Acts 7:1-21 ▼

1 And the chief priest said, Hold these things thus?

2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye: The God of glory was sent to our father Abraham, being in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,

3 And he said to him, Come out of thy land, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee.

4 Then having come out of the land of the Chaldeans, he dwelt in Charran: and thence, after his father died, he transplanted him into this land, in which ye now dwell.

5 And he gave him none inheritance in it, not a step of the foot: and he promised to give it him for a possession, and to his seed after him, there being no child to him.

6 And God spake thus, That his seed shall be dwelling in a strange land; and it shall subjugate them, and inflict evil four hundred years.

7 And the nation which they serve will I judge, said God: and after these shall they go out, and shall serve me in this place.

8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so he begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac Jacob; and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.

9 And the patriarchs having been jealous, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,

10 And took him out of all his pressures, and gave him grace and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt; and set him leader over Egypt and his whole house.

11 And a famine came upon the whole land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great pressure: and our fathers found no food.

12 And Jacob having beard wheat being in Egypt, sent our fathers first.

13 And in the second time, Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's race was manifest to Pharaoh.

14 And Joseph having sent, called for his father Jacob, and all his kindred, in seventy-five souls.

15 And Jacob went down to Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,

16 And they transported him to Sychem and put him in the tomb which Abraham was satisfied with for a price of silver from the sons of Emmor of Sychem.

17 And as the time of the solemn promise drew near, which God aware to Abraham, the people increased and were multiplied in Egypt.

18 Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph.

19 He having deceived our race by sophistry, inflicted evil upon our fathers, to make their babes cast out, that they should not breed.

20 In which time Moses was born, and he was shrewd to God, who was nourished up three months in his father's house:

21 And he having been exposed, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and nourished him for a son to herself.