Acts 7:1-39 ▼

1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?

2 And he said, "Brethren and fathers, hearken,---The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,

3 and said to him, Depart from thy native country and from thy kindred, and come into the country which I shall shew thee.

4 Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, after his father died, He removed him into this land in which ye now dwell:

5 though He gave him no inheritance in it, no not the breadth of a foot; but He promised to give it to him for a possession, even to his seed after him; though he had then no child."

6 And God spake thus unto him, "that his seed should sojourn in a strange country, and they shall in slave and abuse them four hundred years:"

7 and God said, "I will judge the nation, to which they shall be in slavery; and afterwards they shall come out, and shall worship me in this place."

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

9 And the patriarchs, envying him, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,

10 and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he appointed him governor over Egypt, and over all his houshold.

11 And there came a famine over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction; and our fathers could not find sustenance.

12 But Jacob hearing that there was corn in Egypt, sent out our fathers first:

13 and at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known to Pharaoh.

14 Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob, and all his kindred, even seventy-five souls.

15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died there, he and our fathers:

16 and were carried to Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre which he had bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.

17 But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt.

18 Till another king arose, who knew not Joseph. This king formed crafty schemes against our nation,

19 and oppressed our fathers, causing their children to be exposed, that their race might be extinguished.

20 In which time Moses was born, who was exceeding beautiful, and he was nourished up in his father's house three months: and when he was exposed,

21 Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished him for her own son.

22 And Moses was trained up in all the wisdom of the Egyptians: and he was mighty in words, and in deeds.

23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.

24 And seeing one of them injured he defended him, and smiting the Egyptian he avenged him that was wronged.

25 Now he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would give them deliverance by his hand: but they understood not.

26 And the next day he came to them, as they were two of them fighting, and would have persuaded them to agree, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren, why do ye injure one another?

27 But he, that injured his neighbor, thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?

28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian yesterday?

29 Upon this Moses fled, and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons.

30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina, an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

31 Now Moses, when he saw it, was amazed at the sight; and as he came near to observe it, there was a voice of the Lord to him,

32 saying, "I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;" but Moses trembling durst not look on.

33 And the Lord said to him, "Take off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place on which thou standest is holy ground.

34 I have seen the oppression of my people that are in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. Therefore come now, and I will send thee into Egypt."

35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? did God send, by the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush, to be their ruler and deliverer.

36 And he brought them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the red sea, and in the wilderness, forty years.

37 ---This is that Moses who said unto the children of Israel, "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like unto me; Him shall ye hear."

38 This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel that spake to him on mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and who received the oracles of life to give unto us.

39 To whom our fathers would not be subject, but renounced him, and in their hearts turned back into Egypt,