrasse e li lasciò servire all'esercito del cielo, com'è scritto nel libro dei profeti: "Casa d'Israele, mi avete voi offerto sacrifici e olocausti per quarant'anni nel deserto?
43 Avete piuttosto portato la tenda di Molok e la stella del vostro dio Remfan, le immagini da voi fatte per adorarle; perciò io vi trasporterò al di là di Babilonia
44 Nel deserto i vostri padri avevano il tabernacolo della testimonianza, come aveva comandato colui che aveva detto a Mosé di farlo secondo il modello che aveva visto.
45 E i nostri padri, dopo averlo ricevuto, lo trasportarono con Giosué nel paese che era stato posseduto dai gentili, che Dio scacciò davanti ai nostri padri; e là rimase fino ai giorni di Davide,
46 il quale trovò grazia davanti a Dio e chiese di poter trovare una dimora per il Dio di Giacobbe.
47 Fu invece Salomone quello che gli edificò una casa.
48 Ma l'Altissimo non abita in templi fatti da mani d'uomo, come dice il profeta:
49 "Il cielo è il mio trono e la terra lo sgabello dei miei piedi; quale casa mi edifichereste voi, dice il Signore, o quale sarebbe il luogo del mio riposo?
50 Non ha la mia mano fatto tutte queste cose?"
51 Uomini di collo duro ed incirconcisi di cuore e di orecchi, voi resistete sempre allo Spirito Santo; come fecero i vostri padri, cosí fate anche voi.
52 Quale dei profeti non perseguitarono i padri vostri? Essi uccisero anche coloro che preannunciavano la venuta del Giusto, del quale ora voi siete divenuti traditori e uccisori;
53 voi che avete ricevuto la legge promulgata dagli angeli e non l'avete osservata!».
54 All'udire queste cose, essi fremevano in cuor loro e digrignavano i denti contro di lui.
55 Ma egli, ripieno di Spirito Santo, fissati gli occhi al cielo, vide la gloria di Dio e Gesú che stava alla destra di Dio
56 e disse: «Ecco, io vedo i cieli aperti e il Figlio dell'uomo che sta alla destra di Dio».
57 Ma essi, mandando alte grida, si turarono gli orecchi e tutti insieme si avventarono sopra di lui;
58 e, cacciatolo fuori dalla città, lo lapidarono. E i testimoni deposero le loro vesti ai piedi di un giovane, chiamato Saulo.
59 Cosí lapidarono Stefano, che invocava Gesú e diceva: «Signor Gesú, ricevi il mio spirito».
60 Poi, postosi in ginocchio, gridò ad alta voce: «Signore, non imputare loro questo peccato». E, detto questo, si addormentò.
Acts 7
Good News Translation
Stephen's Speech
7 The High Priest asked Stephen, “Is this true?”
2 (A)Stephen answered, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! Before our ancestor Abraham had gone to live in Haran, the God of glory appeared to him in Mesopotamia 3 and said to him, ‘Leave your family and country and go to the land that I will show you.’ 4 (B)And so he left his country and went to live in Haran. After Abraham's father died, God made him move to this land where you now live. 5 (C)God did not then give Abraham any part of it as his own, not even a square foot of ground, but God promised to give it to him, and that it would belong to him and to his descendants. At the time God made this promise, Abraham had no children. 6 (D)This is what God said to him: ‘Your descendants will live in a foreign country, where they will be slaves and will be badly treated for four hundred years. 7 (E)But I will pass judgment on the people that they will serve, and afterward your descendants will come out of that country and will worship me in this place.’ 8 (F)Then God gave to Abraham the ceremony of circumcision as a sign of the covenant. So Abraham circumcised Isaac a week after he was born; Isaac circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob circumcised his twelve sons, the famous ancestors of our race.
9 (G)“Jacob's sons became jealous of their brother Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him 10 (H)and brought him safely through all his troubles. When Joseph appeared before the king of Egypt, God gave him a pleasing manner and wisdom, and the king made Joseph governor over the country and the royal household. 11 (I)Then there was a famine all over Egypt and Canaan, which caused much suffering. Our ancestors could not find any food, 12 and when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent his sons, our ancestors, on their first visit there. 13 (J)On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and the king of Egypt came to know about Joseph's family. 14 (K)So Joseph sent a message to his father Jacob, telling him and the whole family, seventy-five people in all, to come to Egypt. 15 (L)Then Jacob went to Egypt, where he and his sons died. 16 (M)Their bodies were taken to Shechem, where they were buried in the grave which Abraham had bought from the clan of Hamor for a sum of money.
