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Stephen’s Speech

¹The high priesta said to Stephen, "Is all this true?" ²Stephen answered, "My Jewish fathers and brothers, listen to me. Our great and glorious God appeared to Abraham, our ancestorb, when he was in Mesopotamia. This was before he lived in Haran. ³God said to him, 'Leave your country and your people, and go to the country I will show you.'c
⁴"So Abraham left the country of Chaldead. He went to live in Haran. After his father died, God sent him to this place, where you live now. ⁵But God did not give Abraham any of this land, not even a foot of it. But God promised that in the future he would give Abraham this land for himself and for his children. This was before Abraham had any children.
⁶"This is what God said to him: 'Your descendants will live in another country. They will be strangers. The people there will make them slaves and mistreat them for 400 years. ⁷But I will punish the nation that made them slaves.'e And God also said, 'After those things happen, your people will come out of that country. Then they will worship me here in this place.'f
⁸"God made an agreement with Abraham; the sign for this agreement was circumcisiong. And so when Abraham had a son, he circumcised him when he was eight days old. His son's name was Isaac. Isaac also circumcised his son Jacob. And Jacob did the same for his sons who became the twelve great ancestors of our people.
⁹"These ancestors of ours became jealous of their brother Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him ¹⁰and saved him from all his troubles. Pharaoh was the king of Egypt then. He liked Joseph and respected him because of the wisdom God gave him. Pharaoh gave Joseph the job of being a governor of Egypt. He even let him rule over all the people in Pharaoh's house. ¹¹But all the land of Egypt and of Canaanh became dry. It became so dry that food could not grow, and the people suffered very much. Our people could not find anything to eat.
¹²"But Jacob heard that there was food in Egypt. So he sent our people there. This was their first trip to Egypt. ¹³Then they went there a second time. This time Joseph told his brothers who he was. And Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family. ¹⁴Then Joseph sent some men to tell Jacob, his father, to come to Egypt. He also invited all his relatives, a total of 75 people. ¹⁵So Jacob went down to Egypt. He and our other ancestors lived there until they died. ¹⁶Later, their bodies were moved to Shechem, where they were put in a tombi. It was the same tomb that Abraham had bought in Shechem from the sons of Hamor. He paid them with silver.
¹⁷"The number of our people in Egypt grew. There were more and more of our people there. The promise that God made to Abraham was soon to come true. ¹⁸Then a different king began to rule Egypt, one who knew nothing about Joseph. ¹⁹This king tricked our people. He treated them badly, making them leave their children outside to die.
²⁰"This was the time when Mosesj was born. He was a very beautiful child, and for three months his parents took care of him at home. ²¹When they put him outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him. She raised him as her own son. ²²The Egyptians taught Moses everything they knew. He was powerful in all he said and did.
²³"When Moses was about 40 years old, he decided to visit his own people, the people of Israelk. ²⁴He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he defended him. Moses hit the Egyptian to pay him back for hurting the man. He hit him so hard that it killed him. ²⁵Moses thought that his people would understand that God was using him to save them. But they did not understand.
²⁶"The next day, Moses saw two of his own people fighting. He tried to make peace between them. He said, 'Men, you are brothers! Why are you trying to hurt each other?' ²⁷The man who was hurting the other one pushed Moses away and said to him, 'Did anyone say you could be our ruler and judge? ²⁸Will you kill me just as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?'l ²⁹When Moses heard him say this, he left Egypt. He went to live in the land of Midian, where he was a stranger. During the time he lived there, he had two sons.
³⁰"Forty years later Moses was in the desert near Mount Sinai. An angel appeared to him in the flame of a burning bush. ³¹When Moses saw this, he was amazed. He went near to look closer at it. He heard a voice; it was the Lord's. ³²The Lord said, 'I am the same God your ancestors had - the God of Abrahamm, the God of Isaacn, and the God of Jacobo.'p Moses began to shake with fear. He was afraid to look at the bush.
³³"The Lord said to him, 'Take off your sandals, because the place where you are now standing is holy ground. ³⁴I have seen my people suffer much in Egypt. I have heard my people crying and have come down to save them. Come now, Moses, I am sending you back to Egypt.'q
³⁵"This Moses was the one his people said they did not want. They said, 'Did anyone say you could be our ruler and judge?'r But he is the one God sent to be a ruler and savior. God sent him with the help of an angel, the one Moses saw in the burning bush. ³⁶So Moses led the people out of Egypt. He worked wonderss and miraculous signst in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and then in the desert for 40 years.
³⁷"This is the same Moses who said these words to the people of Israel: 'God will give you a prophetu. That prophet will come from among your own people. He will be like me.'v ³⁸This same Moses was with the gathering of God's people in the desert. He was with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and he was with our ancestors. He received life-giving words from God to give to us.
³⁹"But our ancestors did not want to obey Moses. They rejected him. They wanted to go back to Egypt again. ⁴⁰They said to Aaron, 'Moses led us out of the country of Egypt. But we don't know what has happened to him. So make some gods to go before us and lead us.'w ⁴¹So the people made an idol that looked like a calf. Then they brought sacrifices to it. They were very happy with what they had made with their own hands. ⁴²But God turned against them and let them continue worshiping the army of false gods in the sky. This is what God says in the book that contains what the prophets wrote:

