² To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers,^(A) listen to me! The God of glory^(B) appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran.^{(C) 3} ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’^[a](D)

⁴ “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living.^(E)

⁸ Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision.^(A) And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth.^(B) Later Isaac became the father of Jacob,^(C) and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.^(D)

⁹ “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph,^(E) they sold him as a slave into Egypt.^(F) But God was with him^{(G) 10} and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.^(H)

¹⁷ “As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased.^(A)

³³ “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.^{(A) 34} I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’^[a](B)

⁴⁵ After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them.^(A) It remained in the land until the time of David,^{(B) 46} who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.^{[a](C) 47} But it was Solomon who built a house for him.^(D)

⁵² Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?^(A) They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him^(B)— ⁵³ you who have received the law that was given through angels^(C) but have not obeyed it.”

⁵⁵ But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit,^(A) looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.^(B)