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Acts 7
Lexham English Bible

Stephen’s Defense

7 And the high priest said, “Is it so concerning these things?” 2 So he said, “Men—brothers and fathers—listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he[a] was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your relatives and come to the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and[b] settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, he caused him to move to this land in which you now live. 5 And he did not give him an inheritance in it—not even a footstep[c]—and he promised to give it[d] to him for his possession, and to his descendants after him, although he did not have[e][f] a child. 6 But God spoke like this: ‘His descendants will be foreigners in a foreign land, and they will enslave them and mistreat them[g] four hundred years, 7 and the nation that[h] they will serve as slaves, I will judge,’ God said, ‘and after these things they will come out[i] and will worship me in this place.’[j] 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision, and so he became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac did so with[k] Jacob, and Jacob did so with[l] the twelve patriarchs. 9 And the patriarchs, because they[m] were jealous of Joseph, sold him[n] into Egypt. And God was with him, 10 and rescued him from all his afflictions and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And he appointed him ruler over Egypt and all[o] his household. 11 And a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan and great affliction, and our fathers could not find food. 12 So when[p] Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And on the second visit[q] Joseph was made known to his brothers, and the family of Joseph became known to Pharaoh. 14 So Joseph sent and[r] summoned his father Jacob and all his[s] relatives, seventy-five persons in all. 15 And Jacob went down to Egypt and died, he and our fathers. 16 And they were brought back to Shechem and buried in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

17 “But as the time of the promise that God had made to Abraham was drawing near, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until another king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. 19 This man deceitfully took advantage of our[t] people and[u] mistreated our ancestors, causing them to abandon their infants[v] so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful to God. He[w] was brought up for three months in his[x] father’s house, 21 and when[y] he was abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up and brought him up as her own son.[z] 22 And Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was powerful in his words and deeds.

23 “But when he was forty years old,[aa] it entered in his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. 24 And when he[ab] saw one of them being unjustly harmed, he defended him[ac] and avenged[ad] the one who had been oppressed by[ae] striking down the Egyptian. 25 And he thought his[af] brothers would understand that God was granting deliverance to them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And on the following day, he made an appearance to them while they[ag] were fighting and was attempting to reconcile[ah] them in peace, saying, ‘Men and brothers, why are you doing wrong to one another?’ 27 But the one who was doing wrong to his[ai] neighbor pushed him aside, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 You do not want to do away with me the same way[aj] you did away with the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’[ak] 29 And at this statement, Moses fled and became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

30 “And when[al] forty years had been completed, an angel appeared to him in the desert of Mount Sinai in the flame of a burning bush. 31 And when[am] Moses saw it,[an] he was astonished at the sight, and when[ao] he approached to look at it,[ap] the voice of the Lord came: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob!’[aq] So Moses began trembling and[ar] did not dare to look at it.[as] 33 And the Lord said to him, ‘Untie the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have certainly seen[at] the mistreatment of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’[au] 35 This Moses whom they had repudiated, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?’[av]—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer with the help[aw] of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.

37 “This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’[ax] 38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and who with our fathers received living oracles to give to us, 39 to whom our fathers were not willing to become obedient, but rejected him[ay] and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go on before us! For this Moses, who led us out from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has happened to him!’[az] 41 And they manufactured a calf in those days, and offered up a sacrifice to the idol, and began rejoicing[ba] in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, just as it is written in the book of the prophets:

‘You did not bring offerings and sacrifices to me
    for forty years in the wilderness, did you,[bb] house of Israel?
43 And you took along the tabernacle[bc] of Moloch
    and the star of the god[bd] Rephan,
the images that you made, to worship them,
    and I will deport you beyond Babylon!’[be]

44 The tabernacle of the testimony belonged[bf] to our fathers in the wilderness, just as the one who spoke to Moses directed him[bg] to make it according to the design that he had seen, 45 and which, after[bh] receiving it[bi] in turn, our fathers brought in with Joshua when they dispossessed the[bj] nations that God drove out from the presence of our fathers, until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.[bk] 47 But Solomon built a house for him. 48 But the Most High does not live in houses[bl] made by human hands, just as the prophet says,

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

51 “You stiff-necked people and uncircumcised in hearts and in your[bn] ears! You constantly resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so also do you! 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand about the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become, 53 you who received the law by directions of angels and have not observed it!”

Stephen’s Martyrdom

54 Now when they[bo] heard these things, they were infuriated in their hearts and gnashed their[bp] teeth at him. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and[bq] saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 But crying out with a loud voice, they stopped their ears and rushed at him with one purpose. 58 And after they[br] had driven him[bs] out of the city, they began to stone[bt] him,[bu] and the witnesses laid aside their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they kept on stoning Stephen as he[bv] was calling out and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 And falling to his[bw] knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And after he[bx] said this, he fell asleep.[by]

