Acts 7
1 Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are the things that [these people are saying about you(sg)] true?”
Then the High Priest asked: “Is this true?”
2 Stephen replied, “Fellow Jews and respected leaders, [please] listen to me! The glorious God [whom we(inc) worship] appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was still [living] in Mesopotamia [region], before he moved to Haran [town].
And, upon that, Stephen spoke as follows: “Brothers and Fathers, hear what I have to say. God, who manifests himself in the Glory, appeared to our ancestor Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, and before he settled in Haran, and said to him —
3 God said to him, ‘Leave this land where you [(sg)] and your relatives [are living], and go into the land to which I will lead you.’
‘Leave your country and your kindred, and come into the country that I will show you.’
4 So Abraham left that land, [which was also called] Chaldea, and he arrived in Haran and lived there. After his father died, God told him to move to this land in which you [and I] are now living.”
On this, Abraham left the country of the Chaldaeans and settled in Haran; and from there, after his father’s death, God caused him to migrate into this very country, in which you are now living.
5 “[At that time] God did not give Abraham any [land here], not even a small plot of [this] land that would belong to him. God promised that he would [later] give this land to him and his descendants, and that it would [always] belong [to them. However], at that time Abraham did not have any children [who would] ([inherit it/receive it after he died]).”
God did not at that time give him any part of it, not even a foot of ground. But he promised to ‘give him possession of it and his descendants after him, though at that time he had no child.
6 “[Later] God told Abraham, ‘Your descendants will go and live in a foreign country. They [will live there] for 400 years, and [during that time their leaders] will mistreat your descendants and force them to work as slaves.’
God’s words were these — ‘Abraham’s descendants shall live in a foreign country, where they will be enslaved and ill-treated for four hundred years.
7 But God [also] said, ‘I will punish the people who make them work as slaves. Then, after that, your descendants will leave [that land] and they will [come and] worship me in this land.’”
But I myself will judge the nation, to which they will be enslaved,’ God said, ‘and after that they shall leave the country and worship me in this place.’
8 “Then God commanded Abraham that [every male in his household and all of his male descendants] should be circumcised [to show that they all belonged to God] and that they would obey what he had told Abraham to do. Later Abraham’s son, Isaac, was born, and when Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him. [Later] Isaac’s son, Jacob, was born, and Isaac [similarly circumcised] him. And Jacob [similarly circumcised] his twelve sons. They are the twelve men [from whom we(inc) Jews have all descended].”
Then God made with Abraham the Covenant of Circumcision; and under it Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him when he was eight days old; and Isaac became the father of Jacob; and Jacob of the Twelve Patriarchs.
9 “[You know that] Jacob’s [older] sons became jealous [because their father favored their younger brother] Joseph. So they sold him [to merchants/traders who took him] [MTY] to Egypt. There he became a slave [of an official who lived there]. But God [helped] Joseph.
The Patriarchs, out of jealousy, sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt; but God was with him,
10 He protected him whenever people caused him to suffer. He enabled Joseph to be wise; and he caused Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to think well of Joseph. So Pharaoh appointed him to rule [over] Egypt and to look after all of Pharaoh’s property [MTY].”
and delivered him out of all his troubles, and enabled him to win favour and show wisdom before Pharaoh, King of Egypt, who appointed him Governor of Egypt and of his whole household.
11 “[While Joseph was doing that work], there was a time (when there was very little food/of famine) throughout Egypt and also throughout Canaan. People did not have enough food to eat. People were suffering. [At that time] Jacob and his sons [in Canaan] also could not find [enough] food.
Then a famine spread over the whole of Egypt and Canaan, causing great distress, and our ancestors could find no food.
12 When Jacob heard [people report that] there was grain/food [that people could buy] in Egypt, he sent Joseph’s older brothers [to go there to buy grain. They went and bought grain from Joseph, but they did not recognize him. Then they returned home].
Hearing, however, that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob sent our ancestors there on their first visit.
13 When Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt the second time, [they again bought grain from Joseph]. But this time [he] told them who he was. [And] people told Pharaoh that Joseph’s people were Hebrews [and that those men who had come from Canaan were his brothers].
In the course of their second visit, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and his family became known to Pharaoh.
14 Then after Joseph sent [his brothers back home, they] told their father Jacob [that Joseph wanted] him and his entire family to come [to Egypt. At that time] ([Jacob’s family consisted of] 75 people/there were 75 people in Jacob’s family) [SYN].
