Acts 7:27-60 ▼

27 But he who was wronging his neighbor thrust him away, saying, 'Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us?

28 Do you wish to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'

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

30 And, forty years having been fulfilled, there appeared to him, in the wilderness of mount Sinai, an angel in a flame of fire in a bush.

31 And Moses, seeing it , wondered at the sight; and, as he drew near to observe it , there came a voice of the Lord,

32 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.' And Moses, becoming terrified, was not daring to examine it.

33 And the Lord said to him, 'Loose the sandals from your feet; for the place on which you have been standing is holy ground.

34 Surely, I saw the affliction of My people in Egypt, and heard their groaning; and I came down to rescue them. And now come, I will send you into Egypt.'

35 This Moses whom they denied, saying, 'Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?' him hath God sent as both ruler and redeemer, with the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush.

36 This man led them out, having wrought wonders and signs in Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

37 This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, A Prophet will God raise up for you of your brethren, as He did me.

38 This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spake to him on mount Sinai, and with our fathers; who received living oracles to give to us:

39 to whom our fathers wished not to become obedient, but thrust him away, and in their hearts turned back again to Egypt;

40 saying to Aaron, 'Make us gods who shall go before us; for as for this Moses who brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, we know not what happened to him.'

41 And they made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands .

42 But God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it has been written in a book of the prophets, 'Did ye offer to Me slain beasts and sacrifices, forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

43 And ye took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of the god Rephan—the figures which ye made to worship them; and I will remove you beyond Babylon.'

44 "Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as He, directed, Who spake to Moses, that he should make it according to the model which he had seen;

45 which also our fathers, having received in succession, brought in with Joshua, in taking possession of the nations which God thrust out before the face of our fathers, until the days of David;

46 who found favor in the sight of God, and asked that he might find 'A habitation for the God of Jacob.'

47 But Solomon built a house for Him.

48 Yet the Most High dwelleth not in houses made with hands; as says the prophet,

49 'Heaven is My throne; and the earth is the footstool of My feet: what manner of house will ye build me? saith the Lord, Or what is the place of My rest?

50 Did not My hand make all these things?'

51 Ye stiffnecked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears! ye do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did , so do ye.

52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who declared beforehand concerning the coming of the Righteous One—of Whom just now ye became the betrayers and murderers;

53 who, indeed, received the law as the ministrations of angels, and did not keep it ."

54 Now, while hearing these things, they were being cut to their hearts, and were gnashing their teeth over him.

55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looking intently into Heaven, saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God;

56 and he said, "Behold I see Heaven opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God!"

57 But, crying out with a loud voice, they closed their ears, and rushed upon him with one accord;

58 and, having thrust him forth outside of the city, they kept stoning him ! And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul.

59 And they were stoning Stephen, calling and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"

60 And, kneeling down, he cried with a loud voice, "Lord, lay not this sin to them!" And, having said this, he fell asleep.