Acts 7:39-60 ▼

39 but our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and wished to return to Egypt.

40 They told Aaron, 'Make gods for us who will lead us. This Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we don't know what happened to him!'

41 |At that time they even made a calf to be their idol, offered a sacrifice to it, and delighted in what they had made with their hands.

42 So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the heavenly bodies. As it is written in the book of the Prophets: 'O house of Israel, you didn't offer me slaughtered animals and sacrifices those 40 years in the wilderness, did you?

43 You even took along the tent of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, and the images you made in order to worship them. So I will take you into exile as far as Babylon.'

44 |Our ancestors had the Tent of Testimony in the wilderness constructed, just as the one who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.

45 Our ancestors brought it here with Joshua when they replaced the nations that God drove out in front of our ancestors, and it was here until the time of David.

46 He found favor with God and asked to design a dwelling for the house of Jacob,

47 but it was Solomon who built a house for him.

48 However, the Most High does not live in buildings made by human hands. As the prophet says,

49 |'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house can you build for me,' declares the Lord, |or what place is there in which I can rest?

50 It was my hand that made all these things, wasn't it?'|

51 |You stubborn people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do.

52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors fail to persecute? They killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers.

53 You received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet you haven't obeyed it!|

54 While they were listening to these things, they became more and more furious and began to grind their teeth at him.

55 But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

56 He said, |Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!|

57 But they shouted out loud, stopped listening, and together they all rushed at him,

58 ran him outside of the city, and began to stone him to death. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

59 As they continued to stone Stephen, he kept praying, |Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!|

60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, |Lord, don't hold this sin against them!| After he had said this, he died.