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Stephen's Speech before the Sanhedrin

Acts 7:1-53

7
Chapter 7
1 But the high priest said, "Are these things so?" 2 But he said, "Men, brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Haran." 3 And he said to him, "Go out from your land and from your kinship, and come here into the land which I will show you." 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, he resettled him in this land in which you now dwell. 5 And he did not give him an inheritance in it, not even a foot's breadth of ground, and yet he promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, even though he had no child. 6 But God spoke in this way, that his seed will be a sojourner in a foreign land, and they will enslave it and mistreat it four hundred years. 7 And the nation to which they will be in bondage, I will judge, said God, and after that they will come out and they will worship me in this place. 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so he begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs. 9 The patriarchs, envying Joseph, sold him into Egypt; and God was with him, 10 and rescued him from all his tribulations, and gave him grace and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt, and appointed him leader over Egypt and all his house. 11 But a famine came upon all Egypt and Canaan and great tribulation, and our fathers did not find provisions. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was wheat in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And on the second visit, Joseph was recognized by his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. 14 but having sent Joseph, he called back his father Jacob and all the kindred, seventy-five souls, 15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, 16 And they were transferred to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham purchased for a price of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. 17 But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had promised to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt. 18 until another king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. 19 He cleverly deceived our race and mistreated our fathers by making their infants exposed so as not to be given life. 20 At that time Moses was born, and he was pleasing to God. He was raised for three months in his father's house. 21 But when he had been exposed, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and raised him as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in his words and works. 23 But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. 24 Seeing someone being wronged, he defended him and made vindication for the one being oppressed, having struck the Egyptian. 25 He thought his brothers understood that God was granting them salvation through his hand, but they did not understand. 26 On the next day he appeared to them as they were fighting and reconciled them to peace, saying, "Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?" 27 But the one wronging the neighbor pushed him away, saying, "Who appointed you ruler and judge over us?" 28 "Do you want to kill me the way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?" 29 Moses fled at this word and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he begot two sons. 30 After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. 31 But when Moses saw it, he marveled at the vision. As he approached to observe it, a voice of the Lord came. 32 "I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob." But terrified, Moses did not dare to look closely. 33 But the Lord said to him, "Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 34 I have seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come here; I am sending you to Egypt. 35 This Moses whom they denied, saying, "Who made you ruler and judge?"—this one God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out, having done wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, "God will raise up a prophet for you from your brothers, like me." 38 This is the one who was in the church in the wilderness with the angel speaking to him on Mount Sinai and with our fathers, who received living oracles to give to us, 39 which our fathers did not wish to obey, but rejected him and turned in their hearts to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, "Make gods for us to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him." 41 And they made a calf in those days and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and they rejoiced in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, just as it is written in the book of the prophets: “Did you not bring sacrifices and offerings to me for forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel?” 43 And you took up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Raiphan, the images that you made to worship them. And he removed you beyond Babylon. 44 The tent of the testimony was with our fathers in the wilderness, just as the one who spoke to Moses ordered him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen. 45 which our fathers, having received it in succession, also brought in with Joshua when they took possession of the nations that God drove out before our fathers until the days of David. 46 who found grace before God and requested to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built him a house. 48 but the Most High does not dwell in things made by hands, as the prophet says; 49 Heaven is my throne, and the earth is a footstool for my feet. What house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or what is the place of my rest? 50 Has not my hand made all these things? 51 You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers did, and you do. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers. 53 who received the law as ordinances of angels and did not keep it.