Acts 6–7

6TH CHAPTER

The Disciples Choose Seven Men to Help the Apostles

¹At that time, as the number of disciples grew, Greek-speaking Jews complained about the Hebrew-speaking Jews. The Greek-speaking Jews claimed that the widows among them were neglected every day when food and other assistance was distributed. 

²The twelve apostles called all the disciples together and told them, “It’s not right for us to give up God’s word in order to distribute food. ³So, brothers and sisters, choose seven men whom the people know are spiritually wise. We will put them in charge of this problem. ⁴However, we will devote ourselves to praying and to serving in ways that are related to the word.” 

⁵The suggestion pleased the whole group. So they chose Stephen, who was a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and they chose Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, who had converted to Judaism in the city of Antioch. ⁶The disciples had these men stand in front of the apostles, who prayed and placed their hands on these seven men. 

⁷God’s word continued to spread, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem grew very large. A large number of priests accepted the faith. 

Stephen Is Arrested

⁸Stephen was a man filled with God’s favor^aand power. He did amazing things and performed miracles. ⁹⸤One day⸥ some men from the cities of Cyrene and Alexandria and the provinces of Cilicia and Asia started an argument with Stephen. They belonged to a synagogue called Freedmen’s Synagogue. ¹⁰They couldn’t argue with Stephen because he spoke with the wisdom that the Spirit had given him. ¹¹Then they bribed some men to lie. 

These men said, “We heard him slander Moses and God.” ¹²The liars stirred up trouble among the people, the leaders, and the experts in Moses’ Teachings. So they went to Stephen, took him by force, and brought him in front of the Jewish council. ¹³Some witnesses stood up and lied about Stephen. They said, “This man never stops saying bad things about the holy place and Moses’ Teachings. ¹⁴We heard him say that Jesus from Nazareth will destroy the temple and change the customs that Moses gave us.” 

¹⁵Everyone who sat in the council stared at him and saw that his face looked like an angel’s face. 

7TH CHAPTER

Stephen Speaks in His Own Defense

¹Then the chief priest asked Stephen, “Is this true?” 

²Stephen answered, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God who reveals his glory appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia. This happened before Abraham lived in Haran. ³God told him, ‘Leave your land and your relatives. Go to the land that I will show you.’ 

⁴“Then Abraham left the country of Chaldea and lived in the city of Haran. After his father died, God made him move from there to this land where we now live. 

⁵“Yet, God didn’t give Abraham anything in this land to call his own, not even a place to rest his feet. But God promised to give this land to him and to his descendants, even though Abraham didn’t have a child. ⁶God told Abraham that his descendants would be foreigners living in another country and that the people there would make them slaves and mistreat them for 400 years. ⁷God also told him, ‘I will punish the people whom they will serve. After that, they will leave that country and worship me here.’ 

⁸“God gave Abraham circumcision to confirm his promise.^aSo when Abraham’s son Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac did the same to his son Jacob, and Jacob did the same to his twelve sons (the ancestors of our tribes). 

⁹“Jacob’s sons were jealous of their brother Joseph. They sold him into slavery, and he was taken to Egypt. But God was with Joseph ¹⁰and rescued him from all his suffering. When Joseph stood in the presence of Pharaoh (the king of Egypt), God gave Joseph divine favor^band wisdom so that he became ruler of Egypt and of Pharaoh’s whole palace. ¹¹Then a famine throughout Egypt and Canaan brought a lot of suffering. Our ancestors couldn’t find any food. ¹²When Jacob heard that Egypt had food, he sent our ancestors there. That was their first trip. ¹³On the second trip, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. ¹⁴Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his relatives, 75 people in all. ¹⁵So Jacob went to Egypt, and he and our ancestors died there. ¹⁶They were taken to Shechem for burial in the tomb that Abraham purchased in Shechem from Hamor’s sons. 

¹⁷“When the time that God had promised to Abraham had almost come, the number of our people in Egypt had grown very large. ¹⁸Then a different king, who knew nothing about Joseph, began to rule in Egypt. ¹⁹This king was shrewd in the way he took advantage of our people. He mistreated our ancestors. He made them abandon their newborn babies outdoors, where they would die. 

