Matthew 20; Leviticus 10; Ephesians 2; James 5; Job 39; Psalms 137; Proverbs 8; Judges 14; Isaiah 37; Acts 7

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Matthew 20

1 "The Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a man who went out early in the morning to hire some men to work in his vineyard.
2 He agreed to pay them the regular wage, a silver coin a day, and sent them to work in his vineyard.
3 He went out again to the marketplace at nine o'clock and saw some men standing there doing nothing,
4 so he told them, "You also go and work in the vineyard, and I will pay you a fair wage.'
5 So they went. Then at twelve o'clock and again at three o'clock he did the same thing.
6 It was nearly five o'clock when he went to the marketplace and saw some other men still standing there. "Why are you wasting the whole day here doing nothing?' he asked them.
7 "No one hired us,' they answered. "Well, then, you go and work in the vineyard,' he told them.
8 "When evening came, the owner told his foreman, "Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with those who were hired last and ending with those who were hired first.'
9 The men who had begun to work at five o'clock were paid a silver coin each.
10 So when the men who were the first to be hired came to be paid, they thought they would get more; but they too were given a silver coin each.
11 They took their money and started grumbling against the employer.
12 "These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, "while we put up with a whole day's work in the hot sun - yet you paid them the same as you paid us!'
13 "Listen, friend,' the owner answered one of them, "I have not cheated you. After all, you agreed to do a day's work for one silver coin.
14 Now take your pay and go home. I want to give this man who was hired last as much as I gave you.
15 Don't I have the right to do as I wish with my own money? Or are you jealous because I am generous?' "
16 And Jesus concluded, "So those who are last will be first, and those who are first will be last."
17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and spoke to them privately, as they walked along.
18 "Listen," he told them, "we are going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. They will condemn him to death
19 and then hand him over to the Gentiles, who will make fun of him, whip him, and crucify him; but three days later he will be raised to life."
20 Then the wife of Zebedee came to Jesus with her two sons, bowed before him, and asked him for a favor.
21 "What do you want?" Jesus asked her. She answered, "Promise me that these two sons of mine will sit at your right and your left when you are King."
22 "You don't know what you are asking for," Jesus answered the sons. "Can you drink the cup of suffering that I am about to drink?" "We can," they answered.
23 "You will indeed drink from my cup," Jesus told them, "but I do not have the right to choose who will sit at my right and my left. These places belong to those for whom my Father has prepared them."
24 When the other ten disciples heard about this, they became angry with the two brothers.
25 So Jesus called them all together and said, "You know that the rulers of the heathen have power over them, and the leaders have complete authority.
26 This, however, is not the way it shall be among you. If one of you wants to be great, you must be the servant of the rest;
27 and if one of you wants to be first, you must be the slave of the others
28 like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people."
29 As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd was following.
30 Two blind men who were sitting by the road heard that Jesus was passing by, so they began to shout, "Son of David! Have mercy on us, sir!"
31 The crowd scolded them and told them to be quiet. But they shouted even more loudly, "Son of David! Have mercy on us, sir!"
32 Jesus stopped and called them. "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked them.
33 "Sir," they answered, "we want you to give us our sight!"
34 Jesus had pity on them and touched their eyes; at once they were able to see, and they followed him.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Leviticus 10

