Choosing of the Seven

6 Now about this time, when the number of disciples was increasing, a complaint was made by the ^[a]Hellenists (Greek-speaking Jews) against the [^[b]native] Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. ² So the ^[c]Twelve called the disciples together and said, “It is not appropriate for us to neglect [teaching] the word of God in order to serve tables and manage the distribution of food. ³ Therefore, brothers, choose from among you seven men with good reputations [men of godly character and moral integrity], full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. ⁴ But we will [continue to] devote ourselves [steadfastly] to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” ⁵ The suggestion pleased the whole congregation; and they selected ^[d]Stephen, a man full of faith [in Christ Jesus], and [filled with and led by] the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas (Nikolaos), a proselyte (Gentile convert) from Antioch. ⁶ They brought these men before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them [to dedicate and commission them for this service].

⁷ And the message of God kept on growing and spreading, and the number of disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem; and a large number of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith [accepting Jesus as Messiah and acknowledging Him as the Source of eternal salvation].

⁸ Now Stephen, full of grace (divine blessing, favor) and power, was doing great wonders and signs (attesting miracles) among the people. ⁹ However, some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (freed Jewish slaves), both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and [the province of] Asia, rose up and questioned and argued with Stephen. ¹⁰ But they were not able to successfully withstand and cope with the wisdom and the intelligence [and the power and inspiration] of the Spirit by whom he was speaking. ¹¹ Then [to attack him another way] they secretly instructed men to say, “We have heard this man [Stephen] speak blasphemous (slanderous, sacrilegious, abusive) words against Moses and against God.” ¹² And they provoked and incited the people, as well as the elders and the scribes, and they came up to Stephen and seized him and brought him before the Council (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court). ¹³ They presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and the Law [of Moses]; ¹⁴ for we have heard him say that this Jesus the Nazarene will tear down this place and will change the traditions and customs which Moses handed down to us.” ¹⁵ Then all those who were sitting in the Council, stared [intently] at him, and they saw that Stephen’s face was like the face of an angel.

Stephen’s Defense

7 Now the ^[e]high priest asked [Stephen], “Are these charges true?”

² And he answered, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory [the Shekinah, the radiance of God] appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,^{(A) 3} and He said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and come to the land that I will show you.’^{(B) 4} Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God sent him to this country in which you now live.^{(C) 5} But He did not give him inheritable property, not even enough ground to take a step on, yet He promised that He would give it to Him as a possession, and to his descendants after him.^{(D) 6} And this is, in effect, what God spoke [to him]: That his descendants would be aliens (strangers) in a foreign land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. ⁷ ‘And I will judge any nation to whom they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve Me [in worship] in this place.’^{(E) 8} And God gave Abraham a covenant [a formal agreement to be strictly observed] of [which] circumcision [was the sign]; and so [under these circumstances] Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac [became the father] of ^[f]Jacob, and Jacob [became the father] of the ^[g]twelve patriarchs.^(F)

⁹ “The [ten elder] patriarchs, overwhelmed with jealousy, sold [their younger brother] Joseph into [slavery in] Egypt; but God was with him,^{(G) 10} and He rescued him from all his suffering, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made Joseph governor over Egypt and over his entire household.^(H)

¹¹ “Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great distress and our fathers could not find food [for their households and livestock].^{(I) 12} But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time.^{(J) 13} And on the second visit Joseph identified himself to his brothers, and Joseph’s family and background were revealed to Pharaoh.^{(K) 14} Then Joseph sent and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five persons in all.^{(L) 15} And Jacob (Israel) went down into Egypt, and ^[h]there he died, as did our fathers;^{(M) 16} and [from Egypt] ^[i]their bodies were taken back to Shechem and placed in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.^(N)