²⁰“At that time Moses was born, and he was a very beautiful child. His parents took care of him for three months. ²¹When Moses was abandoned outdoors, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and raised him as her son. ²²So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man in what he said and did. ²³When he was 40 years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. ²⁴When he saw an Israelite man being treated unfairly by an Egyptian, he defended the Israelite. He took revenge by killing the Egyptian. ²⁵Moses thought his own people would understand that God was going to use him to give them freedom. But they didn’t understand. ²⁶The next day Moses saw two Israelites fighting, and he tried to make peace between them. He said to them, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you treating each other unfairly?’ 

²⁷“But one of the men pushed Moses aside. He asked Moses, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge? ²⁸Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹After he said that, Moses quickly left Egypt and lived in Midian as a foreigner. In Midian he fathered two sons. 

³⁰“Forty years later, a Messenger appeared to him in the flames of a burning bush in the desert of Mount Sinai. ³¹Moses was surprised when he saw this. As he went closer to look at the bush, the voice of the Lord said to him, ³²‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses began to tremble and didn’t dare to look at the bush. ³³The Lord told him, ‘Take off your sandals. The place where you’re standing is holy ground. ³⁴I’ve seen how my people are mistreated in Egypt. I’ve heard their groaning and have come to rescue them. So now I’m sending you to Egypt.’ 

³⁵“This is the Moses whom the Israelites rejected by saying, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge?’ This is the one God sent to free them and to rule them with the help of the Messenger who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶This is the man who led our ancestors out of Egypt. He is the person who did amazing things and worked miracles in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the desert for 40 years. ³⁷This is the same Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will send you a prophet, an Israelite like me.’ ³⁸This is the Moses who was in the assembly in the desert. Our ancestors and the Messenger who spoke to him on Mount Sinai were there with him. Moses received life-giving messages to give to us, ³⁹but our ancestors were not willing to obey him. Instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt. ⁴⁰They told Aaron, ‘We don’t know what has happened to this Moses, who led us out of Egypt. So make gods who will lead us.’ ⁴¹That was the time they made a calf. They offered a sacrifice to that false god and delighted in what they had made. 

⁴²“So God turned away from them and let them worship the sun, moon, and stars. This is written in the book of the prophets: ‘Did you bring me sacrifices and grain offerings in the desert for 40 years, nation of Israel? ⁴³You carried along the shrine of Moloch, the star of the god Rephan, and the statues you made for yourselves to worship. I will send you into exile beyond the city of Babylon.’ 

⁴⁴“In the desert our ancestors had the tent of God’s promise. Moses built this tent exactly as God had told him. He used the model he had seen. ⁴⁵After our ancestors received the tent, they brought it into this land. They did this with Joshua’s help when they took possession of the land from the nations that God forced out of our ancestors’ way. This tent remained here until the time of David, ⁴⁶who won God’s favor. David asked that he might provide a permanent place for the family of Jacob.^c47But Solomon was the one who built a house for God. 

⁴⁸“However, the Most High doesn’t live in a house built by humans, as the prophet says: 

⁴⁹‘The Lord says, 

“Heaven is my throne. 

The earth is my footstool. 

What kind of house are you going to build for me? 

Where will I rest? 

⁵⁰Didn’t I make all these things?” ’ 

⁵¹“How stubborn can you be? How can you be so heartless and disobedient? You’re just like your ancestors. They always opposed the Holy Spirit, and so do you! ⁵²Was there ever a prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute? They killed those who predicted that a man with God’s approval would come. You have now become the people who betrayed and murdered that man. ⁵³You are the people who received Moses’ Teachings, which were put into effect by angels. But you haven’t obeyed those teachings.” 

Stephen Is Executed

⁵⁴As council members listened to Stephen, they became noticeably furious. ⁵⁵But Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. He looked into heaven, saw God’s glory, and Jesus in the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne. ⁵⁶So Stephen said, “Look, I see heaven opened and the Son of Man in the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the throne!” 

⁵⁷But the council members shouted and refused to listen. Then they rushed at Stephen with one purpose in mind, ⁵⁸and after they had thrown him out of the city, they began to stone him to death. The witnesses left their coats with a young man named Saul. 

⁵⁹While council members were executing Stephen,…