1 Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his fire pan, put live coals in it, added incense, and presented it to the Lord. But this fire was not holy, because the Lord had not commanded them to present it.
2 Suddenly the Lord sent fire, and it burned them to death there in the presence of the Lord.
3 Then Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the Lord was speaking about when he said, "All who serve me must respect my holiness; I will reveal my glory to my people.' " But Aaron remained silent.
4 Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel, Aaron's uncle, and said to them, "Come here and carry your cousins' bodies away from the sacred Tent and put them outside the camp."
5 So they came and took hold of the clothing on the corpses and carried them outside the camp, just as Moses had commanded.
6 Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, "Do not leave your hair uncombed or tear your clothes to show that you are in mourning. If you do, you will die, and the Lord will be angry with the whole community. But all other Israelites are allowed to mourn this death caused by the fire which the Lord sent.
7 Do not leave the entrance of the Tent or you will die, because you have been consecrated by the anointing oil of the Lord." So they did as Moses said.
8 The Lord said to Aaron,
9 "You and your sons are not to enter the Tent of my presence after drinking wine or beer; if you do, you will die. This is a law to be kept by all your descendants.
10 You must distinguish between what belongs to God and what is for general use, between what is ritually clean and what is unclean.
11 You must teach the people of Israel all the laws which I have given to you through Moses."
12 Moses said to Aaron and his two remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, "Take the grain offering that is left over from the food offered to the Lord, make unleavened bread with it and eat it beside the altar, because this offering is very holy.
13 Eat it in a holy place; it is the part that belongs to you and your sons from the food offered to the Lord. That is what the Lord commanded me.
14 But you and your families may eat the breast and the hind leg that are presented as the special gift and the special contribution to the Lord for the priests. You may eat them in any ritually clean place. These offerings have been given to you and your children as the part that belongs to you from the fellowship offerings of the people of Israel.
15 They shall bring the hind leg and the breast at the time the fat is presented as a food offering to the Lord. These parts belong to you and your children forever, just as the Lord commanded."
16 Moses asked about the goat for the sin offering and learned that it had already been burned. This made him angry at Eleazar and Ithamar, and he demanded,
17 "Why didn't you eat the sin offering in a sacred place? It is very holy, and the Lord has given it to you in order to take away the sin of the community.
18 Since its blood was not brought into the sacred Tent, you should have eaten the sacrifice there, as I commanded."
19 Aaron answered, "If I had eaten the sin offering today, would the Lord have approved? The people presented their sin offering to the Lord today, and they brought their burnt offering, but still these terrible things have happened to me."
20 When Moses heard this, he was satisfied.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Ephesians 2

1 In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins.
2 At that time you followed the world's evil way; you obeyed the ruler of the spiritual powers in space, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God.
3 Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God's anger.
4 But God's mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great,
5 that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace that you have been saved.
6 In our union with Christ Jesus he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world.
7 He did this to demonstrate for all time to come the extraordinary greatness of his grace in the love he showed us in Christ Jesus.
8 For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts,
9 but God's gift, so that no one can boast about it.
10 God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.
11 You Gentiles by birth - called "the uncircumcised" by the Jews, who call themselves the circumcised (which refers to what men do to their bodies) - remember what you were in the past.
12 At that time you were apart from Christ. You were foreigners and did not belong to God's chosen people. You had no part in the covenants, which were based on God's promises to his people, and you lived in this world without hope and without God.
13 But now, in union with Christ Jesus you, who used to be far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies.
15 He abolished the Jewish Law with its commandments and rules, in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with himself, in this way making peace.
16 By his death on the cross Christ destroyed their enmity; by means of the cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God.
17 So Christ came and preached the Good News of peace to all - to you Gentiles, who were far away from God, and to the Jews, who were near to him.
18 It is through Christ that all of us, Jews and Gentiles, are able to come in the one Spirit into the presence of the Father.
19 So then, you Gentiles are not foreigners or strangers any longer; you are now citizens together with God's people and members of the family of God.
20 You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus himself.
21 He is the one who holds the whole building together and makes it grow into a sacred temple dedicated to the Lord.
22 In union with him you too are being built together with all the others into a place where God lives through his Spirit.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

James 5

1 And now, you rich people, listen to me! Weep and wail over the miseries that are coming upon you!
2 Your riches have rotted away, and your clothes have been eaten by moths.
3 Your gold and silver are covered with rust, and this rust will be a witness against you and will eat up your flesh like fire. You have piled up riches in these last days.
4 You have not paid any wages to those who work in your fields. Listen to their complaints! The cries of those who gather in your crops have reached the ears of God, the Lord Almighty.
5 Your life here on earth has been full of luxury and pleasure. You have made yourselves fat for the day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned and murdered innocent people, and they do not resist you.
7 Be patient, then, my friends, until the Lord comes. See how patient farmers are as they wait for their land to produce precious crops. They wait patiently for the autumn and spring rains.
8 You also must be patient. Keep your hopes high, for the day of the Lord's coming is near.
9 Do not complain against one another, my friends, so that God will not judge you. The Judge is near, ready to appear.
10 My friends, remember the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Take them as examples of patient endurance under suffering.
11 We call them happy because they endured. You have heard of Job's patience, and you know how the Lord provided for him in the end. For the Lord is full of mercy and compassion.
12 Above all, my friends, do not use an oath when you make a promise. Do not swear by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Say only "Yes" when you mean yes, and "No" when you mean no, and then you will not come under God's judgment.
13 Are any among you in trouble? They should pray. Are any among you happy? They should sing praises.
14 Are any among you sick? They should send for the church elders, who will pray for them and rub olive oil on them in the name of the Lord.
15 This prayer made in faith will heal the sick; the Lord will restore them to health, and the sins they have committed will be forgiven.
16 So then, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you will be healed. The prayer of a good person has a powerful effect.
17 Elijah was the same kind of person as we are. He prayed earnestly that there would be no rain, and no rain fell on the land for three and a half years.
18 Once again he prayed, and the sky poured out its rain and the earth produced its crops.
19 My friends, if any of you wander away from the truth and another one brings you back again,
20 remember this: whoever turns a sinner back from the wrong way will save that sinner's soul from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Job 39