'People of Israel, you did not bring me blood offerings and sacrificesx in the desert for 40 years;
⁴³You carried with you the tent for worshiping Moloch and the image of the star of your god Rephan.
These were the idols you made to worship. So I will send you away beyond Babylon.'y

⁴⁴"The Holy Tentz was with our ancestors in the desert. God told Moses how to make this tent. He made it like the plan that God showed him. ⁴⁵Later, Joshua led our ancestors to capture the lands of the other nations. Our people went in and God made the other people go out. When our people went into this new land, they took with them this same tent. Our people received this tent from their fathers, and our people kept it until the time of Davidaa. ⁴⁶God was very pleased with David. He asked God to let him build a Templeab for the people of Jacobac. ⁴⁷But Solomon was the one who built the Temple.
⁴⁸"But the Most High God does not live in houses built by human hands. This is what the prophetu writes:

⁴⁹'The Lord says,
Heaven is my throne, and the earth is where I rest my feet.
So do you think you can build a house for me? Do I need a place to rest?
⁵⁰Remember, I made all these things!'"ad

⁵¹Then Stephen said, "You stubborn Jewish leaders! You refuse to give your hearts to God or even listen to him. You are always against what the Holy Spiritae wants you to do. That's how your ancestors were, and you are just like them! ⁵²They persecutedaf every prophet who ever lived. They even killed those who long ago said that the Righteous One would come. And now you have turned against that Righteous One and killed him. ⁵³You are the people who received God's law, which he gave you through his angels. But you don't obey it!"

Stephen Is Killed ⁵⁴When those in the council meeting heard this, they became very angry. They were so mad they were grinding their teeth at him. ⁵⁵But Stephen was full of the Holy Spiritae. He looked up into heaven and saw the gloryag of God. And he saw Jesus standing at God's right side. ⁵⁶Stephen said, "Look! I see heaven open. And I see the Son of Manah standing at God's right side."
⁵⁷Everyone there started shouting loudly, covering their ears with their hands. Together they all ran at Stephen. ⁵⁸They took him out of the city and began throwing stones at him. The men who told lies against Stephen gave their coats to a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹As they were throwing the stones at him, Stephen was praying. He said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" ⁶⁰He fell on his knees and shouted, "Lord, don't blame them for this sin!" These were his last words before he died.

