Acts 7
International Standard Version
Stephen Defends Himself
7 Then the high priest asked, “Is this true?”
2 Stephen replied:
“Listen, brothers and fathers!
“The glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran. 3 God[a] told him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land I’ll show you.’[b] 4 So he left the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. Then after the death of his father, God had him move to this country where you now live. 5 God[c] gave him no property here,[d] not even a foot of land,[e] yet he promised to give it to him and to his descendants[f] after him as a permanent possession, even though he had no child.
6 “This is what God promised: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and its people[g] would enslave them and oppress them for 400 years. 7 ‘But I will punish the nation they serve,’ said God, ‘and afterwards they will leave and worship me in this place.’[h]
8 Later, God[i] gave Abraham[j] the covenant of circumcision. Later, he fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. Then Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered[k] the twelve patriarchs.
9 “Joseph’s brothers[l] became jealous of him and sold Joseph as a slave[m] in Egypt. However, God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He granted him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler of Egypt and of his whole household.
11 “But a famine spread throughout Egypt and Canaan, and with it great suffering, and our ancestors couldn’t find any food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors on their first trip. 13 On their second trip, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph introduced his family[n] to Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him in Egypt[o]—75 persons in all. 15 So Jacob went down to Egypt. Then he and our ancestors died. 16 They were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought at a high price[p] from Hamor’s descendants in Shechem.
17 “Now as the time approached for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people’s population increased a great deal in Egypt. 18 Eventually, a different king who had not known Joseph became ruler of Egypt.[q] 19 By shrewdly scheming against our people, he oppressed our ancestors and forced them to abandon their infants to the elements, so that they wouldn’t live.
20 “At this time Moses was born. He was beautiful in the sight of God, and for three months he was cared for in his father’s house. 21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 So Moses learned all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man, both in words and in deeds.
23 “When he was 40 years old, he decided[r] to visit his brothers, the descendants of Israel. 24 When he saw one of them being mistreated, he defended him[s] and avenged the man who was being mistreated by killing the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn’t understand. 26 The next day, he presented himself to some of them while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them. He said, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why should you be hurting another?’
27 “But the man who was harming his neighbor pushed Moses[t] away and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28 You don’t want to kill me like you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’[u] 29 Because of this, Moses fled and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There he had two sons.
30 “After 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and when he approached the bush[v] to look at it, the voice of the Lord said,[w] 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’[x] Moses became terrified and didn’t dare to look. 33 Then the Lord told him, ‘Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the oppression of my people in Egypt, I’ve heard their groans, and I’ve come down to rescue them. Now come, I’ll send you to Egypt.’[y]
35 “This same Moses—whom they rejected by saying, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’[z]—was the man whom God sent to be both their ruler and deliverer with the help of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush. 36 It was he who led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for 40 years. 37 It was this Moses who told the Israelis, ‘God will raise up a prophet for you from among your own brothers, just as he did[aa] me.’[ab] 38 This Moses[ac] is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and to our ancestors. He received living truths to give to us,[ad] 39 but our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and wished to return to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ‘Make gods for us who will lead us. This Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we don’t know what happened to him!’[ae]
41 “At that time they even made a calf to be their idol, offered a sacrifice to it, and delighted in what they had made with their hands. 42 So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the heavenly bodies. As it is written in the book of the Prophets:
‘O house of Israel,
you didn’t offer me slaughtered animals and
sacrifices those 40 years in the wilderness, did you?
43 You even took along the tent of Moloch,
the star of your god Rephan,
and the images you made in order to worship them.
So I will take you into exile as far as Babylon.’[af]
44 “Our ancestors had the Tent of Testimony[ag] in the wilderness constructed,[ah] just as the one who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern he had seen. 45 Our ancestors brought it here with Joshua when they replaced the nations that God drove out in front of our ancestors, and it was here until the time of David. 46 He found favor with God and asked to design a dwelling for the house[ai] of Jacob, 47 but it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 However, the Most High does not live in buildings made by human[aj] hands. As the prophet says,
49 “‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house can you build for me,’ declares the Lord,[ak]
“or what place is there in which I can rest?
50 It was my hand that made all these things, wasn’t it?’”[al]
51 “You stubborn people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors fail to persecute? They killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers. 53 You received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet you haven’t obeyed it!”