¹⁷ “But as the time [for the fulfillment] of the promise which God had made to Abraham was approaching, the [Hebrew] people increased and multiplied in Egypt,^{(O) 18} until [the time when] there arose another king over egypt who did not know joseph [nor his history and the merit of his service to Egypt].^{(P) 19} He shrewdly exploited our race and mistreated our fathers, forcing them to expose their [male] babies so that they would die.^{(Q) 20} It was at this [critical] time that Moses was born; and he was lovely in the sight of God, and for three months he was nourished in his father’s house.^{(R) 21} Then when he was set outside [to die], Pharaoh’s daughter rescued him and claimed him for herself, and cared for him as her own son.^{(S) 22} So Moses was educated in all the wisdom and culture of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds. ²³ But when he reached the age of forty, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. ²⁴ And when he saw one [of them] being treated unfairly, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking and killing the Egyptian. ²⁵ He expected his countrymen to understand that God was granting them freedom through him [assuming that they would accept him], but they did not understand. ²⁶ Then on the next day he suddenly appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and he tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you wrong one another?’ ²⁷ But the man who was injuring his neighbor pushed Moses away, saying, ‘Who appointed you ruler and judge over us? ²⁸ Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹ At this remark Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he fathered two sons.^(T)

³⁰ “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount ^[j]Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he was astonished at the sight; but as he went near to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came [to him, saying]: ³² ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare 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 [worthy of reverence and respect]. ³⁴ I have most certainly seen the oppression of My people in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Now come, and I will send you to Egypt [as My messenger].’^(U)

³⁵ “This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the very one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer, with the [protecting and helping] hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush.^{(V) 36} This man led them out [of Egypt] after performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.^{(W) 37} This is the Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a Prophet ^[k]like me from your countrymen.’^{(X) 38} This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living oracles [divine words that still live] to be handed down to you.^{(Y) 39} Our fathers were unwilling to be subject to him [and refused to listen to him]. They rejected him, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.^{(Z) 40} They said to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’^{(AA) 41} In those days they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced and celebrated over the works of their hands.^{(AB) 42} But God turned away [from them] and handed them over to serve the ^[l]host of heaven. As it is written and forever remains written in the book of the prophets, ‘It was not [really] to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel?^{(AC) 43} You also took along the tabernacle (portable temple) of Moloch and the star of the god Rompha, the images which you made to worship; and I will remove you beyond Babylon [carrying you away into exile].’^(AD)

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as God directed Moses to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.^{(AE) 45} Our fathers also brought it in [with them into the land] with Joshua when they dispossessed the ^[m]nations whom God drove out before our fathers, [and so it remained here] until the time of David,^{(AF) 46} who found favor (grace, spiritual blessing) in the sight of God and asked that he might [be allowed to] find a dwelling place for the ^[n]God of Jacob.^{(AG) 47} But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.^{(AH) 48} However, the Most High [the One infinitely exalted above humanity] does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet [Isaiah] says,^(AI)

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked and stubborn people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are always actively resisting the Holy Spirit. You are doing just as your fathers did.^{(AK) 52} Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who proclaimed beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; ⁵³ you who received the law as ordained and delivered to you by angels, and yet you did not obey it!”

Stephen Put to Death

⁵⁴ Now when ^[o]they heard this [accusation and understood its implication], they were cut to the heart, and they began grinding their teeth [in rage] at him. ⁵⁵ But he, being full of the Holy Spirit and led by Him, gazed into heaven and saw the glory [the great splendor and majesty] of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; ⁵⁶ and he said, “Look! I see the heavens opened up [in welcome] and ^[p]the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” ⁵⁷ But they shouted with loud voices, and covered their ears and together rushed at him [considering him guilty of blasphemy]. ⁵⁸ Then they drove him out of the city and began stoning him; and the witnesses placed their outer robes at the feet of a young man named ^[q]Saul.^{(AL) 59} They continued stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive and accept and welcome my spirit!” ⁶⁰ Then falling on his knees [in worship], he cried out loudly, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them [do not charge them]!” When he had said this, he fell asleep [in death].

Saul Persecutes the Church

8 Saul wholeheartedly approved of Stephen’s death.

And on that day a great and relentless persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem; and the believers were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles.