Acts 7
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 7
Stephen’s Discourse. 1 Then the high priest asked him, “Are these things true?” 2 He replied, “Brethren and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you.’
4 “Therefore, he departed from the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And after his father died, God led him to the land where you now dwell. 5 He did not give him any of this land as a heritage, not even as little as a foot, but he promised to give it to him as his possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he was childless.
6 “This is what God said: ‘His descendants will reside in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. 7 But I will bring judgment on the nation that enslaved them,’ God said, ‘and after that they will come out and worship me in this place.’ 8 Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so, when he became the father of Isaac, he circumcised him on the eighth day, as Isaac did for Jacob, and Jacob did for the twelve patriarchs.
9 “The patriarchs were jealous of Joseph and they sold him into Egypt, but God was with him 10 and rescued him from all his afflictions. He gave Joseph wisdom and the favor of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who appointed him governor of Egypt and his entire household.
11 “Then a severe famine struck all of Egypt and Canaan, causing severe affliction, and our ancestors could find no food. 12 However, when Jacob learned that there was grain available in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there on their first visit. 13 During their second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and his ancestry became known to Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his entire family, seventy-five people in all.
15 “Jacob migrated to Egypt, and after he and our ancestors had died there, 16 they were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had purchased from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a sum of money.
17 “When the time of the promise that God had pledged to Abraham drew near, our people in Egypt had greatly increased in number. 18 Then a new king came to power who had never heard of Joseph. 19 He dealt treacherously with our people and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so that they could not survive.
20 “It was at this time that Moses was born, who was pleasing to God. For three months he was nursed in his father’s house, 21 but after he had been abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful both in word and in deed.
23 “When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow countrymen, the children of Israel. 24 When he saw one of them being maltreated, he went to his aid and avenged the victim by slaying the Egyptian. 25 He thought that his brethren would realize that God was offering them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.
26 “The next day, he came upon two of them fighting, and he tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren! Why are you trying to hurt one another?’ 27 But the man who had wronged his neighbor pushed him aside, saying, ‘Who appointed you to be our ruler and judge? 28 Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 Moses fled when he heard this, and he dwelt as an alien in Midian and became the father of two sons.
30 “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the desert near Mount Sinai in the flame of a burning bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed, and as he approached to examine it, the voice of the Lord said to him, 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’
“Moses was terrified and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 34 I have seen the oppression of my people in Egypt and have heard their sighs, and I have come down to rescue them. Now come! I will send you to Egypt.’
35 “This Moses whom they rejected by saying ‘Who appointed you to be our ruler and judge?’ God now sent forth as both ruler and liberator through the angel who 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 for forty years in the desert. 37 It was this Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you, from your own people, a prophet like me.’ 38 It was he who was in the assembly in the desert with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our ancestors, and who received words of life to hand on to us.
39 “This is the man whom our ancestors refused to obey. Instead they thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make gods for us who will lead us on the way. As for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’
41 “It was then that they made a calf, offered a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced over the work of their hands. 42 So God turned away from them and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets:
‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
during those forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
43 No, you carried aloft the tent of Moloch
and the star of your god Rephan,
the images that you had made to worship.
And so I shall send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
44 “While they were in the desert, our ancestors had the Tent of Testimony, as God commanded when he directed Moses to make it according to the pattern he had been shown. 45 Our ancestors with Joshua brought it with them when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our ancestors. It remained there until the time of David, 46 who found favor with God and desired to provide a dwelling for the God of Jacob.
47 “However, it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with human 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? asks the Lord.
Where shall my resting place be?
50 Did not my hand make all these things?’
51 “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. 52 Was there ever a prophet whom your fathers did not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers. 53 You received the Law through God’s angels, and yet you have not observed it.”
54 Stephen’s Martyrdom. When they heard this, they became enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. 56 “Look!” he cried. “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 On hearing these words, they covered their ears, cried out loudly, and rushed en masse against him. 58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. The witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.[a]
59 While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed aloud, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out in a clear voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And with these words he fell asleep.
Footnotes
- Acts 7:58 Saul: i.e., Paul, the future apostle, who is here mentioned for the first time; see Acts 22:20.
Acts 7
New International Reader's Version
Stephen Speaks to the Sanhedrin
7 Then the high priest questioned Stephen. “Is what these people are saying true?” he asked.
2 “Brothers and fathers, listen to me!” Stephen replied. “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham. At that time Abraham was still in Mesopotamia. He had not yet begun living in Harran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said. ‘Go to the land I will show you.’ (Genesis 12:1)
4 “So Abraham left the land of Babylonia. He settled in Harran. After his father died, God sent Abraham to this land where you are now living. 5 God didn’t give him any property here. He didn’t even give him enough land to set his foot on. But God made a promise to him and to all his family after him. He said they would possess the land. The promise was made even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6 Here is what God said to him. ‘For 400 years your family after you will be strangers in a country not their own. They will be slaves and will be treated badly. 7 But I will punish the nation that makes them slaves,’ God said. ‘After that, they will leave that country and worship me here.’ (Genesis 15:13,14) 8 Then God made a covenant with Abraham. God told him that circumcision would show who the members of the covenant were. Abraham became Isaac’s father. He circumcised Isaac eight days after he was born. Later, Isaac became Jacob’s father. Jacob had 12 sons. They became the founders of the 12 tribes of Israel.