1 Do you know when mountain goats are born? Have you watched wild deer give birth?
2 Do you know how long they carry their young? Do you know the time for their birth?
3 Do you know when they will crouch down and bring their young into the world?
4 In the wilds their young grow strong; they go away and don't come back.
5 Who gave the wild donkeys their freedom? Who turned them loose and let them roam?
6 I gave them the desert to be their home, and let them live on the salt plains.
7 They keep far away from the noisy cities, and no one can tame them and make them work.
8 The mountains are the pastures where they feed, where they search for anything green to eat.
9 Will a wild ox work for you? Is he willing to spend the night in your stable?
10 Can you hold one with a rope and make him plow? Or make him pull a harrow in your fields?
11 Can you rely on his great strength and expect him to do your heavy work?
12 Do you expect him to bring in your harvest and gather the grain from your threshing place?
13 How fast the wings of an ostrich beat! But no ostrich can fly like a stork.
14 The ostrich leaves her eggs on the ground for the heat in the soil to warm them.
15 She is unaware that a foot may crush them or a wild animal break them.
16 She acts as if the eggs were not hers, and is unconcerned that her efforts were wasted.
17 It was I who made her foolish and did not give her wisdom.
18 But when she begins to run, she can laugh at any horse and rider.
19 Was it you, Job, who made horses so strong and gave them their flowing manes?
20 Did you make them leap like locusts and frighten people with their snorting?
21 They eagerly paw the ground in the valley; they rush into battle with all their strength.
22 They do not know the meaning of fear, and no sword can turn them back.
23 The weapons which their riders carry rattle and flash in the sun.
24 Trembling with excitement, the horses race ahead; when the trumpet blows, they can't stand still.
25 At each blast of the trumpet they snort; they can smell a battle before they get near, and they hear the officers shouting commands.
26 Does a hawk learn from you how to fly when it spreads its wings toward the south?
27 Does an eagle wait for your command to build its nest high in the mountains?
28 It makes its home on the highest rocks and makes the sharp peaks its fortress.
29 From there it watches near and far for something to kill and eat.
30 Around dead bodies the eagles gather, and the young eagles drink the blood.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Psalms 137

1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat down; there we wept when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows near by we hung up our harps.
3 Those who captured us told us to sing; they told us to entertain them: "Sing us a song about Zion."
4 How can we sing a song to the Lord in a foreign land?
5 May I never be able to play the harp again if I forget you, Jerusalem!
6 May I never be able to sing again if I do not remember you, if I do not think of you as my greatest joy!
7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did the day Jerusalem was captured. Remember how they kept saying, "Tear it down to the ground!"
8 Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy are those who pay you back for what you have done to us -
9 who take your babies and smash them against a rock.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Proverbs 8

