Acts 7
Christian Standard Bible
Stephen’s Sermon
7 “Are these things true?” the high priest asked.
2 “Brothers and fathers,” he replied, “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,(A) 3 and said to him: Leave your country and relatives, and come to the land that I will show you.[a](B)
4 “Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this land in which you are now living.(C) 5 He didn’t give him an inheritance in it—not even a foot of ground—but he promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him,(D) even though he was childless. 6 God spoke in this way: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and they would enslave and oppress them for four hundred years. 7 I will judge the nation that they will serve as slaves, God said. After this, they will come out and worship me in this place.[b](E) 8 And so he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. After this, he fathered Isaac and circumcised(F) him on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.(G)
The Patriarchs in Egypt
9 “The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt, but God was with him(H) 10 and rescued him out of all his troubles. He gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole household.(I) 11 Now a famine and great suffering came over all of Egypt and Canaan,(J) and our ancestors could find no food. 12 When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there the first time. 13 The second time, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 Joseph invited his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five people in all,(K) 15 and Jacob went down to Egypt. He and our ancestors died there,(L) 16 were carried back to Shechem, and were placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.(M)
Moses, a Rejected Savior
17 “As the time was approaching to fulfill the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people flourished and multiplied in Egypt(N) 18 until a different king who did not know Joseph ruled over Egypt.[c] 19 He dealt deceitfully with our race and oppressed our ancestors by making them abandon their infants outside so that they wouldn’t survive.(O) 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. He was cared for in his father’s home for three months. 21 When he was put outside, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and raised him as her own son.(P) 22 So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his speech and actions.(Q)
23 “When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 When he saw one of them being mistreated, he came to his rescue and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He assumed his people would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. 26 The next day he showed up while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them peacefully, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’ (R)
27 “But the one who was mistreating his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying: Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me, the same way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?[d](S)
29 “When he heard this, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.(T) 30 After forty years had passed, an angel[e] 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. As he was approaching to look at it, the voice of the Lord came: 32 I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.[f](U) Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look.
33 “The Lord said to him: Take off the sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. And now, come, I will send you to Egypt.[g](V)
35 “This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?[h]—this one God sent as a ruler and a deliverer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.(W) 36 This man led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt,(X) at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.(Y)
Israel’s Rebellion against God
37 “This is the Moses who said to the Israelites: God[i] will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.[j](Z) 38 He is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors.(AA) He received living oracles to give to us.(AB) 39 Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him. Instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.(AC) 40 They told Aaron: Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him.[k](AD) 41 They even made a calf in those days, offered sacrifice to the idol, and were celebrating what their hands had made.(AE) 42 God turned away(AF) and gave them up to worship(AG) the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
House of Israel, did you bring me offerings and sacrifices
for forty years in the wilderness?
43 You took up the tent of Moloch
and the star of your god Rephan,
the images that you made to worship.
So I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.[l](AH)
God’s Real Tabernacle
44 “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.(AI) 45 Our ancestors in turn received it and with Joshua brought it in when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before them,(AJ) until the days of David. 46 He found favor in God’s sight and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God[m] of Jacob.(AK) 47 It was Solomon, rather, who built him a house,(AL) 48 but the Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands, as the prophet says:(AM)
49 Heaven is my throne,
and the earth my footstool.
What sort of house will you build for me?
says the Lord,
or what will be my resting place?
50 Did not my hand make all these things?[n](AN)
Resisting the Holy Spirit
51 “You stiff-necked(AO) people with uncircumcised hearts and ears!(AP) You are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your ancestors did, you do also. 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute?(AQ) They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers(AR) you have now become. 53 You received the law under the direction of angels(AS) and yet have not kept it.”
The First Christian Martyr
54 When they heard these things, they were enraged[o] and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.(AT) 56 He said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” (AU)
57 They yelled at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him. 58 They dragged him out of the city and began to stone(AV) him. And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.(AW) 59 While they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” (AX) 60 He knelt down and cried out with a loud voice,(AY) “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And after saying this, he fell asleep.(AZ)
