Acts 7:30–50

³⁰“After forty years had passed, ^aan angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush.

³¹“When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord:

³²‘^aI am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look.

³³“^aBut the Lord said to him, ‘^bTake off the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.

³⁴‘^aI have certainly seen the oppression of My people in Egypt and have heard their groans, and I have come down to rescue them; ^1bcome now, and I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵“This Moses whom they ^adisowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God ¹sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the ²help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush.

³⁶“^aThis man led them out, performing ^bwonders and ¹signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the ^cwilderness for forty years.

³⁷“This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘^aGod will raise up for you a prophet ¹like me from your brethren.’

³⁸“This is the one who was in ^athe ¹congregation in the wilderness together with ^bthe angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received ^cliving ^doracles to pass on to you.

³⁹“Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but ^arepudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,

^40asaying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.’

⁴¹“¹At that time ^athey made a ²calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in ^bthe works of their hands.

⁴²“But God ^aturned away and delivered them up to ¹serve the ²host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘^bIt was not to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices ^cforty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel?

⁴³‘^aYou also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god ¹Rompha, the images which you made to worship. I also will remove you beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴“Our fathers had ^athe tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it ^baccording to the pattern which he had seen.

⁴⁵“And having received it in their turn, our fathers ^abrought it in with ¹Joshua upon dispossessing the ²nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David.

⁴⁶“^aDavid found favor in God’s sight, and ^basked that he might find a dwelling place for the ¹God of Jacob.

⁴⁷“But it was ^aSolomon who built a house for Him.

⁴⁸“However, ^athe Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:

⁴⁹‘^aHeaven is My throne,

And earth is the footstool of My feet;

What kind of house will you build for Me?’ says the Lord,

‘Or what place is there for My repose?

⁵⁰‘^aWas it not My hand which made all these things?’