Acts 7:1-21 ▼

1 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

2 And he said, “Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,

3 and said to him, ‘DEPART FROM YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME INTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU.’

4 “Then he departed from the land of the Chaldeans, and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God removed him into this country in which you are now living.

5 “And He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground; and yet, even when he had no child, He promised that HE WOULD GIVE IT TO HIM AS A POSSESSION, AND TO HIS OFFSPRING AFTER HIM.

6 “But God spoke to this effect, that his OFFSPRING WOULD BE ALIENS IN A FOREIGN LAND, AND THAT THEY WOULD BE ENSLAVED AND MISTREATED FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS.

7 “ ‘AND WHATEVER NATION TO WHICH THEY SHALL BE IN BONDAGE I MYSELF WILL JUDGE,’ said God, ‘AND AFTER THAT THEY WILL COME OUT AND SERVE ME IN THIS PLACE.’

8 “And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

9 “And the patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. And yet God was with him,

10 and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household.

11 “Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it; and our fathers could find no food.

12 “But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time.

13 “And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was disclosed to Pharaoh.

14 “And Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five persons in all.

15 “And Jacob went down to Egypt and there passed away, he and our fathers.

16 “And from there they were removed to Shechem, and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

17 “But as the time of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,

18 until THERE AROSE ANOTHER KING OVER EGYPT WHO KNEW NOTHING ABOUT JOSEPH.

19 “It was he who took shrewd advantage of our race, and mistreated our fathers so that they would expose their infants and they would not survive.

20 “And it was at this time that Moses was born; and he was lovely in the sight of God; and he was nurtured three months in his father’s home.

21 “And after he had been exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away, and nurtured him as her own son.