Footnotes
- 7:3 Gn 12:1
- 7:6–7 Gn 15:13–14
- 7:18 Other mss omit over Egypt
- 7:27–28 Ex 2:14
- 7:30 Other mss add of the Lord
- 7:32 Ex 3:6,15
- 7:33–34 Ex 3:5,7–8,10
- 7:35 Ex 2:14
- 7:37 Other mss read The Lord your God
- 7:37 Dt 18:15
- 7:40 Ex 32:1,23
- 7:42–43 Am 5:25–27
- 7:46 Other mss read house
- 7:49–50 Is 66:1–2
- 7:54 Or were cut to the quick
Gevurot 7
Orthodox Jewish Bible
7 And the Kohen Gadol said, "Are these things so?"
2 And Stefanos said, "Achim and Avot, hear me! Elohei Hakavod appeared to Avraham Avinu while he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Charan [TEHILLIM 29:3; BERESHIS 11:31; 15:7]
3 “And Hashem said to Avram, ‘Depart from your country and from your people and come to the land which I shall show you.') [Gn 12:1; 48:4]
4 "Then having departed from the land of the Chaldeans, he settled in Charan. And from there, after the mavet of his Av, he was settled by Hashem here in this land in which we now are living. [BERESHIS 12:5]
5 "And Hashem did not give to him a nachalah (inheritance) in it nor AD MIDRACH KAF REGEL ("even enough to put your foot on" DEVARIM 2:5); and yet, even when he had no ben, the havtachah (promise) of Hashem to him was ES HAARETZ HAZOT E’TEN ("This land I will give") to him and to his zera (seed) after him. [DEVARIM 2:5; BERESHIS 12:7; 13:15; 17:8; 26:3; 48:4]
6 "And Hashem spoke thus, that GER YIHIYEH ZAR’ACHA ("your seed will be strangers (aliens)") in another’s [i.e., foreign] land and them they will enslave and they will mistreat them ARBA ME’OT SHANAH ("four hundred years"). [Gn 15:13f; Ex 1:8 11; 12:40]
7 "V’GAM ES HAGOY ASHER YA’AVODU DAN ANOCHI ("And whatever nation to which they shall be in bondage I myself will judge" said Hashem, VACHAREI KHEN YETZU ("And after that they will come out") and serve me in this place." [BERESHIS 15:13,14; SHEMOT 3:12]
8 "And he gave to him bris milah. And thus Avraham Avinu became the father of Yitzchak and he did his bris milah on the Yom HaShemini and Yitzchak became the father of Ya’akov and Ya’akov of the Sheneym Asar HaAvot. [BERESHIS 17:9-14; 21:2-4; 25:26; 29:31-35; 30:5-13, 17-24; 35:16-26]
9 "And the Avot had kinah toward Yosef and sold him into Mitzrayim (Egypt), and Hashem was with him. [Gn 37:4,11:28; 37:28; Ps 105:17; Gn 39:1,2,21,23; 45:4; Hag 2:4]
10 "And Hashem delivered Yosef from all his tzoros and gave to him Chen v’Chesed Hashem and chochmah before Pharaoh king of Mitzrayim (Egypt) and he appointed him his grand vizier to rule over Mitzrayim and over his whole bais. [Gn 41:37-45; Ps 105:20-22]
11 "Now a famine came over all Mitzrayim (Egypt) and Canaan and tzarah gedolah (great tribulation) and Avoteinu were not finding okhel. [Gn 41:54; 42:2,5]
12 "And when Ya’akov Avinu heard that there was grain in Mitzrayim (Egypt), he sent Avoteinu there pa’am harishonah (the first time). [BERESHIS 42:1,2]
13 "And on the second visit Yosef was recognized by his Achim, and Yosef’s mishpochah became known to Pharaoh. [Gn 45:1 4, 16]
14 "And having sent, Yosef summoned Ya’akov his Abba and all his mishpochah, SHIVIM (Seventy, BERESHIS 46:27) nefashot (souls). [Gn 45:9,10; 46:26,27; Ex 1:5; Dt 10:22]
15 "And Ya’akov Avinu went down to Mitzrayim (Egypt) and he died, as did Avoteinu. [Gn 46:5 7; 49:33; Ex 1:6]
16 "And they were brought back to Shechem and were placed in the kever (tomb) which Avraham bought for a sum of silver from the banim of Chamor in Shechem. [Gn 23:16-20; 33:18, 19; 50:13; Josh 24:32]
17 "Now as the time of the havtachah (promise) was drawing near, which Hashem promised to Avraham Avinu, the people grew and were multiplied in Mitzrayim [Ex 1:7; Ps 105:24]
18 "Until over Mitzrayim there appeared a MELECH CHADASH ASHER LO YADA ES YOSEF ("a new king who knew not Yosef"). [Ex 1:7,8]
19 "This king exploited by his shrewdness our nation and mistreated Avoteinu so as to make their ollelim (infants) exposed in order not to keep them alive. [Ex 1:10-22]
20 "And at this time Moshe Rabbenu was born and he was well pleasing to Hashem; and he was nurtured for shloshah chodashim in the bais of his abba. [Ex 2:2]
21 "And after he had been exposed, the bat Pharaoh took Moshe Rabbeinu away, and brought him up as her own son.[Ex 2:3-10]
22 "And Moshe Rabbenu was instructed in all the chochmah of the Egyptians and in dvarim (words) and pe’ulot (deeds) he was given ko’ach. [1Kgs 4:30; Isa 19:11]
23 "But when arba’im shanah of his days were completed, it entered into his lev (heart) to visit his Achim of the Bnei Yisroel. [Ex 2:11]
24 "And having seen one of them being treated unjustly he retaliated and brought yashrus (justice) for the one being oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. [Ex 2:12]
25 "Now he was assuming that his achim had binah that Hashem by the hand of Moshe was giving Yeshu’at Eloheinu to them, but they did not have binah (understanding).