Footnotes

  1. Acts 7:2 Here “while” is supplied as a component of the participle (“was”) which is understood as temporal
  2. Acts 7:4 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“went out”) has been translated as a finite verb
  3. Acts 7:5 Literally “a step of a foot”
  4. Acts 7:5 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  5. Acts 7:5 Literally “not being to him”
  6. Acts 7:5 Here “although” is supplied in the translation as a component of the participle (“was”) which is understood as concessive
  7. Acts 7:6 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  8. Acts 7:7 Literally “to which”
  9. Acts 7:7 Verses 6–7 are a quotation from Gen 15:13–14
  10. Acts 7:7 The final phrase is an allusion to Exod 3:12
  11. Acts 7:8 Here the words “did so with” are not in the Greek text but are implied; in view of the “covenant of circumcision” mentioned earlier in the verse, it is probable that circumcision and not just fatherhood is involved
  12. Acts 7:8 Here the words “did so with” are not in the Greek text but are implied; see the note on the same phrase earlier in this verse
  13. Acts 7:9 Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“were jealous of”) which is understood as causal
  14. Acts 7:9 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  15. Acts 7:10 Some manuscripts have “over all”
  16. Acts 7:12 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“heard”) which is understood as temporal
  17. Acts 7:13 The word “visit” is not in the Greek text but is implied
  18. Acts 7:14 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“sent”) has been translated as a finite verb
  19. Acts 7:14 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  20. Acts 7:19 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  21. Acts 7:19 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“deceitfully took advantage of”) has been translated as a finite verb
  22. Acts 7:19 Literally “making their infants be abandoned”
  23. Acts 7:20 Literally “who”
  24. Acts 7:20 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  25. Acts 7:21 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“was abandoned”)
  26. Acts 7:21 Literally “for a son to herself”
  27. Acts 7:23 Literally “a period of time of forty years was fulfilled for him”
  28. Acts 7:24 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“saw”) which is understood as temporal
  29. Acts 7:24 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  30. Acts 7:24 Literally “produced vengeance for”
  31. Acts 7:24 Here “by” is supplied as a component of the participle (“striking down”) which is understood as means
  32. Acts 7:25 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  33. Acts 7:26 Here “while” is supplied as a component of the participle (“were fighting”) which is understood as temporal
  34. Acts 7:26 Here the imperfect verb has been translated as conative (“was attempting to reconcile”)
  35. Acts 7:27 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  36. Acts 7:28 Literally “in the manner in which”
  37. Acts 7:28 A quotation from Exod 2:14; the negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated by “do you”
  38. Acts 7:30 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“had been completed”)
  39. Acts 7:31 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“saw”) which is understood as temporal
  40. Acts 7:31 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  41. Acts 7:31 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“approached”)
  42. Acts 7:31 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  43. Acts 7:32 A quotation from Exod 3:6
  44. Acts 7:32 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“began”) has been translated as a finite verb
  45. Acts 7:32 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  46. Acts 7:34 Literally “seeing I have seen”
  47. Acts 7:34 A quotation from Exod 3:5, 7–8, 10
  48. Acts 7:35 A quotation from Exod 2:14 (see v. 27 above)
  49. Acts 7:35 Literally “hand”
  50. Acts 7:37 A quotation from Deut 18:15
  51. Acts 7:39 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  52. Acts 7:40 A quotation from Exod 32:1, 23
  53. Acts 7:41 The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began rejoicing”)
  54. Acts 7:42 *The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated by “did you”
  55. Acts 7:43 Or “tent”
  56. Acts 7:43 Some manuscripts have “of your god”
  57. Acts 7:43 A quotation from Amos 5:25–27
  58. Acts 7:44 Literally “was”
  59. Acts 7:44 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  60. Acts 7:45 Here “after” is supplied as a component of the participle (“receiving”) which is understood as temporal
  61. Acts 7:45 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  62. Acts 7:45 Literally “in the possession of the”
  63. Acts 7:46 Some manuscripts have “for the house of Jacob”
  64. Acts 7:48 Or “temples made by human hands”; either word (“houses” or “temples”) is understood here
  65. Acts 7:50 A quotation from Isa 66:1–2
  66. Acts 7:51 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  67. Acts 7:54 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“heard”) which is understood as temporal
  68. Acts 7:54 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  69. Acts 7:55 Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“looked intently”) has been translated as a finite verb
  70. Acts 7:58 Here “after” is supplied as a component of the participle (“had driven”) which is understood as temporal
  71. Acts 7:58 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  72. Acts 7:58 The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began stoning”)
  73. Acts 7:58 *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  74. Acts 7:59 Here “as” is supplied as a component of the participle (“was calling out”) which is understood as temporal
  75. Acts 7:60 Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
  76. Acts 7:60 Here “after” is supplied as a component of the participle (“said”) which is understood as temporal
  77. Acts 7:60 Or “he passed away”
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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

  1. Acts 7:3 Genesis 12:1
  2. Acts 7:5 Deuteronomy 2:5
  3. Acts 7:5 Genesis 12:7; 13:15; 15:4, 7, 18–21; 17:8; 24:7; 48:4
  4. Acts 7:7 Genesis 15:13–14, 16
  5. Acts 7:9 Genesis 37:11, 28; 39:1–3, 21, 23
  6. Acts 7:10 Genesis 41:37–44
  7. Acts 7:11 Genesis 41:54; 42:5
  8. Acts 7:13 Genesis 45:1
  9. Acts 7:18 Exodus 1:7–8
  10. Acts 7:28 Exodus 2:14
  11. Acts 7:34 Exodus 3:1–2
  12. Acts 7:37 Deuteronomy 18:15
  13. Acts 7:40 Exodus 32:1, 23
  14. Acts 7:42 Jeremiah 19:13
  15. Acts 7:43 Amos 5:25–27
  16. Acts 7:50 Isaiah 66:1–2
  17. Acts 7:51 Exodus 32:9; 33:3, 5
  18. Acts 7:51 Leviticus 26:41; Jeremiah 6:10; 9:25(26)
  19. Acts 7:51 Isaiah 63:10
  20. Acts 7:56 Psalm 110:1
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