17 (N)“When the time drew near for God to keep the promise he had made to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had grown much larger. 18 At last a king who did not know about Joseph began to rule in Egypt. 19 (O)He tricked our ancestors and was cruel to them, forcing them to put their babies out of their homes, so that they would die. 20 (P)It was at this time that Moses was born, a very beautiful child. He was cared for at home for three months, 21 (Q)and when he was put out of his home, the king's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 He was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man in words and deeds.
23 (R)“When Moses was forty years old, he decided to find out how his fellow Israelites were being treated. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his help and took revenge on the Egyptian by killing him. (25 He thought that his own people would understand that God was going to use him to set them free, but they did not understand.) 26 The next day he saw two Israelites fighting, and he tried to make peace between them. ‘Listen, men,’ he said, ‘you are fellow Israelites; why are you fighting like this?’ 27 But the one who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?’ he asked. 28 ‘Do you want to kill me, just as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 (S)When Moses heard this, he fled from Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian. There he had two sons.
30 (T)“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 Moses was amazed by what he saw, and went near the bush to get a better look. But he heard the Lord's voice: 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and dared not look. 33 The Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have seen the cruel suffering of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans, and I have come down to set them free. Come now; I will send you to Egypt.’
35 (U)“Moses is the one who was rejected by the people of Israel. ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?’ they asked. He is the one whom God sent to rule the people and set them free with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush. 36 (V)He led the people out of Egypt, performing miracles and wonders in Egypt and at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert. 37 (W)Moses is the one who said to the people of Israel, ‘God will send you a prophet, just as he sent me,[a] and he will be one of your own people.’ 38 (X)He is the one who was with the people of Israel assembled in the desert; he was there with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and he received God's living messages to pass on to us.
39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him; they pushed him aside and wished that they could go back to Egypt. 40 (Y)So they said to Aaron, ‘Make us some gods who will lead us. We do not know what has happened to that man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.’ 41 (Z)It was then that they made an idol in the shape of a bull, offered sacrifice to it, and had a feast in honor of what they themselves had made. 42 (AA)So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
‘People of Israel! It was not to me
that you slaughtered and sacrificed animals
for forty years in the desert.
43 It was the tent of the god Molech that you carried,
and the image of Rephan, your star god;
they were idols that you had made to worship.
And so I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
44 (AB)“Our ancestors had the Tent of God's presence with them in the desert. It had been made as God had told Moses to make it, according to the pattern that Moses had been shown. 45 (AC)Later on, our ancestors who received the tent from their fathers carried it with them when they went with Joshua and took over the land from the nations that God drove out as they advanced. And it stayed there until the time of David. 46 (AD)He won God's favor and asked God to allow him to provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.[b] 47 (AE)But it was Solomon who built him a house.
48 “But the Most High God does not live in houses built by human hands; as the prophet says,
49 (AF)‘Heaven is my throne, says the Lord,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house would you build for me?
Where is the place for me to live in?
50 Did not I myself make all these things?’
51 (AG)“How stubborn you are!” Stephen went on to say. “How heathen your hearts, how deaf you are to God's message! You are just like your ancestors: you too have always resisted the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there any prophet that your ancestors did not persecute? They killed God's messengers, who long ago announced the coming of his righteous Servant. And now you have betrayed and murdered him. 53 You are the ones who received God's law, that was handed down by angels—yet you have not obeyed it!”
The Stoning of Stephen
54 As the members of the Council listened to Stephen, they became furious and ground their teeth at him in anger. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God's glory and Jesus standing at the right side of God. 56 “Look!” he said. “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!”
57 With a loud cry the Council members covered their ears with their hands. Then they all rushed at him at once, 58 threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses left their cloaks in the care of a young man named Saul. 59 They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!” He said this and died.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.
Copyright © 1991 by La Buona Novella s.c.r.l.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