26 "And on the next day he came to them as they were fighting and Moshe was trying to reconcile them in shalom, saying, ‘Anashim, you are achim, why are you injuring one another?’ [Ex 2:13]
27 "But the one injuring his re’a pushed Moshe aside, saying MI SAMECHA L’ISH SAR V’SHOFET ALENU ("Who made you ruler and judge over us?"—Ex 2:14)
28 "HALEHARGENI ATAH OMER KA’ASHER HARAGTA yesterday ES HAMITZRI ("You do not mean to kill me in the same manner as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?")
29 "And Moshe Rabbenu fled at this dvar and became a stranger in eretz Midyan, where he became the father of shnei banim. [Ex 2:11-15]
30 "And at the fulfillment of arba’im shanah a MALACH appeared to him BELABAT EISH MITOCH HASENEH ("in flame of fire from within a burning thorn bush") in the desert of the mountain Sinai. [Ex 3:1-2]
31 "And Moshe Rabbenu having seen this, was mishpoyel (standing in awe) at the chazon and, as he was approaching it to look more closely, there came the kol (voice) of Hashem, [Ex 3:1-4]
32 "I am the G-d of your Avot, I am the G-d of Avraham and the G-d of Yitzchak and the G-d of Ya’akov". But Moshe Rabbenu was trembling with pachad and was not daring to look. [SHEMOT 3:6]
33 "And Hashem said to him, SAL NE’ALECHA ME’AL RAGLECHA ("Take off your sandals from your feet") for the place on which you have stood is admat kodesh (holy ground)." [Ex 3:5; Josh 5:15]
34 "I have seen the ONI AMMI ASHER B’MITZRAYIM ("misery of my people in Mitzrayim [Egypt]") and the groaning of them I heard and I came down to deliver them. And now come that I may send you to Mitzrayim (Egypt). [SHEMOT 3:5,7-10; 2:24]
35 "This Moshe whom they denied, having said MI SAMECHA L’ISH SAR V’SHOFET? ("Who made you a ruler and a judge?") is the one whom G-d sent to be both SAR (ruler) and GO’EL (redeemer) with the help of the malach having appeared to him in the thorn bush. [SHEMOT 2:14]
36 "This one led them out, effecting moftim and otot in eretz Mitzrayim (Egypt) and in the Yam Suf and in the midbar arba’im shanah. [SHEMOT 7:3, 12:41; 33:1; 11:10; 14:21; 15:25; 17:5,6; BAMIDBAR 14:33]
37 "This is the Moshe who said to the Bnei Yisroel NAVI MIKIRBECHA ME’ACHECHA KAMONI YAKIM ("A prophet from among you from your brothers like me [Moshe] Hashem will raise up.") [DEVARIM 18:15,18]
38 "This is the one having been in the kahal (assembly) in the midbar together with the malach speaking to him at the mountain of Sinai, who was with Avoteinu; he is the one who received torat chayyim to give to us. [SHEMOT 19:17; VAYIKRA 27:34; DEVARIM 32:45-47]
39 "And Avoteinu were not willing to have mishma’at (obedience) to Moshe Rabbenu, but they pushed him aside and they turned their levavot back to Mitzrayim, (Egypt) [BAMIDBAR 14:3,4]
40 "Having said to Aharon, Make for us g-ds who will go before us; for this Moshe who led us out of the land of Egypt we do not know what happened to him"). [SHEMOT 32:1,23]
41 "And at that time they made an egel (calf) and brought a sacrifice offering to the elil (idol) and were taking delight in the ma’asim (works) of their hands. [SHEMOT 32:4-6; TEHILLIM 106:19,20]
