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Acts 7

1The high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2He said, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3and said to him, ‘Leave your land and your relatives, and come to the land I will show you.’ 4Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. From there, after his father died, God moved him to this land where you now live. 5He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. 6God spoke in this way: his offspring would live as foreigners in another land, and they would enslave them and mistreat them for four hundred years. 7‘And I will judge the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out and worship me in this place.’ 8He gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.

9“The patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt. But God was with him 10and rescued him from all his afflictions. He gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and his whole household. 11A famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there on their first visit. 13On the second, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. 14Joseph sent and summoned his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five souls. 15Jacob went down to Egypt, and he died, as did our fathers. 16They were brought to Shechem and placed in the tomb Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

17“As the time approached for the promise God had declared to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, 18until another king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. 19He dealt craftily with our people and mistreated the fathers, making them expose their infants so that they would not survive. 20At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful before God. He was brought up for three months in his father's house. 21When he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and brought him up as her own son. 22Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.

23“When he reached forty years, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. 24Seeing one of them being wronged, he defended him and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. 25He supposed that his brothers understood that God was giving them salvation through his hand, but they did not understand. 26The next day he appeared to them as they were fighting and tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’ 27But the one wronging his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘Who appointed you ruler and judge over us? 28Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29At these words Moses fled and became a foreign resident in the land of Midian, where he fathered two sons.

30“When forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. 31Seeing it, Moses marveled at the sight. As he approached to look closely, the voice of the Lord came: 32‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses began to tremble and did not dare look closely. 33The Lord said to him, ‘Untie the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. 34I have surely seen the mistreatment of my people in Egypt and heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Now come, let me send you to Egypt.’

35“This Moses, whom they denied, saying, ‘Who appointed you ruler and judge?’—God sent this very man as both ruler and redeemer, with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. 37This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’ 38This is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our fathers; he received living utterances to give to us. 39Our fathers refused to become obedient to him, but pushed him away and turned in their hearts to Egypt, 40saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us, for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.’ 41In those days they made a calf, offered sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. 42But God turned and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘Did you offer me slaughtered animals and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel? 43You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of the god Raiphan, the images you made to worship. And I will deport you beyond Babylon.’

44“Our fathers had the tent of testimony in the wilderness, just as the one who spoke to Moses instructed him to make it according to the pattern he had seen. 45Our fathers received it in turn and brought it in with Joshua when they took possession of the nations' land, whose inhabitants God drove out before our fathers. It remained until the days of David, 46who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47But Solomon built him a house. 48Yet the Most High does not live in things made by human hands, as the prophet says, 49‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth a footstool for my feet. What sort of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? 50Did not my hand make all these things?’

51“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. 52Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become, 53you who received the law as ordained by angels and did not keep it.”

54Hearing these things, they were enraged in their hearts and gnashed their teeth at him. 55But full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56He said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57They cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and rushed at him with one accord. 58They threw him outside the city and stoned him. The witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59They stoned Stephen as he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60Falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” After saying this, he fell asleep.

Translation notes 7

7:2–8 — Abraham and promise. The speech places the appearance before Abraham lived in Haran and the move after his father's death. Its sequence is retained without supplying a chronology to reconcile other accounts. “Offspring” is collective seed language. “Not even a foot's length” preserves the image of a minimal piece of land.

7:14–16 — Number and burial. Seventy-five follows Acts' Greek wording, corresponding to the Greek Genesis tradition rather than the familiar Hebrew total of seventy. Abraham, Hamor, and Shechem are retained as this speech presents them; their relationship to Genesis' separate purchase and burial accounts remains a historical question, not a reason to substitute Jacob for Abraham.

7:19–22 — Infants and Moses. Exposing infants means abandoning them to die. “Beautiful before God” can also be understood as an expression of exceptional beauty. “Words and deeds” recalls the description of Jesus in Luke 24:19, while retaining Acts' order.

7:25, 35–38 — Rescue and assembly. “Salvation” concerns Israel's deliverance here. “With the help” expresses the hand idiom in verse 35. “Assembly” in verse 38 is Israel gathered in the wilderness, not a later Christian institution. “Living utterances” refers to the divine words Moses received.

7:42–50 — Worship and dwelling. The host of heaven is the heavenly bodies worshiped as powers. The Amos quotation says “beyond Babylon” here; it is not changed to “Damascus” from Amos. “Joshua” in verse 45 uses the same Greek name as Jesus but identifies Moses' successor. “It remained” in verse 45 is supplied to connect “until the days of David” with the tent; the Greek leaves this time phrase in the preceding long sentence. Verse 46 follows the base's “God of Jacob”; important early witnesses read “house of Jacob.” The difference remains open to further review.

7:51–53 — Accusation. Stiff necks and uncircumcised hearts and ears are images of obstinate refusal. “As ordained by angels” preserves angelic mediation without inventing a detailed scene. The accusation addresses Stephen's opponents in this speech, not every Jewish person of every age.

7:55–60 — Death and Luke. The Son of Man stands here; Luke 22:69 says he will be seated. Stephen addresses Jesus, whereas Jesus entrusts his spirit to the Father in Luke 23:46. Stephen asks that the sin not be held against his killers; his prayer is not rewritten as Luke 23:34. “Fell asleep” is a metaphor for death.