Acts 7:51–8:1

⁵¹“You men—^astiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears—are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

⁵²“^aAnd which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of ^bthe Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers ^cyou have now become;

⁵³you who received the Law as ^aordained by angels, and yet did not observe it.”

Stephen Is Stoned to Death

⁵⁴Now when they heard this, they became ^afurious in their hearts, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.

⁵⁵But being ^afull of the Holy Spirit, he ^bgazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing ^cat the right hand of God;

⁵⁶and he said, “Behold, I see the ^aheavens opened up and ^bthe Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

⁵⁷But crying out with a loud voice, they covered their ears and rushed at him with one accord.

⁵⁸And when they had ^adriven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and ^bthe witnesses ^claid aside their garments at the feet of ^da young man named Saul.

⁵⁹They went on stoning Stephen as he ^awas calling out and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”

⁶⁰Then ^afalling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, ^bdo not hold this sin against them!” And having said this, he ^1cfell asleep.

CHAPTER 8

Saul Persecutes the Church

^1aNow Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death.

And on that day a great persecution ¹began against ^bthe church in Jerusalem, and they were all ^cscattered throughout the regions of Judea and ^dSamaria, except the apostles.