1 Listen! Wisdom is calling out. Reason is making herself heard.
2 On the hilltops near the road and at the crossroads she stands.
3 At the entrance to the city, beside the gates, she calls:
4 "I appeal to all of you; I call to everyone on earth.
5 Are you immature? Learn to be mature. Are you foolish? Learn to have sense.
6 Listen to my excellent words; all I tell you is right.
7 What I say is the truth; lies are hateful to me.
8 Everything I say is true; nothing is false or misleading.
9 To those with insight, it is all clear; to the well-informed, it is all plain.
10 Choose my instruction instead of silver; choose knowledge rather than the finest gold.
11 "I am Wisdom, I am better than jewels; nothing you want can compare with me.
12 I am Wisdom, and I have insight; I have knowledge and sound judgment.
13 To honor the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil ways and false words.
14 I make plans and carry them out. I have understanding, and I am strong.
15 I help kings to govern and rulers to make good laws.
16 Every ruler on earth governs with my help, officials and nobles alike.
17 I love those who love me; whoever looks for me can find me.
18 I have riches and honor to give, prosperity and success.
19 What you get from me is better than the finest gold, better than the purest silver.
20 I walk the way of righteousness; I follow the paths of justice,
21 giving wealth to those who love me, filling their houses with treasures.
22 "The Lord created me first of all, the first of his works, long ago.
23 I was made in the very beginning, at the first, before the world began.
24 I was born before the oceans, when there were no springs of water.
25 I was born before the mountains, before the hills were set in place,
26 before God made the earth and its fields or even the first handful of soil.
27 I was there when he set the sky in place, when he stretched the horizon across the ocean,
28 when he placed the clouds in the sky, when he opened the springs of the ocean
29 and ordered the waters of the sea to rise no further than he said. I was there when he laid the earth's foundations.
30 I was beside him like an architect, I was his daily source of joy, always happy in his presence -
31 happy with the world and pleased with the human race.
32 "Now, young people, listen to me. Do as I say, and you will be happy.
33 Listen to what you are taught. Be wise; do not neglect it.
34 Those who listen to me will be happy - those who stay at my door every day, waiting at the entrance to my home.
35 Those who find me find life, and the Lord will be pleased with them.
36 Those who do not find me hurt themselves; anyone who hates me loves death."
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Judges 14

1 One day Samson went down to Timnah, where he noticed a certain young Philistine woman.
2 He went back home and told his father and mother, "There is a Philistine woman down at Timnah who caught my attention. Get her for me; I want to marry her."
3 But his father and mother asked him, "Why do you have to go to those heathen Philistines to get a wife? Can't you find someone in our own clan, among all our people?" But Samson told his father, "She is the one I want you to get for me. I like her."
4 His parents did not know that it was the Lord who was leading Samson to do this, for the Lord was looking for a chance to fight the Philistines. At this time the Philistines were ruling Israel.
5 So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother. As they were going through the vineyards there, he heard a young lion roaring.
6 Suddenly the power of the Lord made Samson strong, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands, as if it were a young goat. But he did not tell his parents what he had done.
7 Then he went and talked to the young woman, and he liked her.
8 A few days later Samson went back to marry her. On the way he left the road to look at the lion he had killed, and he was surprised to find a swarm of bees and some honey inside the dead body.
9 He scraped the honey out into his hands and ate it as he walked along. Then he went to his father and mother and gave them some. They ate it, but Samson did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the dead body of a lion.
10 His father went to the woman's house, and Samson gave a banquet there. This was a custom among the young men.
11 When the Philistines saw him, they sent thirty young men to stay with him.
12 Samson said to them, "Let me tell you a riddle. I'll bet each one of you a piece of fine linen and a change of fine clothes that you can't tell me its meaning before the seven days of the wedding feast are over." "Tell us your riddle," they said. "Let's hear it."
14 He said, "Out of the eater came something to eat; Out of the strong came something sweet." Three days later they had still not figured out what the riddle meant.
15 On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, "Trick your husband into telling us what the riddle means. If you don't, we'll set fire to your father's house and burn you with it. You two invited us so that you could rob us, didn't you?"
16 So Samson's wife went to him in tears and said, "You don't love me! You just hate me! You told my friends a riddle and didn't tell me what it means!" He said, "Look, I haven't even told my father and mother. Why should I tell you?"
17 She cried about it for the whole seven days of the feast. But on the seventh day he told her what the riddle meant, for she nagged him so about it. Then she told the Philistines.
18 So on the seventh day, before Samson went into the bedroom, the men of the city said to him, "What could be sweeter than honey? What could be stronger than a lion?" Samson replied, "If you hadn't been plowing with my cow, You wouldn't know the answer now."
19 Suddenly the power of the Lord made him strong, and he went down to Ashkelon, where he killed thirty men, stripped them, and gave their fine clothes to the men who had solved the riddle. After that, he went back home, furious about what had happened,
20 and his wife was given to the man that had been his best man at the wedding.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Isaiah 37

