New Testament in a Year
Stephen’s Speech
7 The high priest said to Stephen, “Are these ·things [charges] true?”
2 Stephen answered, “Brothers [L Men, brothers] and fathers, listen to me. ·Our glorious God [The God of glory] appeared to Abraham, our ·ancestor [patriarch; L father], in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran [C a city in Syria where Abraham resided before reaching the Promised Land; Gen. 11:31]. 3 God said to Abraham, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and go to the land I will show you [Gen. 12:1].’ 4 So Abraham left the ·country [land] of Chaldea [C another name for southern Mesopotamia, the location of Ur] and went to live in Haran. After Abraham’s father [C Terah] died, God sent him to this place where you now live. 5 God did not give Abraham ·any of this land [L an inheritance in it], not even a ·foot of it [L a foot’s length]. But God promised that he would give this land to him [L as a possession] and his ·descendants [L seed; Gen. 12:2], even before Abraham had a child. 6 This is what God said to him: ‘Your ·descendants [L seed] will be ·strangers [foreigners; resident aliens] in a ·land they don’t own [foreign land; land belonging to others; C Egypt]. The people there will make them slaves and will ·mistreat [oppress] them for four hundred years. 7 But I will ·punish [judge] the nation where they are slaves. Then ·your descendants [L they] will leave that land and will worship me in this place [Gen. 15:13–14; Ex. 3:12].’ 8 God made an ·agreement [covenant; C a treaty-like relationship] with Abraham, the sign of which was circumcision [Gen. 17:9–14]. And so when Abraham ·had his son [became the father of; T begat] Isaac, Abraham circumcised him when he was eight days old. Isaac ·also circumcised his son Jacob [or became the father of Jacob], and Jacob ·did the same for his sons, [or became the father of] the twelve ·ancestors of our people [patriarchs; C the twelve sons of Jacob who were the “fathers” of the twelve tribes of Israel].
9 “·Jacob’s sons [L The patriarchs] became jealous of Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him 10 and ·saved [rescued; delivered] him from all his ·troubles [afflictions]. God gave Joseph ·wisdom to gain the favor of [L favor and wisdom before] Pharaoh, king of Egypt. The king made him governor of Egypt and put him in charge of ·all the people in his palace [L his whole household].
11 “Then all the land of Egypt and Canaan experienced a famine, and the people suffered very much. ·Jacob’s sons, our ancestors, [L Our fathers] could not find anything to eat. 12 But when Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent ·his sons [L our fathers] there. This was their first trip to Egypt [Gen. 42]. 13 When they went there a second time [Gen. 43—45], Joseph ·told his brothers who he was [made himself known to his brothers], and ·the king [L Pharaoh] learned about Joseph’s family. 14 Then Joseph sent messengers to ·invite [summon; call] Jacob, his father, to come to Egypt along with all his relatives (seventy-five persons altogether). 15 So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and ·his sons [L our fathers] died. 16 Later their bodies were moved to Shechem and put in a grave there. (It was the same grave Abraham had bought for a sum of ·money [L silver] from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.) [C Stephen combines two accounts, Abraham’s purchase of a field in Hebron (Gen. 23:3–20) and Jacob’s purchase of a field in Shechem (Josh. 24:32).]
17 “The promise God made to Abraham [Gen. 15:12–16] was soon to come true, and the number of people in Egypt ·grew large [L increased/flourished and multiplied]. 18 Then ·a new [L another] king, who ·did not know who Joseph was [or did not think Joseph was important], ·began to rule Egypt [L arose; Ex. 1:8]. 19 This king ·tricked [exploited; dealt treacherously with] our ·people [L race] and was cruel to our ·ancestors [L fathers], forcing them to ·leave [L expose; abandon] their babies outside to die [C such abandonment was a common ancient method of population control]. 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was ·very beautiful [beautiful before/to God; or of high status in God’s eyes]. For three months Moses was cared for in his father’s house. 21 When ·they put Moses outside [L he was abandoned/exposed; C when Moses’ mother “exposed” Moses to the elements, she was actually hiding him; Ex. 2:3–4], ·the king’s [L Pharaoh’s] daughter adopted him and raised him as if he were her own son.
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