Acts 7

Joseph's Story Acts 7:9–19

⁹Verse 9. “The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him, ¹⁰Verse 10. and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house. ¹¹Verse 11. Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food. ¹²Verse 12. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time. ¹³Verse 13. On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s race was revealed to Pharaoh.

¹⁴Verse 14. Joseph sent, and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his relatives, seventy-five souls. ¹⁵Verse 15. Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, himself and our fathers, ¹⁶Verse 16. and they were brought back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem. ¹⁷Verse 17. “But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, ¹⁸Verse 18. until there arose a different king, who didn’t know Joseph. ¹⁹Verse 19. The same took advantage of our race, and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to throw out their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive.

Moses and His Call Acts 7:20–34

²⁰Verse 20. At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome. He was nourished three months in his father’s house. ²¹Verse 21. When he was thrown out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and reared him as her own son. ²²Verse 22. Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works. ²³Verse 23. But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. ²⁴Verse 24. Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian. ²⁵Verse 25. He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.

²⁶Verse 26. “The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’ ²⁷Verse 27. But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸Verse 28. Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹Verse 29. Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. ³⁰Verse 30. “When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹Verse 31. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a voice of the Lord came to him, ³²Verse 32. ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled, and dared not look. ³³Verse 33. The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground. ³⁴Verse 34. I have surely seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’

Rejection of Moses Acts 7:35–43

³⁵Verse 35. “This Moses, whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶Verse 36. This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. ³⁷Verse 37. This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’ ³⁸Verse 38. This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us,

³⁹Verse 39. to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, ⁴⁰Verse 40. saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’ ⁴¹Verse 41. They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. ⁴²Verse 42. But God turned, and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³Verse 43. You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship. I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’

Tabernacle and God's Presence Acts 7:44–50

⁴⁴Verse 44. “Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen; ⁴⁵Verse 45. which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David, ⁴⁶Verse 46. who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob. ⁴⁷Verse 47. But Solomon built him a house. ⁴⁸Verse 48. However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

⁴⁹Verse 49. ‘heaven is my throne, and the earth a footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build me?’ says the Lord. ‘Or what is the place of my rest? ⁵⁰Verse 50. Didn’t my hand make all these things?’

Stephen's Martyrdom Acts 7:51–60

⁵¹Verse 51. “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do. ⁵²Verse 52. Which of the prophets didn’t your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers. ⁵³Verse 53. You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and didn’t keep it!” ⁵⁴Verse 54. Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. ⁵⁵Verse 55. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

⁵⁶Verse 56. and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” ⁵⁷Verse 57. But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed at him with one accord. ⁵⁸Verse 58. They threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹Verse 59. They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ⁶⁰Verse 60. He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep.