Old/New Testament

Stephen tells the story

7 The high priest addressed Stephen.

“Are these things true?” he said.

² “My brothers and fathers,” replied Stephen, “please give me a hearing.

“The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he moved to live in Haran. ³ ‘Leave your land and your family,’ he said to him, ‘and go to the land which I will show you.’ ⁴ So he left the land of the Chaldeans and went to live in Haran. Then, from there, after his father’s death, God moved him on to this land in which you now live. ⁵ God didn’t give him an inheritance here, not even a place to stand up in. Instead, he promised (when Abraham still had no child) that he would give it as a possession to his seed after him. ⁶ This is what God said to him: that his seed would be strangers in a foreign land, that they would serve there as slaves, and that they would be afflicted for four hundred years. ⁷ But God said that he would judge the nation that had enslaved them, and that they would then come out and worship him ‘on this mountain.’ ⁸ And he gave them the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and he circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ “Now the patriarchs became angry with Joseph, and were jealous of him. They sold him into Egypt. But God was with him, ¹⁰ and rescued him from all his troubles and gave him grace and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, making him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. ¹¹ But then there was a famine over the whole of Egypt and Canaan, which resulted in great hardship. Our ancestors couldn’t find food to eat. ¹² Jacob, however, heard that there was grain in Egypt, and sent our ancestors there on an initial visit. ¹³ On their second trip, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and revealed to Pharaoh what family he was from. ¹⁴ So Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all the family, seventy-five people in all. ¹⁵ Jacob came to Egypt, and he and our ancestors died there. ¹⁶ They were brought back to Shechem, and buried in the tomb which Abraham had bought with silver, at a named price, from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.”

Stephen and Moses

¹⁷ “God had sworn an oath to Abraham,” Stephen continued. “When the time drew near for this promise to be fulfilled, the people had increased and multiplied in Egypt, ¹⁸ until another king arose over Egypt, one who had not known Joseph. ¹⁹ He got the better of our people, and ill-treated our ancestors, forcing them to abandon their newborn children so that they would die.

²⁰ “It was at that time that Moses was born, and he was a noble-looking child. He was nursed for three months in his father’s house. ²¹ But, when they abandoned him, Pharaoh’s daughter claimed him and brought him up as her own son.