Acts 7:51–8:1

Resisting the Holy Spirit

⁵¹“You stiff-necked ^bpeople with uncircumcised hearts and ears! ^cYou are always resisting the Holy Spirit; as your ancestors did, so do you. ⁵²Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? ^dThey even killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers ^eyou have now become. ⁵³You received the law under the direction of angels ^fand yet have not kept it.”

The First Christian Martyr

⁵⁴When they heard these things, they were enraged in their hearts ^gand gnashed their teeth at him. ⁵⁵But Stephen, filled by the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw God’s glory, with ^hJesus standing at the right hand of God, ⁱand he said, ⁵⁶“Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” ^j

⁵⁷Then they screamed at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him. ⁵⁸They threw him out of the city and began to stone ^khim. And the witnesses laid their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. ^l59They were stoning Stephen as he called out: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” ^m60Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, ⁿ“Lord, do not charge them with this sin!” And saying this, he fell asleep. ^o

Saul the Persecutor

8Saul agreed with putting him to death.

On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria. ^p