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Acts 7:1-53 — Stephen's Speech

Acts.7.1-53

¹And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” ²And he said, "Men, brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran, ³and said to him, 'Go out from your land and from your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.' ⁴Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God relocated him into this land in which you now dwell. ⁵And He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, yet He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his offspring after him, even though he had no child. ⁶And God spoke in this way, that his offspring would be a foreigner in a strange land, and they would enslave them and mistreat them for four hundred years. ⁷'And the nation to which they will be enslaved I will judge,' God said, 'and after these things they will come out and serve Me in this place.' ⁸And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so he became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. ⁹And the patriarchs, becoming jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt. But God was with him, ¹⁰and rescued him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he appointed him ruler over Egypt and all his household. ¹¹Then a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. ¹²But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time. ¹³And on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. ¹⁴Then Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his relatives, seventy-five souls. ¹⁵And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, ¹⁶and they were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a price of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. ¹⁷But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had declared to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, ¹⁸until there arose another king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ¹⁹This man dealt shrewdly with our race and mistreated the fathers, forcing them to expose their infants so that they would not be kept alive. ²⁰At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful to God. He was nurtured for three months in his father's house, ²¹and when he was set outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and brought him up as her own son. ²²And Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in his words and deeds. ²³But when a period of forty years was fulfilled for him, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. ²⁴And seeing someone being mistreated, he defended him and avenged the one being oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. ²⁵He supposed that the brothers understood that God was giving them salvation through his hand, but they did not understand. ²⁶And on the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, 'Men, you are brothers; why do you mistreat one another?' ²⁷But the one who was mistreating his neighbor pushed him away, saying, 'Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸Do you want to kill me the way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?' ²⁹And at this word, Moses fled and became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. ³⁰And when forty years were fulfilled, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. ³¹When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he approached to look closely, the voice of the Lord came: ³²'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.' And Moses, becoming terrified, did not dare to look closely. ³³Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴I have surely seen the mistreatment of My people in Egypt, and I have heard its groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.' ³⁵This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, 'Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?'—this man God sent as both a ruler and a redeemer with the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. ³⁷This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, 'God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.' ³⁸This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living oracles to give to you. ³⁹Our fathers were unwilling to become obedient to him, but pushed him away, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, ⁴⁰saying to Aaron, 'Make for us gods who will go before us; for as for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.' ⁴¹And they made a calf in those days and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and they were rejoicing in the works of their hands. ⁴²But God turned away and gave them over to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: 'Did you offer Me slain beasts and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? ⁴³You also took up the tent of Moloch and the star of the god Rephan , the images that you made to worship them; and I will relocate you beyond Babylon.' ⁴⁴The tent of the testimony was with our fathers in the wilderness, just as the One who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen. ⁴⁵Our fathers in turn received it and brought it in with Joshua when they took possession of the nations, whom God drove out from the presence of our fathers, until the days of David, ⁴⁶who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. ⁴⁷But Solomon built a house for Him. ⁴⁸However, the Most High does not dwell in things made by hands, as the prophet says: ⁴⁹'Heaven is My throne, and the earth is the footstool of My feet. What kind of house will you build for Me, says the Lord, or what is the place of My rest? ⁵⁰Did not My hand make all these things?' ⁵¹You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in hearts and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. ⁵²Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand about the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers, ⁵³you who received the law by the ordinances of angels, and did not keep it."

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4/11/2026

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