1 As soon as King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes in grief, put on sackcloth, and went to the Temple of the Lord.
2 He sent Eliakim, the official in charge of the palace, Shebna, the court secretary, and the senior priests to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They also were wearing sackcloth.
3 This is the message which he told them to give to Isaiah: "Today is a day of suffering; we are being punished and are in disgrace. We are like a woman who is ready to give birth, but is too weak to do it.
4 The Assyrian emperor has sent his chief official to insult the living God. May the Lord your God hear these insults and punish those who spoke them. So pray to God for those of our people who survive."
5 When Isaiah received King Hezekiah's message,
6 he sent back this answer: "The Lord tells you not to let the Assyrians frighten you by their claims that he cannot save you.
7 The Lord will cause the emperor to hear a rumor that will make him go back to his own country, and the Lord will have him killed there."
8 The Assyrian official learned that the emperor had left Lachish and was fighting against the nearby city of Libnah; so he went there to consult him.
9 Word reached the Assyrians that the Egyptian army, led by King Tirhakah of Ethiopia, was coming to attack them. When the emperor heard this, he sent a letter to King Hezekiah
10 of Judah to tell him: "The god you are trusting in has told you that you will not fall into my hands, but don't let that deceive you.
11 You have heard what an Assyrian emperor does to any country he decides to destroy. Do you think that you can escape?
12 My ancestors destroyed the cities of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and killed the people of Betheden who lived in Telassar, and none of their gods could save them.
13 Where are the kings of the cities of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?"
14 King Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went to the Temple, placed the letter there in the presence of the Lord,
15 and prayed,
16 "Almighty Lord, God of Israel, seated above the winged creatures, you alone are God, ruling all the kingdoms of the world. You created the earth and the sky.
17 Now, Lord, hear us and look at what is happening to us. Listen to all the things that Sennacherib is saying to insult you, the living God.
18 We all know, Lord, that the emperors of Assyria have destroyed many nations, made their lands desolate,
19 and burned up their gods - which were no gods at all, only images of wood and stone made by human hands.
20 Now, Lord our God, rescue us from the Assyrians, so that all the nations of the world will know that you alone are God."
21 Then Isaiah sent a message telling King Hezekiah that in answer to the king's prayer
22 the Lord had said, "The city of Jerusalem laughs at you, Sennacherib, and makes fun of you.
23 Whom do you think you have been insulting and ridiculing? You have been disrespectful to me, the holy God of Israel.
24 You sent your servants to boast to me that with all your chariots you had conquered the highest mountains of Lebanon. You boasted that there you cut down the tallest cedars and the finest cypress trees, and that you reached the deepest parts of the forests.
25 You boasted that you dug wells and drank water in foreign lands, and that the feet of your soldiers tramped the Nile River dry.
26 "Have you never heard that I planned all this long ago? And now I have carried it out. I gave you the power to turn fortified cities into piles of rubble.
27 The people who lived there were powerless; they were frightened and stunned. They were like grass in a field or weeds growing on a roof when the hot east wind blasts them.
28 "But I know everything about you, what you do and where you go. I know how you rage against me.
29 I have received the report of that rage and that pride of yours, and now I will put a hook through your nose and a bit in your mouth and will take you back by the same road you came."
30 Then Isaiah said to King Hezekiah, "Here is a sign of what will happen. This year and next you will have only wild grain to eat, but the following year you will be able to plant grain and harvest it, and plant vines and eat grapes.
31 Those in Judah who survive will flourish like plants that send roots deep into the ground and produce fruit.
32 There will be people in Jerusalem and on Mount Zion who will survive, because the Lord Almighty is determined to make this happen.
33 "And this is what the Lord has said about the Assyrian emperor: "He will not enter this city or shoot a single arrow against it. No soldiers with shields will come near the city, and no siege mounds will be built around it.
34 He will go back by the same road he came, without entering this city. I, the Lord, have spoken.
35 I will defend this city and protect it, for the sake of my own honor and because of the promise I made to my servant David.' "
36 An angel of the Lord went to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 soldiers. At dawn the next day there they lay, all dead!
37 Then the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib withdrew and returned to Nineveh.
38 One day when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, two of his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords and then escaped to the land of Ararat. Another of his sons, Esarhaddon, succeeded him as emperor.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Acts 7

