1 And the high priest said, “Are these things so? ” 2 And Stephen said:jch. 22:1 “Brothers and fathers, hear me.k[Gen. 15:7; Josh. 24:3; Neh. 9:7] The GodlPs. 29:3; [1 Cor. 2:8; James 2:1] of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia,mGen. 11:31 before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him,nCited from Gen. 12:1 ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you. ’ 4 m[See ver. 2 above] Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. AndoGen. 11:32 after his father died,pGen. 12:4, 5 God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promisedqGen. 12:7; 13:15; 15:18; 17:8; 48:4; Heb. 11:8, 9 to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him,rGen. 15:3; 18:10 though he had no child. 6 And God spoke to this effect—thatsCited from Gen. 15:13, 14 his offspring wouldt[Ex. 2:22; Heb. 11:9] be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict themuver. 17; See Ex. 12:40 four hundred years. 7 ‘Butv[Jer. 25:12; 30:20] I will judge the nation that they serve, ’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come outw[Ex. 3:12] and worship me in this place. ’ 8 AndxGen. 17:9-12 he gave him the covenant of circumcision. AndyGen. 21:2-4 so Abraham became the father of Isaac, andzSee Luke 1:59 circumcised him on the eighth day, andaGen. 25:26 Isaac became the father of Jacob, andbGen. 29:31-35; 30:5-24; 35:18, 23-26 Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
9 And the patriarchs,cGen. 37:11 jealous of Joseph,dGen. 37:28; 45:4; Ps. 105:17 sold him into Egypt; buteGen. 39:2, 21, 23 God was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions andfGen. 41:37-40 gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt,gGen. 41:41, 43, 46; 42:6; Ps. 105:21 who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 NowhGen. 41:54, 55; 42:5; Ps. 105:16 there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 iGen. 42:1-3 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13 AndjGen. 43:2-15 on the second visitkGen. 45:1-4 Joseph made himself known to his brothers, andlGen. 45:16 Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. 14 AndmGen. 45:9, 10, 27 Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred,n[Gen. 46:26, 27; Ex. 1:5; Deut. 10:22] seventy-five persons in all. 15 AndoGen. 46:5, 28; Ps. 105:23 Jacob went down into Egypt, andpGen. 49:33 he died, heqEx. 1:6 and our fathers, 16 andrGen. 50:25; Ex. 13:19; Josh. 24:32 they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb thats[Gen. 23:16 with Gen. 33:19; Josh. 24:32] Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17 Buttver. 5-7 as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham,uch. 13:17; Ex. 1:7, 12; Ps. 105:24 the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another kingvCited from Ex. 1:8 who did not know Joseph. 19 wEx. 1:9, 10; Ps. 105:25 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants,xEx. 1:16-18, 22 so that they would not be kept alive. 20 yEx. 2:2; Heb. 11:23 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house, 21 andzEx. 2:3-10 when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Mosesa[Dan. 1:4, 17] was instructed inb1 Kgs. 4:30; [Isa. 19:11] all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he wasc[Luke 24:19] mighty in his words and deeds.
23 When he was forty years old, it came into his heartdEx. 2:11, 12 to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 eEx. 2:13, 14 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other? ’ 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying,fver. 35; [Luke 12:14] ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? ’ 29 At this retortgEx. 2:15 Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian,hEx. 2:22; 18:3, 4 where he became the father of two sons.
30 Now when forty years had passed,iEx. 3:2 an angel appeared to himj[Ex. 3:1] in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 kCited from Ex. 3:6 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. ’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him,lEx. 3:5; Josh. 5:15 ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 mEx. 3:7 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, andnEx. 2:24 have heard their groaning, andoEx. 3:8 I have come down to deliver them.pEx. 3:10 And now come, I will send you to Egypt. ’
35 This Moses, whom they rejected,qver. 27 saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge? ’ —this man God sent as both ruler and redeemerr[Ex. 3:2; 14:19; 23:20; Num. 20:16] by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36 sEx. 12:41; 33:1; Heb. 8:9 This man led them out, performingtEx. 7:3 wonders and signsuEx. 7-12; Ps. 78:43-51; 105:27-36 in Egypt andvEx. 14:21, 27-31; Ps. 78:53; 106:9 at the Red Sea andwEx. 16:1, 35; 17:1-6; Ps. 78:15 in the wilderness forxver. 42; ch. 13:18; Ex. 16:35; Num. 14:33, 34; Ps. 95:10; Heb. 3:10, 17 forty years.