^ahigh priest The most important priest and leader of the Israelites or the Jews, God’s people under the “old agreement.” Under the “new agreement” the high priest for God’s people is Jesus Christ. Read Heb. 7:11-8:13.
^bancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents, grandparents, and all the other people that person is descended from. In the New Testament it usually refers to people who lived during Old Testament times.
^c7:3 Quote from Gen. 12:1.
^d7:4 Chaldea Or “Babylonia,” a land in the southern part of Mesopotamia. See verse 2.
^e7:7 Quote from Gen. 15:13-14.
^f7:7 Quote from Gen. 15:14; Ex. 3:12.
^gcircumcise, circumcision Cutting off the foreskin of the male sex organ. This was done to every Jewish baby boy as a mark of the agreement God made with Abraham. Read Gen. 17:9-14. Sometimes “circumcision” is used with “heart” in the figurative sense of true devotion to God. (See Jer. 9:26; Rom. 2:28.) In the New Testament “circumcision” is also used in a spiritual sense to refer to the changed life of believers who have come to share in the new agreement God gave his people through Jesus. (See Php. 3:3; Col. 2:11.)
^hCanaan The land where the Canaanites lived. In the time of Joshua the Israelites fought for this land and eventually controlled most of it. It was generally the same area that was later called Palestine and included what are now Israel and Lebanon.
ⁱtomb A grave dug in a wall of rock or a building where a dead body is buried. It can also be a small building made to show respect for important people who had died.
^jMoses One of the most important leaders of the Israelites during the time of the Old Testament. God used him to give the people his law, which is often called “the Law of Moses.”
^kIsrael Another name for Jacob (see Gen. 32:24-28) and for the nation God chose to accomplish his plan of blessing the world through the Messiah (see “Messiah”). The people of Israel were the descendants of Jacob’s twelve sons. In the New Testament this name is sometimes used in a broader sense to mean all of God’s people.
^l7:28 Quote from Ex. 2:14.
^mAbraham The most respected ancestor of the Jewish people. Through him God promised to make a great nation and bless all the people of the earth. Read Gen. 12:1-3.
ⁿIsaac The son of Abraham and one of the most important ancestors of the Israelites or Jews.
^oJacob Or “Israel,” ancestor of the people of Israel (also called Israelites and, later, Jews). See Gen. 32:24-28 for the story of how Jacob was given the name Israel. He was the father of twelve sons from whom the twelve tribes of Israel descended, and the name Jacob continued to be used for the nation or people of Israel.
^p7:32 Quote from Ex. 3:6.
^q7:34 Quote from Ex. 3:5-10.
^r7:35 Quote from Ex. 2:14.
^swonders Miracles that cause people to react with amazement and fear of God.
^tmiraculous sign An amazing act that demonstrates the power of God.
^uprophet A person who speaks a message from God. Many of the books in the Old Testament are messages spoken or written by “the prophets,” who were some of those God chose to speak for him. God often used dreams or visions to tell or show his prophets what they should say.
^v7:37 Quote from Deut. 18:15.
^w7:40 Quote from Ex. 32:1.
^xsacrifice To offer a gift to God as an expression of worship, thanksgiving, or payment for sin. Also, the gift that is offered. In the Old Testament it was usually a special animal that was killed and burned on an altar. The Old Testament sacrifices offered for sins were symbolic of the perfect sacrifice that God himself would provide through Jesus Christ. Jesus gave his own life as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of all people. See Heb. 10:1-14.
^yAmos 5:25-27
^z7:44 Holy Tent Literally, “Tent of the Testimony.” See “Holy Tent” in the Word List.
^aaDavid Israel’s greatest king, who ruled about 1000 years before Christ. Besides being a great military and political leader, he was a deeply spiritual man and a gifted musician, who wrote many of the Psalms. He made plans and arrangements for the building of the first Temple in Jerusalem (“the city of David”), which was actually completed by his son Solomon. The Scriptures said that a descendant of David would be God’s chosen messiah (king), who would establish an eternal kingdom. For that reason, Jesus is sometimes called “the Son of David.”
^abTemple The permanent building in Jerusalem that replaced the portable “Holy Tent” that was used by the Israelites from the time of their wandering in the desert to the reign of King Solomon, when the first Temple was built. Like the Holy Tent, the Temple was the center of Israelite worship, although provision was made for it to be “a house of prayer for all nations” (Isa. 56:7).
^ac7:46 for the people of Jacob Some Greek copies have “for the God of Jacob.”
^adIsaiah 66:1-2
^aeHoly Spirit Also called the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and the Comforter. In union with God and Christ, he does God’s work among people in the world.
^afpersecute To hurt, cause trouble for, or do bad things to someone, especially because of their beliefs.
^agglory A word that refers to the special qualities of God. Often it means brightness, referring to the way he appears to people. Sometimes it means majesty or power, referring to a kind of greatness that cannot be compared to anything in human experience. It can also include the ideas of wealth, honor, fame, or respect, especially in expressions of praise.
^ahSon of Man The name that Jesus most often used for himself. The phrase in Hebrew or Aramaic means “human being” or “mankind,” but in Dan. 7:13-14 it is used of a future savior and king, and this was later understood to be the Messiah, the one God would send to save his people.