And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” And Stephen
said:
“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our
father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in
Haran, and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your
kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 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. Yet he 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. And God spoke
to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land
belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four
hundred years. ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said
God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this
place.’ And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so
Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the
eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the
twelve patriarchs.
“And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but
God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions and
gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made
him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. Now there came a
famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and
our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was
grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. And
on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and
Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. And Joseph sent and
summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons
in all. And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our
fathers, and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb
that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor
in Shechem.
“But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted
to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt until
there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. He
dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their
infants, so that they would not be kept alive. At this time Moses
was born; and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought
up for three months in his father's house, and when he was exposed,
Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.
And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he
was mighty in his words and deeds.
“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his
brothers, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them being
wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking
down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand
that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not
understand. And 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?’ But the man who was
wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a
ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the
Egyptian yesterday?’ At this retort Moses fled and became an exile
in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
“Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the
wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses
saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look,
there came the voice of the Lord: ‘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. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the
sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is
holy ground. 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.’
“This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler
and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the
hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. This man led
them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea
and in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said
to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me
from your brothers.’ This is the one who was in the congregation in
the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and
with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. Our
fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their
hearts they turned to Egypt, saying to Aaron, ‘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.’ And they made a
calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were
rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave
them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the
book of the prophets:
“‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of
Israel?
You took up the tent of Moloch
and the star of your god Rephan,
the images that you made to worship;
and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
“Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just
as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the
pattern that he had seen. Our fathers in turn brought it in with
Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before
our fathers. So it was until the days of David, who found favor in
the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of
Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most
High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,
“‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
or what is the place of my rest?
Did not my hand make all these things?’
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears,
you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they
killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous
One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the
law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they
ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed
into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the
right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened,
and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they
cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed
together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.
And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young
man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out,
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried
out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