9 “Jacob’s sons were jealous of their brother Joseph. So they sold him as a slave. He was taken to Egypt. But God was with him. 10 He saved Joseph from all his troubles. God made Joseph wise. He helped him to become the friend of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made Joseph ruler over Egypt and his whole palace.
11 “There was not enough food for all Egypt and Canaan. This brought great suffering. Jacob and his sons couldn’t find food. 12 But Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt. So he sent his sons on their first visit. 13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was. Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. 14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family. The total number of people was 75. 15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt. There he and his family died. 16 Some of their bodies were brought back to Shechem. They were placed in a tomb Abraham had bought. He had purchased it from Hamor’s sons at Shechem. He had purchased it for a certain amount of money.
17 “In Egypt the number of our people grew and grew. It was nearly time for God to make his promise to Abraham come true. 18 Then ‘a new king came to power in Egypt. Joseph didn’t mean anything to him.’ (Exodus 1:8) 19 The king was very evil and dishonest with our people. He treated them badly. He forced them to throw out their newborn babies to die.
20 “At that time Moses was born. He was not an ordinary child. For three months he was taken care of by his family. 21 Then he was placed outside. But Pharaoh’s daughter took him home. She brought him up as her own son. 22 Moses was taught all the knowledge of the people of Egypt. He became a powerful speaker and a man of action.
23 “When Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit the people of Israel. They were his own people. 24 He saw one of them being treated badly by an Egyptian. So he went to help him. He got even by killing the man. 25 Moses thought his own people would realize that God was using him to save them. But they didn’t. 26 The next day Moses saw two Israelites fighting. He tried to make peace between them. ‘Men, you are both Israelites,’ he said. ‘Why do you want to hurt each other?’
27 “But the man who was treating the other one badly pushed Moses to one side. He said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ (Exodus 2:14) 29 When Moses heard this, he escaped to Midian. He lived there as an outsider. He became the father of two sons there.
30 “Forty years passed. Then an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush. This happened in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 When Moses saw the bush, he was amazed. He went over for a closer look. There he heard the Lord say, 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ (Exodus 3:6) Moses shook with fear. He didn’t dare to look.
33 “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals. You must do this because the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have seen my people beaten down in Egypt. I have heard their groans. I have come down to set them free. Now come. I will send you back to Egypt.’ (Exodus 3:5,7,8,10)
35 “This is the same Moses the two men of Israel would not accept. They had said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ But God himself sent Moses to rule the people of Israel and set them free. He spoke to Moses through an angel. The angel had appeared to him in the bush. 36 So Moses led them out of Egypt. He did wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for 40 years in the desert.
37 “This is the same Moses who spoke to the Israelites. ‘God will send you a prophet,’ he said. ‘He will be like me. He will come from your own people.’ (Deuteronomy 18:15) 38 Moses was with the Israelites in the desert. He was with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai. Moses was with our people of long ago. He received living words to pass on to us.
39 “But our people refused to obey Moses. They would not accept him. In their hearts, they wished they were back in Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us a god who will lead us. This fellow Moses brought us up out of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him!’ (Exodus 32:1) 41 That was the time they made a statue to be their god. It was shaped like a calf. They brought sacrifices to it. They even enjoyed what they had made with their own hands. 42 But God turned away from them. He let them go on worshiping the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets. There it says,
“ ‘People of Israel, did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
for 40 years in the desert?
43 You have taken with you the shrine of your false god Molek.
You have taken with you the star of your false god Rephan.
You made statues of those gods to worship.
So I will send you away from your country.’ (Amos 5:25–27)
God sent them to Babylon and even farther.
44 “Long ago our people were in the desert. They had with them the holy tent. The tent was where the tablets of the covenant law were kept. Moses had made the holy tent as God had commanded him. Moses made it like the pattern he had seen. 45 Our people received the tent from God. Then they brought it with them when they took the land of Canaan. God drove out the nations that were in their way. At that time Joshua was Israel’s leader. The tent remained in the land until David’s time. 46 David was blessed by God. So David asked if he could build a house for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built the temple for God.
48 “But the Most High God does not live in houses made by human hands. As God says through the prophet,
49 “ ‘Heaven is my throne.
The earth is under my control.
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
Where will my resting place be?
50 Didn’t my hand make all these things?’ (Isaiah 66:1,2)
51 “You stubborn people! You won’t obey! You won’t listen! You are just like your people of long ago! You always oppose the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your people didn’t try to hurt? They even killed those who told about the coming of the Blameless One. And now you have handed him over to his enemies. You have murdered him. 53 The law you received was given by angels. But you haven’t obeyed it.”
Stephen Is Killed
54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they became very angry. They were so angry they ground their teeth at Stephen. 55 But he was full of the Holy Spirit. He looked up to heaven and saw God’s glory. He saw Jesus standing at God’s right hand. 56 “Look!” he said. “I see heaven open. The Son of Man is standing at God’s right hand.”
57 When the Sanhedrin heard this, they covered their ears. They yelled at the top of their voices. They all rushed at him. 58 They dragged him out of the city. They began to throw stones at him to kill him. The people who had brought false charges against Stephen took off their coats. They placed them at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 While the members of the Sanhedrin were throwing stones at Stephen, he prayed. “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” he said. 60 Then he fell on his knees. He cried out, “Lord! Don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he died.
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