Stephen's Speech
1 The High Priest asked Stephen, “Is this true?”
2 Stephen answered, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! Before our ancestor Abraham had gone to live in Haran, the God of glory appeared to him in Mesopotamia 3 and said to him, ‘Leave your family and country and go to the land that I will show you.’ 4 And so he left his country and went to live in Haran. After Abraham's father died, God made him move to this land where you now live. 5 God did not then give Abraham any part of it as his own, not even a square foot of ground, but God promised to give it to him, and that it would belong to him and to his descendants. At the time God made this promise, Abraham had no children. 6 This is what God said to him: ‘Your descendants will live in a foreign country, where they will be slaves and will be badly treated for four hundred years. 7 But I will pass judgment on the people that they will serve, and afterward your descendants will come out of that country and will worship me in this place.’ 8 Then God gave to Abraham the ceremony of circumcision as a sign of the covenant. So Abraham circumcised Isaac a week after he was born; Isaac circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob circumcised his twelve sons, the famous ancestors of our race.
9 “Jacob's sons became jealous of their brother Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him 10 and brought him safely through all his troubles. When Joseph appeared before the king of Egypt, God gave him a pleasing manner and wisdom, and the king made Joseph governor over the country and the royal household. 11 Then there was a famine all over Egypt and Canaan, which caused much suffering. Our ancestors could not find any food, 12 and when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent his sons, our ancestors, on their first visit there. 13 On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and the king of Egypt came to know about Joseph's family. 14 So Joseph sent a message to his father Jacob, telling him and the whole family, seventy-five people in all, to come to Egypt. 15 Then Jacob went to Egypt, where he and his sons died. 16 Their bodies were taken to Shechem, where they were buried in the grave which Abraham had bought from the clan of Hamor for a sum of money.
17 “When the time drew near for God to keep the promise he had made to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had grown much larger. 18 At last a king who did not know about Joseph began to rule in Egypt. 19 He tricked our ancestors and was cruel to them, forcing them to put their babies out of their homes, so that they would die. 20 It was at this time that Moses was born, a very beautiful child. He was cared for at home for three months, 21 and when he was put out of his home, the king's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 He was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man in words and deeds.
23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to find out how his fellow Israelites were being treated. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his help and took revenge on the Egyptian by killing him. ( 25 He thought that his own people would understand that God was going to use him to set them free, but they did not understand.) 26 The next day he saw two Israelites fighting, and he tried to make peace between them. ‘Listen, men,’ he said, ‘you are fellow Israelites; why are you fighting like this?’ 27 But the one who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?’ he asked. 28 ‘Do you want to kill me, just as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 When Moses heard this, he fled from Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian. There he had two sons.
30 “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 Moses was amazed by what he saw, and went near the bush to get a better look. But he heard the Lord's voice: 32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and dared not look. 33 The Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have seen the cruel suffering of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans, and I have come down to set them free. Come now; I will send you to Egypt.’
35 “Moses is the one who was rejected by the people of Israel. ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?’ they asked. He is the one whom God sent to rule the people and set them free with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush. 36 He led the people out of Egypt, performing miracles and wonders in Egypt and at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert. 37 Moses is the one who said to the people of Israel, ‘God will send you a prophet, just as he sent me, and he will be one of your own people.’ 38 He is the one who was with the people of Israel assembled in the desert; he was there with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and he received God's living messages to pass on to us.
39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him; they pushed him aside and wished that they could go back to Egypt. 40 So they said to Aaron, ‘Make us some gods who will lead us. We do not know what has happened to that man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.’ 41 It was then that they made an idol in the shape of a bull, offered sacrifice to it, and had a feast in honor of what they themselves had made. 42 So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
‘People of Israel! It was not to me
that you slaughtered and sacrificed animals
for forty years in the desert.
43 It was the tent of the god Molech that you carried,
and the image of Rephan, your star god;
they were idols that you had made to worship.