Then Joseph sent an urgent invitation to his father Jacob and to his relations, seventy-five persons in all;
15 [So when] Jacob [heard that, he and all his family] went to [live in] Egypt.” Acts 7:15b-16 “[Later on], Jacob died [there], and our [other] ancestors, [his sons, also died there].
and so Jacob went down into Egypt. There he died, and our ancestors also,
16 [But] the bodies [of Jacob and Joseph] were brought {[they] brought the bodies [of Jacob and Joseph]} [back to our land], and [Jacob’s body] was buried {they buried [Jacob’s body]} [in the tomb that Abraham had bought, and they buried Joseph’s body] in Shechem in the ground that [Jacob] had bought from Hamor’s sons.”
and their bodies were removed to Shechem, and laid in the tomb which Abraham had bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17 “Our ancestors had become very numerous when it was almost time for [God to rescue them] from Egypt, [as] he had promised Abraham that he would do.
As the time drew near for the fulfilment of the promise which God had made to Abraham, the people increased largely in numbers in Egypt,
18 Another king had begun to rule in Egypt. He did not know that Joseph, [long before that time, had greatly helped the people of Egypt] [MTY].
until a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph, came to the throne.
19 That king cruelly tried to get rid of our ancestors. He oppressed them and caused them to suffer greatly. He [even commanded] them to leave their baby [boys] outside [their homes] so that they would die.”
This king acted deceitfully towards our race and ill-treated our ancestors, making them abandon their own infants, so that they should not be reared.
20 “During that time Moses was born, and he was a very beautiful [LIT] [child]. So his parents [secretly] cared for him in their house for three months.
It was just at this time that Moses was born. He was an exceedingly beautiful child, and for three months was brought up in his own father’s house;
21 Then they had to put him outside [the house, but] Pharaoh’s daughter [found him and] adopted him and cared for him as [though he were] her own son.
and, when he was abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh found him and brought him up as her own son.
22 Moses was taught {[The Egyptian teachers] taught Moses} many kinds of wise things [HYP] that the people in Egypt knew, and [when he grew up], he spoke powerfully and did things powerfully.”
So Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and proved his ability both by his words and actions.
23 “[One day] when Moses was about 40 years old, he decided that he would [go and] see his fellow Israelis. [So he went to the place where they worked].
When he was in his fortieth year, he resolved to visit his brother Israelites;
24 He saw an Egyptian beating one of the Israelis. So he went over to help [MTY] the Israeli man who was being hurt/beat {whom [the Egyptian] was hurting/beating}, and he (got revenge on/paid back) the Israeli man by killing the Egyptian [who was hurting/beating him].
and, seeing an Israelite ill-treated, he defended him, and avenged the man, who was being wronged, by striking down the Egyptian.
25 Moses was thinking that his fellow Israelis would understand that God had sent him to free them [from being slaves]. But they did not understand that.
He thought his brothers would understand that God was using him to save them; but they failed to do so.
26 The next day, Moses saw two Israeli men fighting [each other]. He tried to make them stop fighting by saying to them, ‘Men, you two are fellow [Israelis! So] (stop hurting each other!/why are you hurting each other?) [RHQ]’
The next day he again appeared upon the scene, when some of them were fighting, and tried to make peace between them. ‘Men,’ he said, ‘you are brothers; how is it that you are ill-treating one another?’
27 But the man who was injuring the other man pushed Moses away and said to him, ‘(No one appointed you [(sg)] to rule and judge us [(exc)]!/Do you [(sg)] think someone appointed you [(sg)] to rule and judge us [(exc)]?) [RHQ]
But the man who was ill-treating his fellow workman pushed Moses aside saying — ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?
28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
Do you mean to make away with me as you did yesterday with that Egyptian?’
29 When Moses heard that, [he thought to himself, ‘Obviously, people know what I have done, and someone will kill me.’ He was afraid, so] he fled [from Egypt] to Midian land. He lived there [for some years]. He [got married, and he and his wife] had two sons.”
At these words Moses took to flight, and became an exile in Midian; and there he had two sons born to him.
30 “[One day] 40 years later, [the Lord God appeared as] an angel to Moses. He appeared in a bush that was burning in the desert near Sinai Mountain.
Forty years had passed when there appeared to him, in the Desert of Mount Sinai, an angel in a flame of fire in a bush.
