1The high priest asked, "Are these accusations true?"
2Stephen answered, "Brothers and fathers, listen. The glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,
3and said to him, 'Leave your land and your relatives, and go to a land I will show you.'
4So he left the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. After his father died, God moved him to this land where you are now living.
5God did not give him any inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But he promised that he would give it to him as his possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child yet.
6God spoke in this way: his descendants would live as foreigners in a strange land, and they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.
7'I will judge the nation that enslaves them,' God said, 'and after that, they will come out and serve me in this place.'
8Then God gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
9The patriarchs, out of jealousy, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him,
10and rescued him from all his troubles. God gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Pharaoh made Joseph governor over Egypt and over his entire royal household.
11Then a famine came over all of Egypt and Canaan, causing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find any food.
12But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there for the first time.
13The second time they went, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family.
14Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five people in total.
15Jacob went down to Egypt, and he and our ancestors died there.
16They were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought with silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17“As the time approached for God to fulfill the promise he had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
18until a different king came to power who did not know about Joseph.
19This king took advantage of our people and mistreated our ancestors, forcing them to abandon their babies so they would not survive.
20At that time Moses was born, and he was remarkably beautiful. He was cared for in his father’s house for three months.
21When he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and raised him as her own son.
22Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was powerful in his words and actions.
23But when he was forty years old, he decided to visit his brothers, the people of Israel.
24When he saw one of them being mistreated, he rushed to his defense and avenged the oppressed man by striking the Egyptian.
25He thought his brothers would understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not understand.
26“The next day, he appeared to them as they were fighting and urged them to make peace, saying, 'Men, you are brothers. Why are you hurting each other?'
27But the man who was wronging his neighbor pushed Moses away, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?'
28Do you want to kill me, just like you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'
29Moses ran away when he heard this, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.
30Forty years later, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the desert near Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire coming from a bush.
31When Moses saw it, he was amazed. As he went closer to look, he heard the voice of the Lord say to him,
32'I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' Moses trembled and was afraid to look.
33The Lord told him, 'Take your sandals off your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground.
34I have certainly seen the suffering of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their cries. I have come down to rescue them. Now come, I will send you to Egypt.'
35This same Moses, whom they rejected by saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?' — God sent him as both a ruler and a rescuer, with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36This man led them out, after performing wonders and miracles in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the desert for forty years.
37This is the Moses who told the people of Israel, 'The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your own people, just like me.'
38This is the one who was with the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors. He received living messages to give to us,
39but our ancestors refused to obey him, rejected him, and in their hearts, longed to return to Egypt.
40They told Aaron, 'Make us gods who will lead us, because as for this Moses, who led us out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him.'
41In those days, they made a calf idol, offered sacrifices to it, and celebrated what their own hands had made.
42But God turned away from them and allowed them to worship the stars and planets, just as it is written in the book of the prophets: 'Did you bring me slaughtered animals and sacrifices for forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
43You carried the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.'
44Our ancestors had the Tent of Meeting (the tabernacle of testimony) in the desert, exactly as the one who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the design he had seen.
45Our ancestors, in turn, brought it with them when Joshua led them into the land of the nations, whom God drove out before our ancestors, up until the time of David.
46David found favor with God and asked to prepare a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
47But Solomon built him a house.
48However, the Most High does not live in temples built by human hands, as the prophet says,
49'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is a footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build for me?' says the Lord; 'or where will I rest?
50Didn't my hand make all these things?'
51You stubborn people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit! You are just like your ancestors.
52Was there any prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers.
53You received the law, which was given by angels, but you have not obeyed it!
54When the people heard this, they were furious and ground their teeth at him.
55But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God's right hand.
56He said, "Look! I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"
57But they screamed at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and rushed at him together.
58They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. The witnesses laid their outer clothing at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"
60Then he knelt down and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" After saying this, he died.