Acts 6–7

Seven Leaders Are Chosen

6The number of followers was growing. But during this same time, the Greek-speaking followers had an argument with the other followers. The Greek-speaking widows were not getting their share of the food that was given out every day. ²The twelve apostles called the whole group of followers together and said, “It is not right for us to stop our work of teaching God’s word in order to serve tables. ³So, brothers and sisters, choose seven of your own men who are good, full of the Spirit and full of wisdom. We will put them in charge of this work. ⁴Then we can continue to pray and to teach the word of God.”

⁵The whole group liked the idea, so they chose these seven men: Stephen (a man with great faith and full of the Holy Spirit), Philip, ⁿ Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas (a man from Antioch who had become a follower of the Jewish religion). ⁶Then they put these men before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands ⁿ on them.

⁷The word of God was continuing to spread. The group of followers in Jerusalem increased, and a great number of the Jewish priests believed and obeyed.

Stephen Is Accused

⁸Stephen was richly blessed by God who gave him the power to do great miracles and signs among the people. ⁹But some people were against him. They belonged to the synagogue of Free Men ⁿ (as it was called), which included people from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia. They all came and argued with Stephen.

¹⁰But the Spirit was helping him to speak with wisdom, and his words were so strong that they could not argue with him. ¹¹So they secretly urged some men to say, “We heard Stephen speak against Moses and against God.”

¹²This upset the people, the elders, and the teachers of the law. They came and grabbed Stephen and brought him to a meeting of the leaders. ¹³They brought in some people to tell lies about Stephen, saying, “This man is always speaking against this holy place and the law of Moses. ¹⁴We heard him say that Jesus from Nazareth will destroy this place and that Jesus will change the customs Moses gave us.” ¹⁵All the people in the meeting were watching Stephen closely and saw that his face looked like the face of an angel.

Stephen’s Speech

7The high priest said to Stephen, “Are these things true?”

²Stephen answered, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to Abraham, our ancestor, in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran. ³God said to Abraham, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and go to the land I will show you.’ ^{n 4}So Abraham left the country of Chaldea and went to live in Haran. After Abraham’s father died, God sent him to this place where you now live. ⁵God did not give Abraham any of this land, not even a foot of it. But God promised that he would give this land to him and his descendants, even before Abraham had a child. ⁶This is what God said to him: ‘Your descendants will be strangers in a land they don’t own. The people there will make them slaves and will mistreat them for four hundred years. ⁷But I will punish the nation where they are slaves. Then your descendants will leave that land and will worship me in this place.’ ^{n 8}God made an agreement with Abraham, the sign of which was circumcision. And so when Abraham had his son Isaac, Abraham circumcised him when he was eight days old. Isaac also circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob did the same for his sons, the twelve ancestors ⁿ of our people.

⁹“Jacob’s sons became jealous of Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him ¹⁰and saved him from all his troubles. The king of Egypt liked Joseph and respected him because of the wisdom God gave him. The king made him governor of Egypt and put him in charge of all the people in his palace.

¹¹“Then all the land of Egypt and Canaan became so dry that nothing would grow, and the people suffered very much. Jacob’s sons, our ancestors, could not find anything to eat. ¹²But when Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent his sons there. This was their first trip to Egypt. ¹³When they went there a second time, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and the king learned about Joseph’s family. ¹⁴Then Joseph sent messengers to invite Jacob, his father, to come to Egypt along with all his relatives (seventy-five persons altogether). ¹⁵So Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and his sons died. ¹⁶Later their bodies were moved to Shechem and put in a grave there. (It was the same grave Abraham had bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.)

¹⁷“The promise God made to Abraham was soon to come true, and the number of people in Egypt grew large. ¹⁸Then a new king, who did not know who Joseph was, began to rule Egypt. ¹⁹This king tricked our people and was cruel to our ancestors, forcing them to leave their babies outside to die. ²⁰At this time Moses was born, and he was very beautiful. For three months Moses was cared for in his father’s house. ²¹When they put Moses outside, the king’s daughter adopted him and raised him as if he were her own son. ²²The Egyptians taught Moses everything they knew, and he was a powerful man in what he said and did.