Stephen is Stoned to Death
54 While they were listening to these things, they became more and more furious and began to grind their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen,[am] filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 He said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
57 But they shouted out loud, stopped listening, and together they all rushed at him, 58 ran him outside of the city, and began to stone him to death. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 As they continued to stone Stephen, he kept praying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” After he had said this, he died.[an]
Footnotes
- Acts 7:3 Lit. He
- Acts 7:3 Cf. Gen 12:1
- Acts 7:5 Lit. He
- Acts 7:5 Lit. in it
- Acts 7:5 I.e. about half of a single stride, or about 1.5 feet
- Acts 7:5 Lit. seed
- Acts 7:6 Lit. they
- Acts 7:7 Cf. Gen 15:13-14; Exod 3:12
- Acts 7:8 Lit. he
- Acts 7:8 Lit. him
- Acts 7:8 The Gk. lacks fathered
- Acts 7:9 Lit. The patriarchs
- Acts 7:9 The Gk. lacks as a slave
- Acts 7:13 Lit. Joseph’s family became known
- Acts 7:14 The Gk. lacks in Egypt
- Acts 7:16 Lit. Abraham for a sum of money
- Acts 7:18 Other mss. lack of Egypt
- Acts 7:23 Lit. old, his heart was moved
- Acts 7:24 The Gk. lacks him
- Acts 7:27 Lit. him
- Acts 7:28 Cf. Exod 2:14
- Acts 7:31 The Gk. lacks the bush
- Acts 7:31 Lit. came
- Acts 7:32 Cf. Exod 3:6
- Acts 7:34 Cf. Exod 3:4-10
- Acts 7:35 Cf. Exod 2:14
- Acts 7:37 The Gk. lacks he did
- Acts 7:37 Cf. Deut 18:15
- Acts 7:38 Lit. one
- Acts 7:38 Other mss. read to you
- Acts 7:40 Cf. Exod 32:1, 23
- Acts 7:43 Cf. Amos 5:25-27
- Acts 7:44 I.e. the tent containing the Ark of the Covenant
- Acts 7:44 The Gk. lacks constructed
- Acts 7:46 Other mss. read God
- Acts 7:48 The Gk. lacks human
- Acts 7:49 MT source citation reads Lord
- Acts 7:50 Cf. Isa 66:1-2
- Acts 7:55 Lit. he
- Acts 7:60 Lit. fell asleep
Acts 7
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
7 And the high priest asked [Stephen], Are these charges true?
2 And he answered, Brethren and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our forefather Abraham when he was still in Mesopotamia, before he [went to] live in Haran,(A)
3 And He said to him, Leave your own country and your relatives and come into the land (region) that I will point out to you.(B)
4 So then he went forth from the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, [God] transferred him to this country in which you are now dwelling.(C)
5 Yet He gave him no inheritable property in it, [no] not even enough ground to set his foot on; but He promised that He would give it to Him for a [a]permanent possession and to his descendants after him, even though [as yet] he had no child.(D)
6 And this is [in effect] what God told him: That his descendants would be aliens (strangers) in a land belonging to other people, who would bring them into bondage and ill-treat them 400 years.
7 But I will judge the nation to whom they will be slaves, said God, and after that they will escape and come forth and worship Me in this [very] place.(E)
8 And [God] made with Abraham a covenant (an agreement to be religiously observed) [b]of which circumcision was the seal. And under these circumstances [Abraham] became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac [did so] when he became the father of Jacob, and Jacob [when each of his sons was born], the twelve patriarchs.(F)
9 And the patriarchs [Jacob’s sons], boiling with envy and hatred and anger, sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt; but God was with him,(G)
10 And delivered him from all his distressing afflictions and won him goodwill and favor and wisdom and understanding in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him governor over Egypt and all his house.(H)
11 Then there came a famine over all of Egypt and Canaan, with great distress, and our forefathers could find no fodder [for the cattle] or vegetable sustenance [for their households].(I)
12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent forth our forefathers [to go there on their] first trip.(J)
13 And on their second visit Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and the family of Joseph became known to Pharaoh and his origin and race.(K)
14 And Joseph sent an invitation calling to himself Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all.(L)
15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, where he himself died, as did [also] our forefathers;(M)
16 And their [c]bodies [Jacob’s and Joseph’s] were taken back to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of [silver] money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.(N)
17 But as the time for the fulfillment of the promise drew near which God had made to Abraham, the [Hebrew] people increased and multiplied in Egypt,
18 Until [the time when] there arose over Egypt another and a different king who did not know Joseph [neither knowing his history and services nor recognizing his merits].(O)
19 He dealt treacherously with and defrauded our race; he abused and oppressed our forefathers, forcing them to expose their babies so that they might not be kept alive.(P)
20 At this juncture Moses was born, and was exceedingly beautiful in God’s sight. For three months he was nurtured in his father’s house;(Q)
21 Then when he was exposed [to perish], the daughter of Pharaoh rescued him and took him and reared him as her own son.(R)
22 So Moses was educated in all the wisdom and culture of the Egyptians, and he was mighty (powerful) in his speech and deeds.
23 And when he was in his fortieth year, it came into his heart to visit his kinsmen the children of Israel [[d]to help them and to care for them].
24 And on seeing one of them being unjustly treated, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian and slaying [him].
25 He expected his brethren to understand that God was granting them deliverance by his hand [taking it for granted that they would accept him]; but they did not understand.
26 Then on the next day he [e]suddenly appeared to some who were quarreling and fighting among themselves, and he urged them to make peace and become reconciled, saying, Men, you are brethren; why do you abuse and wrong one another?
27 Whereupon the man who was abusing his neighbor pushed [Moses] aside, saying, Who appointed you a ruler (umpire) and a judge over us?