31 When Moses saw that, he was greatly surprised, [because the bush was not burning up]. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord [God] say [to him],
When Moses saw it, he was astonished at the vision; but on his going nearer to look at it more closely, the voice of the Lord was heard to say —
32 ‘I [am] the God [whom] your ancestors [worshipped]. I [am] the God that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob [worship].’ Moses [was so afraid that he] began to shake. He was afraid to look [at the bush any longer].
‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses trembled, and did not dare to look.
33 Then the Lord [God] said to him, ‘Take your sandals off [to show that you(sg) revere me]. Because I [am here], the place where you are standing is holy/sacred.
Then the Lord said to him — ‘Take your sandals off your feet, for the spot where you are standing is holy ground.
34 I have surely seen how the people of Egypt are continually causing my people to suffer. I have heard my people when they groan [because those people continually oppress them]. So I have come down to rescue them [from Egypt]. Now get ready, because I am going to send you [back] to Egypt [to do that].’”
I have seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and heard their groans, and I have come down to deliver them. Come now and I will send you into Egypt.’
35 “This Moses [is the one who had tried to help our Israeli people, but] whom they rejected [by saying], ‘No one [RHQ] appointed you to rule and judge [us!’] Moses [is the one whom] God [himself] sent to rule them and to free them [from being slaves. He is the one whom] an angel in the bush [commanded to do that].
This same Moses, whom they had disowned with the words — ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ was the very man whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer, under the guidance of the angel that had appeared to him in the bush.
36 Moses [is the one who] led our ancestors out [from Egypt]. He did many kinds of miracles in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and during the 40 years [that the Israelite people lived] in the desert.
He it was who led them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the Desert during forty years.
37 This Moses is the one who said to the Israelite people, ‘God will appoint a prophet for you from among your own people. [He will speak words from God], just like I [speak his words to you].’
This was the Moses who said to the people of Israel — ‘God will raise up for you, from among your brothers, a Prophet, as he raised up me.’
38 This man [Moses] was [our people’s leader] when they gathered together in the desert. It is Moses to whom [God sent] the angel on Sinai Mountain to [give him our laws], and [he was the one who told] our [other] ancestors [what the angel had said]. He was the one who received [from God] words that tell us how to live [eternally, and Moses] passed [them] on to us.”
He, too, it was who was present at the assembly in the Desert, with the angel who talked to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors, and who received living truths to impart to you.
39 “[However], our ancestors did not want to obey [Moses]. Instead, [while he was still on the mountain], they rejected him [as their leader] and decided that they wanted to return to Egypt.
Yet our ancestors refused him obedience; more than that, they rejected him, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,
40 So they told [his older brother] Aaron, ‘Make idols for us who will be our gods to lead us [back to Egypt]! As for that fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt we [(exc)] do not know what has happened to him!’
while they said to Aaron — ‘Make us Gods who will lead the way for us, since, as for this Moses who has brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’
41 So, they made [out of gold] an image [that looked like] a calf. Then they sacrificed [animals and offered other things] to [honor] that idol, and they sang and danced to honor the idol that they themselves had made.
That was the time when they made the Calf and offered sacrifice to their idol, and held festivities in honour of their own handiwork!
42 So God rejected them. He abandoned them to worship the sun, moon and stars in the sky. This agrees with the words that one of the prophets wrote that God said, You Israelite [people] [MTY], when you [repeatedly] killed animals and offered them as sacrifices during those 40 years [that you were] in the desert, (you [most certainly] were not offering them to me!/what makes you think that you were offering them to me?) [RHQ]
So God turned from them and left them to the worship of the Starry Host, as is written in the Book of the Prophets — ‘Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me, O House of Israel, All those forty years in the Desert?
43 [On the contrary], you carried [with you from place to place] the tent [that contained the idol] representing [the god] Molech [that you worshipped]. You also [carried with you] the image of the star [called] Rephan. [Those] were idols that you had made, [and you] worshipped [them instead of me]. So I will [cause you to] be taken away {[people to] take you} [from your own country. You will be taken] {[They will take you]} [far from your homes to regions] even farther than Babylon [Country].”
You took with you the tabernacle of Moloch And the Star of the god Rephan — The images which you had made to worship. Therefore I will exile you beyond Babylon.’