²³“When Moses was about forty years old, he thought it would be good to visit his own people, the people of Israel. ²⁴Moses saw an Egyptian mistreating one of his people, so he defended the Israelite and punished the Egyptian by killing him. ²⁵Moses thought his own people would understand that God was using him to save them, but they did not. ²⁶The next day when Moses saw two men of Israel fighting, he tried to make peace between them. He said, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you hurting each other?’ ²⁷The man who was hurting the other pushed Moses away and said, ‘Who made you our ruler and judge? ²⁸Are you going to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ^{n 29}When Moses heard him say this, he left Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian where he was a stranger. While Moses lived in Midian, he had two sons.

³⁰“Forty years later an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush as he was in the desert near Mount Sinai. ³¹When Moses saw this, he was amazed and went near to look closer. Moses heard the Lord’s voice say, ³²‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ ⁿ Moses began to shake with fear and was afraid to look. ³³The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground. ³⁴I have seen the troubles my people have suffered in Egypt. I have heard their cries and have come down to save them. And now, Moses, I am sending you back to Egypt.’ ⁿ

³⁵“This Moses was the same man the two men of Israel rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?’ ⁿ Moses is the same man God sent to be a ruler and savior, with the help of the angel that Moses saw in the burning bush. ³⁶So Moses led the people out of Egypt. He worked miracles and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and then in the desert for forty years. ³⁷This is the same Moses that said to the people of Israel, ‘God will give you a prophet like me, who is one of your own people.’ ^{n 38}This is the Moses who was with the gathering of the Israelites in the desert. He was with the angel that spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and he was with our ancestors. He received commands from God that give life, and he gave those commands to us.

³⁹“But our ancestors did not want to obey Moses. They rejected him and wanted to go back to Egypt. ⁴⁰They said to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. Moses led us out of Egypt, but we don’t know what has happened to him.’ ^{n 41}So the people made an idol that looked like a calf. Then they brought sacrifices to it and were proud of what they had made with their own hands. ⁴²But God turned against them and did not try to stop them from worshiping the sun, moon, and stars. This is what is written in the book of the prophets: God says,

‘People of Israel, you did not bring me sacrifices and offerings

while you traveled in the desert for forty years.

⁴³You have carried with you

the tent to worship Molech

and the idols of the star god Rephan that you made to worship.

So I will send you away beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴“The Holy Tent where God spoke to our ancestors was with them in the desert. God told Moses how to make this Tent, and he made it like the plan God showed him. ⁴⁵Later, Joshua led our ancestors to capture the lands of the other nations. Our people went in, and God forced the other people out. When our people went into this new land, they took with them this same Tent they had received from their ancestors. They kept it until the time of David, ⁴⁶who pleased God and asked God to let him build a house for him, the God of Jacob. ^{n 47}But Solomon was the one who built the Temple.

⁴⁸“But the Most High does not live in houses that people build with their hands. As the prophet says:

⁴⁹‘Heaven is my throne,

and the earth is my footstool.

So do you think you can build a house for me? says the Lord.

Do I need a place to rest?

⁵⁰Remember, my hand made all these things!’ ”

⁵¹Stephen continued speaking: “You stubborn people! You have not given your hearts to God, nor will you listen to him! You are always against what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell you, just as your ancestors were. ⁵²Your ancestors tried to hurt every prophet who ever lived. Those prophets said long ago that the One who is good would come, but your ancestors killed them. And now you have turned against and killed the One who is good. ⁵³You received the law of Moses, which God gave you through his angels, but you haven’t obeyed it.”

Stephen Is Killed

⁵⁴When the leaders heard this, they became furious. They were so mad they were grinding their teeth at Stephen. ⁵⁵But Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. He looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at God’s right side. ⁵⁶He said, “Look! I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at God’s right side.”

⁵⁷Then they shouted loudly and covered their…