And so I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
44 “Our ancestors had the Tent of God's presence with them in the desert. It had been made as God had told Moses to make it, according to the pattern that Moses had been shown. 45 Later on, our ancestors who received the tent from their fathers carried it with them when they went with Joshua and took over the land from the nations that God drove out as they advanced. And it stayed there until the time of David. 46 He won God's favor and asked God to allow him to provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built him a house.
48 “But the Most High God does not live in houses built by human hands; as the prophet says,
49 ‘Heaven is my throne, says the Lord,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house would you build for me?
Where is the place for me to live in?
50 Did not I myself make all these things?’
51 “How stubborn you are!” Stephen went on to say. “How heathen your hearts, how deaf you are to God's message! You are just like your ancestors: you too have always resisted the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there any prophet that your ancestors did not persecute? They killed God's messengers, who long ago announced the coming of his righteous Servant. And now you have betrayed and murdered him. 53 You are the ones who received God's law, that was handed down by angels—yet you have not obeyed it!”
The Stoning of Stephen
54 As the members of the Council listened to Stephen, they became furious and ground their teeth at him in anger. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God's glory and Jesus standing at the right side of God. 56 “Look!” he said. “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!”
57 With a loud cry the Council members covered their ears with their hands. Then they all rushed at him at once, 58 threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses left their cloaks in the care of a young man named Saul. 59 They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!” He said this and died.
1 Then sayd the chiefe Priest, Are these things so? 2 And he sayd, Ye men, brethren and Fathers, hearken. That God of glory appeared vnto our father Abraham, while he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, 3 And said vnto him, Come out of thy countrey, and from thy kindred, and come into the land, which I shall shewe thee. 4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran. And after that his father was dead, God brought him from thence into this land, wherein ye now dwell, 5 And hee gaue him none inheritance in it, no, not the bredth of a foote: yet he promised that he would giue it to him for a possession, and to his seede after him, when as yet hee had no childe. 6 But God spake thus, that his seede should be a soiourner in a strange land: and that they should keepe it in bondage, and entreate it euill foure hundreth yeeres. 7 But the nation to whome they shall be in bondage, will I iudge, sayth God: and after that, they shall come forth and serue me in this place. 8 Hee gaue him also the couenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begate Isaac, and circumcised him the eight day: and Isaac begate Iacob, and Iacob the twelue Patriarkes. 9 And the Patriarkes moued with enuie, solde Ioseph into Egypt: but God was with him, 10 And deliuered him out of all his afflictions, and gaue him fauour and wisdome in the sight of Pharao King of Egypt, who made him gouernour ouer Egypt, and ouer his whole house. 11 Then came there a famine ouer all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction, that our fathers found no sustenance. 12 But when Iacob heard that there was corne in Egypt, he sent our fathers first: 13 And at the second time, Ioseph was knowen of his brethren, and Iosephs kindred was made knowen vnto Pharao. 14 Then sent Ioseph and caused his father to be brought, and all his kindred, euen threescore and fifteene soules. 15 So Iacob went downe into Egypt, and he dyed, and our fathers, 16 And were remoued into Sychem, and were put in the sepulchre, that Abraham had bought for money of the sonnes of Emor, sonne of Sychem. 17 But when the time of the promise drewe neere, which God had sworne to Abraham, the people grewe and multiplied in Egypt, 18 Till another King arose, which knewe not Ioseph. 19 The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and euill entreated our fathers, and made them to cast out their yong children, that they should not remaine aliue. 20 The same time was Moses borne, and was acceptable vnto God, which was nourished vp in his fathers house three moneths. 21 And when he was cast out, Pharaohs daughter tooke him vp, and nourished him for her owne sonne. 22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdome of the Egyptians, and was mightie in wordes and in deedes. 23 Nowe when he was full fourtie yeere olde, it came into his heart to visite his brethren, the children of Israel. 