The Stoning of Stephen

54 Now when they heard these things they were ^penraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and ^qsaw the ^rglory of God, and Jesus ^sstanding at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see ^tthe heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the ^uright hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and ^vstopped their ears and rushed together¹ at him. 58 Then they cast him ^wout of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, ^xreceive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, ^y“Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell ^zasleep.

Saul Ravages the Church

1 And Saul approved of his execution.

And there arose on that day a great ^apersecution against the church in ^bJerusalem, and they were all ^cscattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ^dravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

10 And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. 11 And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in ^fraging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.