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Acts 7
1. And the chief of the high priests asked him, that if he has said these things?*
2. He then said, "Brethren and parents,* listen, the God of Glory saw our father
Abraham while he was in the Land of the Two Rivers,* before he came to live in Haran.
3. "And he told him,
'Go out of your land and from your kindred, and come to the land
that I will show you.'
4. "And then Abraham went out of the land of the Chaldeans,
and came and lived in Haran. And from there, when his father died, God transferred
him to this land, in which you live today.
5. "And He did not give him inheritance in it, not even a foothold. And He declared
it as his habitation, to him and to his offspring, while he did not have a son.
6. And God spoke with him, as He told him, that
'Your offspring will be servants in a foreign land,
and they will subjugate
them and exploit* them
for four hundred years.
7. " 'And the nation for which they performed the service,
I shall judge them,' said
God.
'And after these, they will go out
and will work for me in
this country.'
8. "And He gave him the dedication* of circumcision, and then
Isaac was born to him, and he circumcised him on the eight day, and to Isaac was
born Jacob, and to Jacob were born our twelve ancestors.
9. "And our ancestors were envious of Joseph and sold him to Egypt and [yet]
God was with him.
10. "And he was rescued from all his tribulation, and He gave him grace and
wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and inaugurated him head of Egypt and over
his entire household.
11. "And there was famine and tribulation in all of Egypt and in the land of
Canaan, and they did not have enough to feed our ancestors.
12. "And as Jacob heard that there was sustenance in Egypt, he sent our ancestors
in advance.
13. "And the second season that they went, Joseph made himself known to his
brothers, and Joseph's kindred became known to Pharaoh.
14. "And Joseph sent for his father Jacob to be brought, and all his kindred.
And they were seventy-five souls in number.
15. "And Jacob went down to Egypt and died there, and our ancestors,
16. "And he was transported to Shechem and was consecrated in the grave that
Abraham had bought with money from the children of Hamor.
17. "And as the season arrived when that which was declared by God for Abraham
through oaths, the nation had increased and was thriving in Egypt.
18. "While there arose another king in Egypt, who did not recognize Joseph.*
19. "He exploited our kindred and degraded our ancestors, and commanded that
they abort their children.*
20. "In that season, Moses was born and God was merciful to him, and he was
nurtured three months in his father's house.
21. "And when he was released from his mother, he was found by Pharaoh's daughter,
and she nurtured for herself a son.
22. "And Moses was educated* in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was
consistent in his words and also his deeds.
23. "And when he turned* forty years old, it came into his heart to help his
brothers, the children of Israel.
24. "And [when] he saw one of his generation stripped barren, he seized [the
Egyptian offender] and tried him, and he put him* to death.
25. "And he expected that his brothers, children of Israel, would learn, that
God would deliver them by his hand, and they did not learn.
26. "And on the next day, he saw them stinging each other, and he separated
them, calming them down, while he said, 'Men, you are brothers, why do you injure
each other?'
27. "However, he that injured his friend, spurned him,* and said to him, 'Who
appointed you ruler* and judge?'
28. " 'Why, do you want to kill me, like you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'
29. "Moses fled when he heard this,* and settled in Midian country, and he had
two sons.
30. "And after he spent forty years there, he saw an angel of the Lord in the
fire that burns in Mount Sinai.
31. "And as he saw it, Moses was amazed by the vision. And when he came close
to look, the Lord said to him by voice,
32. " 'I am the God of your ancestors, the Father of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.'
And as Moses was trembling, he did not dare to gaze at the vision.
33. "And the Lord told him, 'Take off the sandals from your feet, for the land
you stand on is sacred.
34. " 'Seeing I did see the oppression of my people in Egypt, and I heard the
sighing, and I have come down to save them, and now, come, I will send you to Egypt.'
35. "This was the Moses that they blasphemed against when they said, 'Who made
you ruler and judge?' It was him that God sent as leader and savior for them, by
the hands of the angel that saw him in the Sinai.
36. "It was them whom he brought out, while performing great deeds in the land
of Egypt and the Sea of Soop*, and in the desert, forty years.
37. "This Moses who said to the children of Israel, 'A prophet such as I, the
Lord God shall raise from your brothers. To him you shall listen.'
38. "This one who was in the synagogue in the desert with the angel, who spoke
with him and our ancestors in Mount Sinai. He received the Living Words that were
given to us.
39. "And our ancestors did not turn their ear to him, except they left him and
in their hearts they returned to Egypt.
40. "While they said to Aaron, 'Make us gods that will go before us, because
this Moses who got us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what possessed him.'
41. "And they made a calf in those days and they offered sacrifice to the bronze
idols, and they rejoiced in the work of their hands.
42. "And did not God return and reconcile them to work for the powers of heaven?
As it is written in the Book of the prophets,
'Why forty years in the desert,
sacrifice or holocaust
you offered me,
O, people* of Israel?
43. " 'Except you carried the abode of your king
and tossed off the star
of God,
You shed blood [of animals]
so you could worship these.
I exiled you all the way to Babylon.'*
44. "Behold, the abode of our ancestor's testimony was in
the desert, as the One who spoke to Moses commanded that he build it in the likeness
that was shown him.
45. "And to this abode, our ancestors also entered upon with Jesus, to the land
that was given to them by God as inheritance, away from the nations that He removed
from their path,* and which He provided* until the days of David.
46. "He who received mercies before God, and was asked to find the abode for
Jacob's God.
47. "Solomon then built him the house.
48. "And the Most High does not reside in that which is built by hands, as the
prophet said,
49. " 'Heaven is my throne
and the earth is the rug under my feet.
What house will you build for me?' says the Lord.
'Or, which is the country where I rest?
50. " 'Was it not my hand that made all these?'
51. "O, stiff-necked* [people] and uncircumcised of heart
and hearing, you stand against the holy Spirit in every season, you are like your
ancestors too.
52. "For which of the prophets did not your ancestors reject and kill? These
that came in advance and foretold of the ushering of the righteous one, whom you
betrayed and killed.
53. "And you received the Law through the command of angels and you did not
observe it."
54. And as they heard this, they were filled with rage inside themselves and they
bared their teeth at him.
55. And as he was filled with faith and the holy Spirit, he gazed at heaven, and
he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing from the right of God.
56. And he said, "Behold, I see the heaven opening and the Son of Man as he
stands from the right of God."
57. And they yelled in a loud voice and shut their ears, and they all rushed at him
together,
58. And they seized him, took him outside the city, and they stoned him. And those
who testified about him, placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59. And they stoned Stephen while he prayed and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit."
60. And as he knelt down,* he called out in a loud voice and said, "Lord, do
not hold this sin against them." And as he said this, he passed out.
Acts 8 || index page
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