Acts 7:1–29

Stephen’s Speech

7And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” ²And Stephen said:

^j“Brothers and fathers, hear me. ^kThe God ^lof glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, ^mbefore he lived in Haran, ³and said to him, ⁿ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ ^4mThen he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And ^oafter his father died, ^pGod removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. ⁵Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised ^qto give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, ^rthough he had no child. ⁶And God spoke to this effect—that ^shis offspring would ^tbe sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them ^ufour hundred years. ⁷‘But ^vI will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out ^wand worship me in this place.’ ⁸And ^xhe gave him the covenant of circumcision. And ^yso Abraham became the father of Isaac, and ^zcircumcised him on the eighth day, and ^aIsaac became the father of Jacob, and ^bJacob of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹“And the patriarchs, ^cjealous of Joseph, ^dsold him into Egypt; but ^eGod was with him ¹⁰and rescued him out of all his afflictions and ^fgave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, ^gwho made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. ¹¹Now ^hthere came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. ¹²ⁱBut when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. ¹³And ^jon the second visit ^kJoseph made himself known to his brothers, and ^lJoseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. ¹⁴And ^mJoseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, ⁿseventy-five persons in all. ¹⁵And ^oJacob went down into Egypt, and ^phe died, he ^qand our fathers, ¹⁶and ^rthey were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that ^sAbraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷“But ^tas the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, ^uthe people increased and multiplied in Egypt ¹⁸until there arose over Egypt another king ^vwho did not know Joseph. ^19wHe dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, ^xso that they would not be kept alive. ^20yAt 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, ²¹and ^zwhen he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. ²²And Moses ^awas instructed in ^ball the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was ^cmighty in his words and deeds.

²³“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart ^dto visit his brothers, the children of Israel. ²⁴And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. ²⁵He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. ^26eAnd 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?’ ²⁷But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ^f‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹At this retort ^gMoses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, ^hwhere he became the father of two sons.