Stephen’s Speech

1 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And Stephen said:

“Brothers and fathers, hear me. ^xThe God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ^y‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no ^zinheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but ^apromised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, ^bthough he had no child. 6 And God spoke to this effect—that ^chis offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them ^dfour hundred years. 7 ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and ^eworship me in this place.’ 8 And he gave him ^fthe covenant of circumcision. And so ^gAbraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and ^hIsaac became the father of Jacob, and ⁱJacob of the twelve patriarchs.

9 “And the patriarchs, ^jjealous of Joseph, ^ksold him into Egypt; but ^lGod was ^mwith him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him ⁿfavor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 ^oNow there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 ^pBut when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13 And on the second visit ^qJoseph made himself known to his brothers, and ^rJoseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 ^sAnd Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. 15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and ^the died, he and ^uour fathers, 16 and they were ^vcarried back to Shechem and laid in ^wthe tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver ^xfrom the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

17 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, ^ythe people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until ^zthere arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19 ^aHe dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to ^bexpose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At this time ^cMoses was born; and he was ^dbeautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, 21 and ^ewhen he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was ^finstructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was ^gmighty in his words and deeds.

23 ^h“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 ⁱAnd on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he ^jbecame the father of two sons.

30 “Now when forty years had passed, ^kan angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33 Then 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 surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and ^lredeemer by the hand of the ^mangel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, ⁿperforming wonders and signs in Egypt and ^oat the Red Sea and in the ^pwilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ^q‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ 38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at ^rMount Sinai, and with our fathers. ^sHe received living ^toracles to give to us. 39 ^uOur fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ^v‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 ^wAnd they ^xmade a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and ^ygave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

44 “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, ^aaccording to the pattern that he had seen. 45 Our fathers in turn ^bbrought it in with Joshua when they ^cdispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of ^dDavid, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and ^easked to find ^fa dwelling place for the God of Jacob.¹ 47 But it was ^gSolomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

51 “You stiff-necked people, ⁱuncircumcised in heart and ^jears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not ^kpersecute? And they ^lkilled those who ^mannounced beforehand the coming of the ⁿRighteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by ^oangels and did not keep it.”

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 together² 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.

The Lord Reigns