7:17 “But as the time drew near for God to fulfill the promise he had declared to Abraham, 26 the people increased greatly in number 27 in Egypt, 7:18 until another king who did not know about 28 Joseph ruled 29 over Egypt. 30 7:19 This was the one who exploited 31 our people 32 and was cruel to our ancestors, 33 forcing them to abandon 34 their infants so they would die. 35 7:20 At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful 36 to God. For 37 three months he was brought up in his father’s house, 7:21 and when he had been abandoned, 38 Pharaoh’s daughter adopted 39 him and brought him up 40 as her own son. 7:22 So Moses was trained 41 in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful 42 in his words and deeds. 7:23 But when he was about forty years old, it entered his mind 43 to visit his fellow countrymen 44 the Israelites. 45 7:24 When 46 he saw one of them being hurt unfairly, 47 Moses 48 came to his defense 49 and avenged the person who was mistreated by striking down the Egyptian. 7:25 He thought his own people 50 would understand that God was delivering them 51 through him, 52 but they did not understand. 53 7:26 The next day Moses 54 saw two men 55 fighting, and tried to make peace between 56 them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why are you hurting one another?’ 7:27 But the man who was unfairly hurting his neighbor pushed 57 Moses 58 aside, saying, ‘Who made 59 you a ruler and judge over us? 7:28 You don’t want to kill me the way you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’ 60 7:29 When the man said this, 61 Moses fled and became a foreigner 62 in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
7:30 “After 63 forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the desert 64 of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. 65 7:31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and when he approached to investigate, there came the voice of the Lord, 7:32 ‘I am the God of your forefathers, 66 the God of Abraham, Isaac, 67 and Jacob.’ 68 Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look more closely. 69 7:33 But the Lord said to him, ‘Take the sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 70 7:34 I have certainly seen the suffering 71 of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. 72 Now 73 come, I will send you to Egypt.’ 74 7:35 This same 75 Moses they had rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ 76 God sent as both ruler and deliverer 77 through the hand of the angel 78 who appeared to him in the bush. 7:36 This man led them out, performing wonders and miraculous signs 79 in the land of Egypt, 80 at 81 the Red Sea, and in the wilderness 82 for forty years. 7:37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, 83 ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’ 84 7:38 This is the man who was in the congregation 85 in the wilderness 86 with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors, 87 and he 88 received living oracles 89 to give to you. 90 7:39 Our 91 ancestors 92 were unwilling to obey 93 him, but pushed him aside 94 and turned back to Egypt in their hearts, 7:40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go in front of us, for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt 95 – we do not know what has happened to him!’ 96 7:41 At 97 that time 98 they made an idol in the form of a calf, 99 brought 100 a sacrifice to the idol, and began rejoicing 101 in the works of their hands. 102 7:42 But God turned away from them and gave them over 103 to worship the host 104 of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘It was not to me that you offered slain animals and sacrifices 105 forty years in the wilderness, was it, 106 house of Israel? 7:43 But you took along the tabernacle 107 of Moloch 108 and the star of the 109 god Rephan, 110 the images you made to worship, but I will deport 111 you beyond Babylon.’ 112 7:44 Our ancestors 113 had the tabernacle 114 of testimony in the wilderness, 115 just as God 116 who spoke to Moses ordered him 117 to make it according to the design he had seen. 7:45 Our 118 ancestors 119 received possession of it and brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our ancestors, 120 until the time 121 of David. 7:46 He 122 found favor 123 with 124 God and asked that he could 125 find a dwelling place 126 for the house 127 of Jacob. 7:47 But Solomon built a house 128 for him. 7:48 Yet the Most High 129 does not live in houses made by human hands, 130 as the prophet says,
7:49 ‘Heaven is my throne,
and earth is the footstool for my feet.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
or what is my resting place? 131
7:50 Did my hand 132 not make all these things?’ 133
7:51 “You stubborn 134 people, with uncircumcised 135 hearts and ears! 136 You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors 137 did! 7:52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors 138 not persecute? 139 They 140 killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, 141 whose betrayers and murderers you have now become! 142 7:53 You 143 received the law by decrees given by angels, 144 but you did not obey 145 it.” 146
7:54 When they heard these things, they became furious 147 and ground their teeth 148 at him. 7:55 But Stephen, 149 full 150 of the Holy Spirit, looked intently 151 toward heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing 152 at the right hand of God. 7:56 “Look!” he said. 153 “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 7:57 But they covered their ears, 154 shouting out with a loud voice, and rushed at him with one intent. 7:58 When 155 they had driven him out of the city, they began to stone him, 156 and the witnesses laid their cloaks 157 at the feet of a young man named Saul. 7:59 They 158 continued to stone Stephen while he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 7:60 Then he fell 159 to his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” 160 When 161 he had said this, he died. 162