Acts 7:20–45

^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.

³⁰“Now when forty years had passed, ⁱan angel appeared to him ^jin the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. ³¹When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ^32k‘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. ³³Then the Lord said to him, ^l‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ^34mI have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and ⁿhave heard their groaning, and ^oI have come down to deliver them. ^pAnd now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵“This Moses, whom they rejected, ^qsaying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer ^rby the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ^36sThis man led them out, performing ^twonders and signs ^uin Egypt and ^vat the Red Sea and ^win the wilderness for ^xforty years. ³⁷This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you ^ya prophet like me from your brothers.’ ³⁸This is the one ^zwho was in the congregation in the wilderness with ^athe angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. ^bHe received ^cliving ^doracles to give to us. ³⁹Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and ^ein their hearts they turned to Egypt, ⁴⁰saying to Aaron, ^f‘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.’ ⁴¹And ^gthey made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and ^hwere rejoicing in ⁱthe works of their hands. ⁴²But ^jGod turned away and ^kgave them over to worship ^lthe host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

^m“ ‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,

ⁿduring the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³You took up the tent of ^oMoloch

and the star of your god Rephan,

the images that you made to worship;

and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴“Our fathers had ^pthe tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses ^qdirected him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. ⁴⁵Our fathers in turn ^rbrought it in with Joshua when they ^sdispossessed the nations ^tthat God drove out before our fathers. So it was ^uuntil the days of David,