Acts 7:54–8:3

The Stoning of Stephen

⁵⁴As the members of the Council listened to Stephen, they became furious and ground their teeth at him in anger. ⁵⁵But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God’s glory and Jesus standing at the right-hand side of God. ⁵⁶“Look!” he said. “I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right-hand side of God!”

⁵⁷With a loud cry the members of the Council covered their ears with their hands. Then they all rushed at him at once, ⁵⁸threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses left their cloaks in the care of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ⁶⁰He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!” He said this and died.

8And Saul approved of his murder.

Saul Persecutes the Church

That very day the church in Jerusalem began to suffer cruel persecution. All the believers, except the apostles, were scattered throughout the provinces of Judea and Samaria. ²Some devout men buried Stephen, mourning for him with loud cries.

^3*But Saul tried to destroy the church; going from house to house, he dragged out the believers, both men and women, and threw them into jail.