44 “While our ancestors were in the desert, they worshipped God at the tent that showed [that he was there with them]. They had made the tent exactly like God had commanded Moses [to make it. It was] exactly like the model that Moses had seen [when he was up on the mountain].
Our ancestors had the Tabernacle of Revelation in the Desert, constructed, just as he who spoke to Moses had directed him to make it, after the model which he had seen.
45 [Later on], other ancestors of ours carried that tent with them when Joshua led them [into this land]. That was during the time that they took this land for themselves, when God forced the people [who previously lived here] to leave. So the Israelis were able to possess this land. [The tent remained in this land and was still here] when [King] David ruled.
This Tabernacle, which was handed down to them, was brought into this country by our ancestors who accompanied Joshua (at the conquest of the nations that God drove out before their advance), and remained here until the time of David.
46 David pleased God, and he asked God to let him build a house where [he and] all of our Israeli people could worship God.
David found favour with God, and prayed that he might find a dwelling for the God of Jacob.
47 But [instead, God let David’s son] Solomon build a house [where people could worship] God.”
But it was Solomon who built a House for God.
48 “However, [we(inc) know that] God is greater than everything, and he does not live in [houses that] people [SYN] have made. It is like the prophet [Isaiah] wrote. He wrote [these words that God had spoken: ]
Yet it is not in buildings made by hands that the Most High dwells. As the Prophet says —
49 Heaven is (my throne/the place from which I rule the entire universe), and the earth is (my footstool/[merely like] a stool on which I may rest my feet). I myself [SYN] have made everything [both in heaven and on the earth]. So you [human beings], ([you] really cannot build a house that would be [adequate] for me!/do you think you can build a house that would be [appropriate] for me?) [RHQ] You cannot [RHQ] make a place good enough for me [to live in]!”
‘The heavens are a throne for me, And the earth a stool for my feet. What manner of House will you build me, saith the Lord, Or what place is there where I may rest?
Was it not my hand that made all these things?’
51 “You people are extremely stubborn [MET], not wanting to obey God or listen [MTY] [to him!] You are exactly like your ancestors! You always resist the Holy Spirit [as they did]!
O! stubborn race, heathen in heart and ears, you are for ever resisting the Holy Spirit; your ancestors did it, and you are doing it still.
52 Your ancestors caused [RHQ] every prophet to suffer, [including Moses]. They even killed those who long ago announced [that the Messiah] would come, the one who always did what pleased God. [And the Messiah has come! He is the one whom] you [recently] turned over [to his enemies] and [insisted that] they kill him!
Which of the Prophets escaped persecution at their hands? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One; of whom you, in your turn, have now become the betrayers and murderers —
53 You [are the people] who have received God’s laws. [Those were laws] that God caused angels to give [to our ancestors]. However, [incredibly], you have not obeyed them!”
You who received the Law as transmitted by angels and yet failed to keep it.”
54 When the Jewish Council members [and others there] heard all that [Stephen said], they became very angry. They were grinding their teeth [together because they were so angry] at him!
As they listened to this, the Council grew frantic with rage, and gnashed their teeth at Stephen.
55 But the Holy Spirit completely controlled Stephen. He looked up into heaven and saw a dazzling light from God, and [he saw] Jesus standing at God’s right side.
He, filled as he was with the Holy Spirit, fixed his eyes intently on the heavens, and saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing at God’s right hand.
56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open, and I [see] the one who came from heaven standing at God’s right side!”
“Look,” he exclaimed, “I see Heaven open and the Son of Man standing at God’s right hand!”
57 [When the Jewish Council members and others heard that], they shouted loudly. They put their hands over their ears [so that they could not hear Stephen, and immediately] they all rushed at him.
At this, with a loud shout, they stopped their ears and all rushed upon him, forced him outside the city,
58 They dragged him outside the city [of Jerusalem] and started to throw stones at him. The people who were accusing him [took off] their outer garments [in order to throw stones more easily, and] they put their clothes [on the ground] next to a young man whose name was Saul, [so that he could guard them].
and began to stone him, the witnesses laying their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 While they continued to throw stones at Stephen, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
And they stoned Stephen, while he cried to the Lord: “Lord Jesus! receive my spirit!”
60 Then Stephen fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not punish them (OR, forgive them) [LIT] for this sin!” After he had said that, he died.
Falling on his knees, he called out loudly: “Lord! do not charge them with this sin;” and with these words he fell asleep.