37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for youych. 3:22; Cited from Deut. 18:15 a prophet like me from your brothers. ’
38 This is the onezEx. 19:3, 17, 18 who was in the congregation in the wilderness witha[ver. 53; Isa. 63:9] the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers.bDeut. 5:27, 31; 33:4; See John 1:17 He receivedc[Deut. 32:47] livingdRom. 3:2; Heb. 5:12; 1 Pet. 4:11 oracles to give to us.
39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, andeEx. 16:3; Num. 11:4, 5; 14:3, 4; Ezek. 20:8, 24 in their hearts they turned to Egypt,
40 saying to Aaron,fCited from Ex. 32:1, 23 ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. ’
41 AndgEx. 32:4-6, 35; Deut. 9:16; Ps. 106:19 they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol andhAmos 6:13 were rejoicing iniIsa. 2:8; Jer. 1:16; 25:6, 7 the works of their hands.
42 Butj[Josh. 24:20; Isa. 63:10] God turned away andkPs. 81:12; Ezek. 20:39; Rom. 1:28 gave them over to worshiplDeut. 4:19; 2 Kgs. 17:16; 21:3; 23:5; Jer. 19:13; Zeph. 1:5 the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
mCited from Amos 5:25-27 ‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
nSee ver. 36 during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43 You took up the tent ofoSee 1 Kgs. 11:7 Moloch
and the star of your god Rephan,
the images that you made to worship;
and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. ’
44 Our fathers hadpRev. 15:5; See Ex. 38:21 the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to MosesqSee Ex. 25:40 directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45 Our fathers in turnrJosh. 3:14-17 brought it in with Joshua when theysNum. 32:5; Deut. 32:49 dispossessed the nationstch. 13:19; Josh. 3:10; 23:9; 24:18; 2 Chr. 20:7 that God drove out before our fathers. So it wasu2 Sam. 7:1 until the days of David, 46 vch. 13:22; 1 Sam. 16:1; Ps. 89:19 who found favor in the sight of God andw1 Kgs. 8:17; 1 Chr. 22:7; Ps. 132:5 asked to find a dwelling place forx[Gen. 49:24; Isa. 49:26] the God of Jacob. 47 But it wasy2 Sam. 7:13; 1 Kgs. 6:1, 2; 8:20; 2 Chr. 3:1 Solomon who built a house for him. 48 z[1 Kgs. 8:27; 2 Chr. 2:6] Yet the Most High does not dwellach. 17:24 in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,
49 b[Ps. 11:4] ‘Heaven is my throne,
cMatt. 5:34, 35; Cited from Isa. 66:1, 2 and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
or what is the place of my rest?
50 Did not my hand make all these things? ’
51 dDeut. 10:16; See Ex. 32:9 You stiff-necked people,eLev. 26:41; Jer. 6:10; 9:26; Ezek. 44:7, 9 uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit.fMal. 3:7 As your fathers did, so do you. 52 g1 Kgs. 19:10; 2 Chr. 36:16; Jer. 2:30; Matt. 23:31, 37; See Matt. 5:12; 21:35 Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming ofhSee ch. 3:14 the Righteous One,iSee ch. 5:28 whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the lawjGal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2; [ver. 38; Deut. 33:2] as delivered by angels andkJohn 7:19 did not keep it. ”
54 Now when they heard these thingslch. 5:33; [ch. 2:37] they were enraged, and theymJob 16:9; Ps. 35:16; 37:12 ground their teeth at him. 55 But he,nch. 6:5 full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and sawoEx. 24:16; Luke 2:9; John 12:41 the glory of God, and Jesus standingpPs. 110:1; See Mark 16:19 at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I seeqSee John 1:51 the heavens opened, andrSee Dan. 7:13 the Son of Man standingp[See ver. 55 above] at the right hand of God. ” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together1Or rushed with one mind at him. 58 ThensLev. 24:14-16; Num. 15:35; 1 Kgs. 21:13; [Luke 4:29; Heb. 13:12] they cast him out of the city andtMatt. 21:35; 23:37; Heb. 11:37 stoned him. Anduch. 6:13; [Deut. 13:9, 10; 17:7] the witnesses laid down their garmentsvch. 8:1; 22:20; [ch. 22:4] at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen,wch. 9:14 he called out, “Lord Jesus,xPs. 31:5; Luke 23:46 receive my spirit. ” 60 Andych. 9:40; 20:36; 21:5; Luke 22:41; Eph. 3:14 falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice,zSee Matt. 5:44 “Lord, do not hold this sin against them. ” And when he had said this,aSee Matt. 27:52 he fell asleep.