Acts - 7

1 - Then said the high priest, Are these things so?

2 - And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham - , when he was in Mesopotamia - , before he dwelt in Charran,

3 - And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.

4 - Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.

5 - And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.

6 - And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.

7 - And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.

8 - And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham - begat Isaac - , and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac - begat Jacob - ; and Jacob - begat the twelve patriarchs.

9 - And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph - into Egypt - : but God was with him,

10 - And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt - ; and he made him governor over Egypt - and all his house.

11 - Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt - and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.

12 - But when Jacob - heard that there was corn in Egypt - , he sent out our fathers first.

13 - And at the second time Joseph - was made known to his brethren; and Joseph - 's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.

14 - Then sent Joseph - , and called his father Jacob - to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

15 - So Jacob - went down into Egypt - , and died, he, and our fathers,

16 - And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham - bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.

17 - But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham - , the people grew and multiplied in Egypt - ,

18 - Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph - .

19 - The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.

20 - In which time Moses - was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months:

21 - And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

22 - And Moses - was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and 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 suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:

25 - For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.

26 - And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?

27 - But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?

28 - Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?

29 - Then fled Moses - at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, 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 - When Moses - saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the LORD came unto him,

32 - Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham - , and the God of Isaac - , and the God of Jacob - . Then Moses - trembled, and durst not behold.

33 - Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.

34 - I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt - , and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt - .

35 - This Moses - whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.

36 - He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt - , and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

37 - This is that Moses - , which 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, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

39 - To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt - ,

40 - Saying unto Aaron - , Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses - , which brought us out of the land of Egypt - , we wot not what is become of him.

41 - And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto 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 ye house of Israel - , have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of 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 - Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses - , that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.

45 - Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus - into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David - ;

46 - Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob - .

47 - But Solomon - built him an house.

48 - Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,

49 - Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?

50 - Hath not my hand made all these things?

51 - Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

52 - Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:

53 - Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.

54 - When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.

55 - But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus - standing on the right hand of God,

56 - And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand 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 him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul - .

59 - And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus - , receive my spirit.

60 - And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.