42 "But Hashem turned away and handed them over to serve the tzeva Shomayim, just as it has been written in the sefer haNevi’im, HAZEVACHIM UMINCHAH HIGASHTEM LI BAMIDBAR ARBA’IM SHANAH, BET YISROEL ("It was not to me that you offered victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, O House of Israel?") [AMOS 5:25-27; YEHOSHUA 24:20; YESHAYAH 63:10; YIRMEYAH 19:13]
43 "You also took up the ohel of Moloch and the KOKHAV of your g-d Reifan, the tzelamim (idols) which you made to worship them; therefore N’HIGLEITI ETKHEM MEHALAH ("I will exile you beyond") Babylon. [YIRMEYAH 7:18, TARGUM HASHIVIM 19:13; AMOS 5:27]
44 "Avoteinu had the Mishkan HaEdut in the midbar just as the One who spoke to Moshe [Rabbeinu] directed him to make it according to the TAVNIT (pattern) which he had seen. [Ex 27:21; 38:21; Num 1:50; 17:7; Ex 25:8,9,40; Josh 3:14; 18:1]
45 "And having received it in their turn, Avoteinu brought it in with Yehoshua (Joshua) upon the dispossessing of the land of the Goyim, which Hashem drove out from the presence of Avoteinu until the yamim of Dovid. [Josh 3:14-17; 18:1; 23:9; 24:18; Ps 44:2; 2Sm 7:2,6; Gn 17:8; 48:4; Dt 32:49]
46 "And Dovid found Chen v’Chesed Hashem before G-d, and asked that he might find a mishkan for Elohei Ya’akov. [SHMUEL BAIS 7:2, 8-16;MELACHIM ALEF 8:17; TEHILLIM 132:1-5]
47 "And Sh’lomo (Solomon) built for him a Beis. [MELACHIM ALEF 6:1-38]
48 "But HaElyon does not dwell in battim made by human hands, just as the Navi (prophet) says, [MELACHIM ALEF 8:27; MELACHIM BAIS 2:6]
49 "HASHOMAYIM KISSI V’HAARETZ HADOM RAGLAI ("Heaven is my throne and earth is the footstool for my feet"). EI-ZEH BAYIT ASHER TIVNU LI ("What kind of House will you build for me?") says Hashem, V’EI ZEH MAKOM MENUCHATI ("Or where will my resting place be?")
50 "Did not my hand ASATAH (make) all these things?" [YESHAYAH 66:1,2]
51 "You AM KESHEH OREF ("stiff-necked people" SHEMOT 33:5), you who are without the “bris milah” of the lev (heart) and of the oznayim (ears), you always resist the Ruach Hakodesh; you are doing like your Avot. [Ex 32:9; 33:3,5; Lv 26:41; Dt 10:16; Jer 4:4; 9:26; Isa 63:10]
52 "Which of the Nevi’im (prophets) did your Avot not persecute? And they killed the ones having announced beforehand about the Bias HaMoshiach, the coming of the Tzaddik of whom now you became bogedim and rotzechim (murderers);
53 "You who received the Torah at the directions of malachim and were not shomer of it."
54 And hearing these things, they were infuriated in their levavot, and they were grinding their teeth at him.
55 But being full of the Ruach Hakodesh and having gazed into Shomayim, Stefanos saw the kavod (glory) of Hashem and Yehoshua standing limin Hashem.
56 And Stefanos said, "Hinei, I see Shomayim having been opened and the Ben HaAdam (Moshiach, DANIEL 7:13-14) standing limin Hashem."
57 And having cried out with a kol gadol, they shut their oznayim and they rushed down with one impulse upon Stefanos.
58 And having driven Stefanos outside the Ir (City), they were stoning him. And the edim took off their garments at the feet of a bochur named Sha’ul. [Lv 24:14,16; Dt 17:7]
59 And they went on stoning Stefanos as he called upon Hashem, saying, "Adoneinu, receive my neshamah." [TEHILLIM 31:5]
60 And having fallen down, he cried out in a kol gadol, "Adoneinu, may this aveirah not be held against them!" And having said this, Stefanos fell asleep.
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