6Now in these days, as^* the disciples were increasing in number,^* a complaint arose by the Greek-speaking Jews^a against the Hebraic Jews^b because^c their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.^* ²So the twelve summoned the community of disciples and^* said, “It is not desirable that we neglect the word of God to serve tables. ³So, brothers, select from among you seven men of good reputation,^d full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we will put in charge of this need. ⁴But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” ⁵And the statement pleased the whole group, and they chose Stephen (a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit), and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus (a convert from Antioch), ⁶whom they stood before the apostles. And they prayed and^* placed their^* hands on them.

⁷And the word of God kept spreading, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem was increasing greatly, and a large number of priests began obeying^* the faith.

Stephen Arrested

⁸Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹But some of those from the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called),^e both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia,^f stood up and^* disputed with Stephen. ¹⁰And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. ¹¹Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God!” ¹²And they incited the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came up and^* seized him and brought him^* to the Sanhedrin.^g ¹³And they put forward false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop speaking words against the holy place^h and the law! ¹⁴For we have heard him saying that this Nazarene Jesus will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed down to us.” ¹⁵And as they^* looked intently at him, all those who were sitting in the Sanhedrinⁱ saw his face was like the face of an angel.

Read in Logos

Footnotes

*Here “as” is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle (“were increasing”)
*The words “in number” are not in the Greek text but are implied
aLiterally “Hellenists”
bLiterally “Hebrews”
cOr “that”
*The words “of food” are not in the Greek text but are implied
*Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“summoned”) has been translated as a finite verb
dLiterally “well spoken of”
*Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“prayed”) has been translated as a finite verb
*Literally “the”; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
*The imperfect tense has been translated as ingressive here (“began obeying”)
eLiterally “called”
fA reference to the Roman province of Asia (modern Asia Minor)
*Here “and” is supplied because the participle (“disputed”) has been translated as a finite verb in keeping with English style
*Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“came up”) has been translated as a finite verb
*Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
gOr “council”
hSome manuscripts have “this holy place”
*Here “as” is supplied as a component of the participle (“looked intently”) which is understood as temporal
iOr “council”