Stephen’s Address: The Call of Abraham

1And the chief priest said: Are these things so?

2He replied: Brethren and fathers, hear: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, while he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, 3and said to him: Get out from your land, and from your kindred, and come into a land that I will show you. 4Then he departed from the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran; and thence, after his father died, he removed into this land, in which you now dwell. 5And he gave him no inheritance in it, not a foot breadth: and yet he promised to give it for a possession to him, and to his posterity after him, when as yet he had no child. 6And God spoke thus: That his posterity should sojourn in a strange land, and they should enslave them and afflict them, for four hundred years. 7And the nation to which they shall be in bondage I will judge, said God; and after that, they shall come forth and serve me in this place. 8And he gave him the covenant of circumcision, and thus he begot Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.

Joseph Sold into Egypt

9And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, 10and delivered him from all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharoah, king of Egypt: and he made him governor over Egypt, and his whole house.

11And there came a famine, and great affliction on the whole land of Egypt, and of Chanaan: and our fathers found no sustenance. 12But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent forth our fathers the first time: 13and, on their second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and the kindred of Joseph were made known to Pharaoh. 14And Joseph sent and called to him his father Jacob, and all his kindred, seventy-five souls.

Israel Oppressed in Egypt

15And Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, himself and our fathers; 16and they were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulcher which Abraham bought for its value in silver, from the sons of Emmor, the father of Sychem.

17And as the time of the promise which God had made with an oath to Abraham drew near, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, 18till another king arose, who knew not Joseph. 19He dealt insidiously with our race, and afflicted our fathers, so that they exposed their infants, in order that they might not live.

The Birth and Adoption of Moses
(Hebrews 11:23–29)

20At which time Moses was born; and he was exceedingly beautiful, and was nursed three months in his father's house. 21But having been exposed, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up, and educated him as her own son. 22And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.

The Rejection and Flight of Moses

23When he had completed his fortieth year, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. 24And seeing one of them unjustly treated, he defended and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian. 25And he supposed that his brethren would understand that, by his hand, God would give them salvation: but they under stood not. 26And on the next day he showed himself to them, as they were fighting, and endeavored to persuade them to peace, saying, Men, you are brothers: why do you injure one another? 27But he that was doing the injury to his neighbor, thrust him away, saying, Who made you a ruler or a judge over us? 28Do you intend to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? 29And at that saying Moses fled, and became a resident in the land of Midian, where he begot two sons.

The Call of Moses

30And when forty years were completed, there appeared to him, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. 31When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight, and as he was drawing near to observe it, the voice of the Lord came to him: 32I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses trembled, and durst not observe it. 33Then said the Lord to him: Loose your shoes from your feet; for the place in which you stand is holy ground. 34I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them; and now come, and I will send you into Egypt.

35This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge? him God sent as a ruler and as a redeemer, by the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush. 36He brought them out, after he had performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness, forty years. 37This is that Moses, who said to the sons of Israel, A prophet like me will the Lord your God raise up for you from among your brethren; him shall you hear. 38This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers; he received the living oracles, that he might give them to us.

The Rebellion of Israel

39To him our fathers were not willing to be obedient; but they rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, 40saying to Aaron: Make us gods that shall go be fore us; for, as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him. 41And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. 42But God turned and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: Your victims and your sacrifices did you offer to me for forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel? 43Yes, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your God Remphan, images which you made to worship; and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

The Tabernacle of the Testimony
(Hebrews 9:1–10)

44The tabernacle of the testimony was with our fathers in the wilderness, built as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to build it, according to the pattern which he had seen: 45which our fathers, who were with Joshua, received by succession, and brought into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God continued to drive out from the face of our fathers till the days of David, 46who found favor before God, and desired to find a dwelling-place for the God of Jacob. 47But Solomon built him a house. 48Yet the Most High dwells not in temples made with hands, as says the prophet:

49Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What house will you build me? says the Lord; or what is the place of my rest?

50Has not my hand made all these things?

51You stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and in ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so also do you. 52Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? They slew also those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you have now become the betrayers and murderers; 53who received the law by the appointment of angels, and have not kept it.

The Stoning of Stephen

54"When they heard these things, they were enraged in their hearts, and gnashed upon him with their teeth. 55But being full of the Holy Spirit, he looked earnestly up into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56and he said: Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God. 57And they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and, with one consent, rushed upon him, 58and drove him out of the city, and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul. 59And they stoned Stephen while he was calling on the Lord, and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice: Lord, let not this sin stand against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was well pleased with his death.