⁸Stephen, a man richly blessed by God and full of power, performed great miracles and wonders among the people. ⁹But he was opposed by some men who were members of the synagogue of the Freedmen^e (as it was called), which included Jews from Cyrene and Alexandria. They and other Jews from the provinces of Cilicia and Asia started arguing with Stephen. ¹⁰But the Spirit gave Stephen such wisdom that when he spoke, they could not refute him. ¹¹So they bribed some men to say, “We heard him speaking against Moses and against God!” ¹²In this way they stirred up the people, the elders, and the teachers of the Law. They seized Stephen and took him before the Council. ¹³Then they brought in some men to tell lies about him. “This man,” they said, “is always talking against our sacred Temple and the Law of Moses. ¹⁴We heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will tear down the Temple and change all the customs which have come down to us from Moses!” ¹⁵All those sitting in the Council fixed their eyes on Stephen and saw that his face looked like the face of an angel.

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Footnotes

efreedmen: These were Jews who had been slaves, but had bought or been given their freedom.