New Testament in a Year

Stephen’s Defense

7 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

² And he said, “Hear me, ^(A)brothers and fathers! ^(B)The God of glory ^(C)appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in ^[a]Haran, ³ and said to him, ‘^(D)Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’ ^4 (E)Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in ^[b]Haran. ^(F)From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. ⁵ But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and ^(G)He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his seed after him, even when he had no child. ⁶ But ^(H)God spoke in this way, that his seed would be sojourners in a foreign land, and that they would ^[c]be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. ⁷ ‘And I Myself will judge the nation to which they will be enslaved,’ said God, ‘and ^(I)after that they will come out and ^[d]serve Me in this place.’ ⁸ And He ^(J)gave him ^[e]the covenant of circumcision; and so ^(K)Abraham was the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and ^(L)Isaac was the father of Jacob, and ^(M)Jacob of the twelve ^(N)patriarchs.

⁹ “And the patriarchs, ^(O)becoming jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him, ¹⁰ and rescued him from all his afflictions, and ^(P)granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he appointed him governor over Egypt and all his household.

¹¹ “Now ^(Q)a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers ^[f]could find no food. ¹² But ^(R)when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. ¹³ And on the second visit ^(S)Joseph ^[g]made himself known to his brothers, and ^(T)Joseph’s family was disclosed to Pharaoh. ¹⁴ Then ^(U)Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, ^(V)seventy-five ^[h](W)persons in all. ¹⁵ And ^(X)Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died. ¹⁶ And from there they were removed to ^[i](Y)Shechem and placed in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of ^[j]Hamor in ^[k]Shechem.

¹⁷ “But as the ^(Z)time of the promise was drawing near which God had assured to Abraham, ^(AA)the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, ¹⁸ until ^(AB)another king arose over Egypt who did not know about Joseph. ¹⁹ It was he who ^(AC)deceitfully took advantage of our family and mistreated our fathers to ^[l](AD)set their infants outside so that they would not survive. ²⁰ It was at this time that ^(AE)Moses was born, and he was lovely ^[m]in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father’s home. ²¹ And after he had been set outside, ^(AF)Pharaoh’s daughter ^[n]took him away and nurtured him as her own son.