Acts 7

1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so? 2 And he said, “Brethren and fathers, hearken,—The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, 3 and said to him, Depart from thy country and from thy kindred, and come into the country which I shall shew thee. 4 Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, after his father died, He removed him into this land in which ye now dwell: 5 though He gave him no inheritance in it, no not the breadth of a foot; but He promised to give it to him for a possession, even to his seed after him; though he had no child." 6 And God spake thus “that his seed should sojourn in a strange country, and they shall in slave and abuse them four hundred years:" 7 and God said, “I will judge the nation, to which they shall be in slavery; and afterwards they shall come out, and shall worship me in this place." 8 And He gave him the covenant of circumcision: and he begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs. 9 And the patriarchs, envying sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, 10 and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he appointed him governor over Egypt, and all his houshold. 11 And there came a famine over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction; and our fathers could not find sustenance. 12 But Jacob hearing that there was corn in Egypt, sent out our fathers first: 13 and at the second Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s kindred was made known to Pharaoh. 14 Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob, and all his kindred, even seventy-five souls. 15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died he and our fathers: 16 and were carried to Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre which he had bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor of Sychem. 17 But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt. 18 Till another king arose, who knew not Joseph. This formed crafty schemes against our nation, 19 and oppressed our fathers, causing their children to be exposed, that their race might be extinguished. 20 In which time Moses was born, who was exceeding beautiful, and he was nourished up in his father’s house three months: and when he was exposed, 21 Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and nourished him for her own son. 22 And Moses was trained up in all the wisdom of the Egyptians: and he was mighty in words, and in deeds. 23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them injured he defended and smiting the Egyptian he avenged him that was wronged. 25 Now he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would give them deliverance by his hand: but they understood not. 26 And the next day he came to them, as they were fighting, and persuaded them to agree, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren, why do ye injure one another? 27 But he, that injured his neighbor, thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday? 29 Upon this Moses fled, and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons. 30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina, an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 Now Moses, when he saw it, was amazed at the sight; and as he came near to observe it, there was a voice of the Lord to him, 32 “I the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;” but Moses trembling durst not look on. 33 And the Lord said to him, “Take off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place on which thou standest is holy ground. 34 I have seen the oppression of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. Therefore come now, and I will send thee into Egypt." 35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? did God send, by the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush, ruler and deliverer. 36 he brought them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the red sea, and in the wilderness, forty years. 37 —This is that Moses who said unto the children of Israel, “A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like unto me; Him shall ye hear." 38 This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel that spake to him on mount Sinai, and our fathers; who received the oracles of life to give unto us. 39 To whom our fathers would not be subject, but renounced and in their hearts turned into Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, Make us gods to go before us; for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him. And they made a calf in those days, 41 and offered sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. 42 Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets, “O house of Israel, did ye offer to me victims and sacrifices, for forty years in the wilderness? 43 yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them and I will carry you away beyond Babylon." 44 The tabernacle of witness was among our fathers in the wilderness, as He, that spake unto Moses, ordered to make it according to the model which he had seen 45 and which our fathers receiving, with Joshua, brought into the territory of the nations, whom God drove out from before the face of our fathers, till the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God, 46 and was desirous to provide an habitation for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him an house. 48 Though the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands, as the prophet saith, 49 “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what house will ye build for me, saith the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? 50 hath not my hand made all these " — 51 Ye stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the holy Spirit: as your fathers so ye. 52 Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? and slew those who prophesied concerning the coming of that righteous of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers; 53 who received the law by the ministration of angels, and have not kept 54 And when they heard these they were cut to the heart and gnashed teeth at him. 55 But he being full of the holy Spirit looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right of God: 56 and he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right of God. 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58 and cast out of the city and stoned and the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul. 59 And they stoned Stephen calling upon and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60 And bending his knees, he cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this he fell asleep.