24 And whe he saw one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and auenged his quarell that had the harme done to him, and smote the Egyptian. 25 For hee supposed his brethren would haue vnderstand, that God by his hande should giue them deliuerance: but they vnderstoode it not. 26 And the next day, he shewed himselfe vnto them as they stroue, and woulde haue set them at one againe, saying, Syrs, ye are brethren: why doe ye wrong one to another? 27 But he that did his neighbour wrong, thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a prince, and a iudge ouer vs? 28 Wilt thou kill mee, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday? 29 Then fled Moses at that saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begate two sonnes. 30 And when fourtie yeres were expired, there appeared to him in the wildernes of mout Sina, an Angel of the Lord in a flame of fire, in a bush. 31 And when Moses sawe it, hee wondred at the sight: and as he drew neere to consider it, the voyce of the Lord came vnto him, saying, 32 I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Iacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold it. 33 Then the Lord said to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feete: for the place where thou standest, is holy ground. 34 I haue seene, I haue seene the affliction of my people, which is in Egypt, and I haue heard their groning, and am come downe to deliuer them: and nowe come, and I will sende thee into Egypt. 35 This Moses whome they forsooke, saying, Who made thee a prince and a iudge? the same God sent for a prince, and a deliuerer by the hand of the Angel, which appeared to him in the bush. 36 Hee brought them out, doing wonders, and miracles in the land of Egypt, and in the red sea, and in the wildernes fourtie yeeres. 37 This is that Moses, which saide vnto the children of Israel, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise vp vnto you, euen of your brethren, like vnto me: him shall ye heare. 38 This is he that was in the Congregation, in the wildernes with the Angell, which spake to him in mount Sina, and with our fathers, who receiued the liuely oracles to giue vnto vs. 39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but refused, and in their hearts turned backe againe into Egypt: 40 Saying vnto Aaron, Make vs gods that may goe before vs: for we knowe not what is become of this Moses that brought vs out of the land of Egypt. 41 And they made a calfe in those dayes, and offered sacrifice vnto the idole, and reioyced in the workes of their owne handes. 42 Then God turned himselfe away, and gaue them vp to serue the host of heauen, as it is written in the booke of the Prophets, O house of Israel, haue ye offred to me slaine beasts and sacrifices by the space of fourtie yeres in the wildernes? 43 And ye tooke vp the tabernacle of Moloch, and the starre of your god Remphan, figures, which ye made to worship them: therefore I will carie you away beyond Babylon. 44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of witnes, in the wildernes, as hee had appointed, speaking vnto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seene. 45 Which tabernacle also our fathers receiued, and brought in with Iesus into the possession of the Gentiles, which God draue out before our fathers, vnto the dayes of Dauid: 46 Who found fauour before God, and desired that hee might finde a tabernacle for the God of Iacob. 47 But Salomon built him an house. 48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with handes, as saith the Prophet, 49 Heauen is my throne, and earth is my footestoole: what house wil ye build for me, saith the Lord? or what place is it that I should rest in? 50 Hath not mine hand made all these things? 51 Ye stiffenecked and of vncircumcised heartes and eares, ye haue alwayes resisted the holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the Prophets haue not your fathers persecuted? and they haue slaine them, which shewed before of the comming of that Iust, of whome ye are now the betrayers and murtherers, 53 Which haue receiued the Lawe by the ordinance of Angels, and haue not kept it. 54 But when they heard these thinges, their heartes brast for anger, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55 But he being full of the holy Ghost, looked stedfastly into heauen, and sawe the glory of God, and Iesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 And said, Beholde, I see the heauens open, and the Sonne of man standing at the right hand of God. 57 Then they gaue a shoute with a loude voyce, and stopped their eares, and ranne vpon him violently all at once, 58 And cast him out of the citie, and stoned him: and the witnesses layd downe their clothes at a yong mans feete, named Saul. 59 And they stoned Steuen, who called on God, and said, Lord Iesus, receiue my spirit. 60 And he kneeled downe, and cried with a loude voyce, Lord, laye not this sinne to their charge. And when he had thus spoken, he slept.