Stephen Accused of Blasphemy

8 And Stephen, full of 2faith and power, did great owonders and signs among the people. 9 Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen. 10 And pthey were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. 11 qThen they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council. 13 They also set up false witnesses who said, “This man does not cease to speak 3blasphemous words against this holy place and the law; 14 rfor we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.” 15 And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel.

Stephen’s Address: The Call of Abraham

7 Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

2 And he said, a“Brethren and fathers, listen: The bGod of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in cHaran, 3 and said to him, d‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ 4 Then ehe came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was fdead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell. 5 And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, gHe promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him. 6 But God spoke in this way: hthat his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into ibondage and oppress them four hundred years. 7 j‘And the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will kjudge,’ said God, l‘and after that they shall come out and serve Me in this place.’ 8 mThen He gave him the covenant of circumcision; nand so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; oand Isaac begot Jacob, and pJacob begot the twelve patriarchs.

The Patriarchs in Egypt

9 q“And the patriarchs, becoming envious, rsold Joseph into Egypt. sBut God was with him 10 and delivered him out of all his troubles, tand gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11 uNow a famine and great 1trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. 12 vBut when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13 And the wsecond time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh. 14 xThen Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and yall his relatives to him, 2seventy-five people. 15 zSo Jacob went down to Egypt; aand he died, he and our fathers. 16 And bthey were carried back to Shechem and laid in cthe tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.