28 Do you intend to slay me as you slew the Egyptian yesterday?
29 At that reply Moses sought safety by flight and he was an exile and an alien in the country of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.(S)
30 And when forty years had gone by, there appeared to him in the wilderness (desert) of Mount Sinai an angel, in the flame of a burning bramblebush.
31 When Moses saw it, he was astonished and marveled at the sight; but when he went close to investigate, there came to him the voice of the Lord, saying,
32 I am the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. And Moses trembled and was so terrified that he did not venture to look.
33 Then the Lord said to him, Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground and worthy of veneration.
34 Because I have most assuredly seen the abuse and oppression of My people in Egypt and have heard their sighing and groaning, I have come down to rescue them. So, now come! I will send you back to Egypt [as My messenger].(T)
35 It was this very Moses whom they had denied (disowned and rejected), saying, Who made you our ruler (referee) and judge? whom God sent to be a ruler and deliverer and redeemer, by and with the [protecting and helping] hand of the Angel that appeared to him in the bramblebush.(U)
36 He it was who led them forth, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and during the forty years in the wilderness (desert).(V)
37 It was this [very] Moses who said to the children of Israel, God will raise up for you a Prophet from among your brethren as He raised me up.(W)
38 This is he who in the assembly in the wilderness (desert) was the go-between for the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and our forefathers, and he received living oracles (words that still live) to be handed down to us.(X)
39 [And yet] our forefathers determined not to be subject to him [refusing to listen to or obey him]; but thrusting him aside they rejected him, and in their hearts yearned for and turned back to Egypt.(Y)
40 And they said to Aaron, Make us gods who shall [be our leaders and] go before us; as for this Moses who led us forth from the land of Egypt—we have no knowledge of what has happened to him.(Z)
41 And they [even] made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to the idol and made merry and exulted in the work of their [own] hands.(AA)
42 But God turned [away from them] and delivered them up to worship and serve the host (stars) of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: Did you [really] offer to Me slain beasts and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness (desert), O house of Israel?(AB)
43 [No!] You took up the tent (the portable temple) of Moloch and carried it [with you], and the star of the god Rephan, the images which you [yourselves] made that you might worship them; and I will remove you [carrying you away into exile] beyond Babylon.(AC)
44 Our forefathers had the tent (tabernacle) of witness in the wilderness, even as He Who directed Moses to make it had ordered, according to the pattern and model he had seen.(AD)
45 Our forefathers in turn brought it [this tent of witness] in [with them into the land] with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations which God drove out before the face of our forefathers. [So it remained here] until the time of David,(AE)
46 Who found grace (favor and spiritual blessing) in the sight of God and prayed that he might be allowed to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.(AF)
47 But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.(AG)
48 However, the Most High does not dwell in houses and temples made with hands; as the prophet says,(AH)
49 Heaven [is] My throne, and earth the footstool for My feet. What [kind of] house can you build for Me, says the Lord, or what is the place in which I can rest?
50 Was it not My hand that made all these things?(AI)
51 You stubborn and stiff-necked people, still heathen and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are always [f]actively resisting the Holy Spirit. As your forefathers [were], so you [are and so you do]!(AJ)
52 Which of the prophets did your forefathers not persecute? And they slew those who proclaimed beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, Whom you now have betrayed and murdered—
53 You who received the Law as it was ordained and set in order and delivered by angels, and [yet] you did not obey it!
54 Now upon hearing these things, they [the Jews] were cut to the heart and infuriated, and they ground their teeth against [Stephen].
55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit and controlled by Him, gazed into heaven and saw the glory (the splendor and majesty) of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand;
56 And he said, Look! I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at God’s right hand!
57 But they raised a great shout and put their hands over their ears and rushed together upon him.
58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him, and the witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.(AK)
59 And while they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, Lord Jesus, receive and accept and welcome my spirit!
60 And falling on his knees, he cried out loudly, Lord, fix not this sin upon them [lay it not to their charge]! And when he had said this, he fell asleep [g][in death].
Footnotes
- Acts 7:5 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies.
- Acts 7:8 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies.
- Acts 7:16 Stephen greatly compresses Old Testament accounts of two land purchases and two burial places (at Hebron and Shechem). See Gen. 23:17-18 and Gen. 33:19.
- Acts 7:23 G. Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon.
- Acts 7:26 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies.
- Acts 7:51 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies.
- Acts 7:60 Hermann Cremer, Biblico-Theological Lexicon of New Testament Greek.
Acts 7
King James Version
7 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,
3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.
5 And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he 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 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.
7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.
8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.
9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,
10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
11 Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
12 But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.
13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.
14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.
15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,
16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.
17 But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.
19 The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.
20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and 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 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
26 And the next day he shewed 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 neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?
29 Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.
30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,
32 Saying, 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.
33 Then said the Lord 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, I will send thee into Egypt.
35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
36 He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.
38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:
39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.
45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
47 But Solomon built him an house.
48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.
59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
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