1 The High Priest asked Stephen, "Is this true?"
2 Stephen answered, "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! Before our ancestor Abraham had gone to live in Haran, the God of glory appeared to him in Mesopotamia
3 and said to him, "Leave your family and country and go to the land that I will show you.'
4 And so he left his country and went to live in Haran. After Abraham's father died, God made him move to this land where you now live.
5 God did not then give Abraham any part of it as his own, not even a square foot of ground, but God promised to give it to him, and that it would belong to him and to his descendants. At the time God made this promise, Abraham had no children.
6 This is what God said to him: "Your descendants will live in a foreign country, where they will be slaves and will be badly treated for four hundred years.
7 But I will pass judgment on the people that they will serve, and afterward your descendants will come out of that country and will worship me in this place.'
8 Then God gave to Abraham the ceremony of circumcision as a sign of the covenant. So Abraham circumcised Isaac a week after he was born; Isaac circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob circumcised his twelve sons, the famous ancestors of our race.
9 "Jacob's sons became jealous of their brother Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him
10 and brought him safely through all his troubles. When Joseph appeared before the king of Egypt, God gave him a pleasing manner and wisdom, and the king made Joseph governor over the country and the royal household.
11 Then there was a famine all over Egypt and Canaan, which caused much suffering. Our ancestors could not find any food,
12 and when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent his sons, our ancestors, on their first visit there.
13 On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and the king of Egypt came to know about Joseph's family.
14 So Joseph sent a message to his father Jacob, telling him and the whole family, seventy-five people in all, to come to Egypt.
15 Then Jacob went to Egypt, where he and his sons died.
16 Their bodies were taken to Shechem, where they were buried in the grave which Abraham had bought from the clan of Hamor for a sum of money.
17 "When the time drew near for God to keep the promise he had made to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had grown much larger.
18 At last a king who did not know about Joseph began to rule in Egypt.
19 He tricked our ancestors and was cruel to them, forcing them to put their babies out of their homes, so that they would die.
20 It was at this time that Moses was born, a very beautiful child. He was cared for at home for three months,
21 and when he was put out of his home, the king's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.
22 He was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man in words and deeds.
23 "When Moses was forty years old, he decided to find out how his fellow Israelites were being treated.
24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his help and took revenge on the Egyptian by killing him
25 (He thought that his own people would understand that God was going to use him to set them free, but they did not understand.)
26 The next day he saw two Israelites fighting, and he tried to make peace between them. "Listen, men,' he said, "you are fellow Israelites; why are you fighting like this?'
27 But the one who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside. "Who made you ruler and judge over us?' he asked.
28 "Do you want to kill me, just as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?'
29 When Moses heard this, he fled from Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian. There he had two sons.
30 "After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.
31 Moses was amazed by what he saw, and went near the bush to get a better look. But he heard the Lord's voice:
32 "I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Moses trembled with fear and dared not look.
33 The Lord said to him, "Take your sandals off, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
34 I have seen the cruel suffering of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans, and I have come down to set them free. Come now; I will send you to Egypt.'
35 "Moses is the one who was rejected by the people of Israel. "Who made you ruler and judge over us?' they asked. He is the one whom God sent to rule the people and set them free with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush.
36 He led the people out of Egypt, performing miracles and wonders in Egypt and at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert.
37 Moses is the one who said to the people of Israel, "God will send you a prophet, just as he sent me, and he will be one of your own people.'
38 He is the one who was with the people of Israel assembled in the desert; he was there with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and he received God's living messages to pass on to us.
39 "But our ancestors refused to obey him; they pushed him aside and wished that they could go back to Egypt.
40 So they said to Aaron, "Make us some gods who will lead us. We do not know what has happened to that man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.'
41 It was then that they made an idol in the shape of a bull, offered sacrifice to it, and had a feast in honor of what they themselves had made.
42 So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: "People of Israel! It was not to me that you slaughtered and sacrificed animals for forty years in the desert.
43 It was the tent of the god Molech that you carried, and the image of Rephan, your star god; they were idols that you had made to worship. And so I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.'
44 "Our ancestors had the Tent of God's presence with them in the desert. It had been made as God had told Moses to make it, according to the pattern that Moses had been shown.
45 Later on, our ancestors who received the tent from their fathers carried it with them when they went with Joshua and took over the land from the nations that God drove out as they advanced. And it stayed there until the time of David.
46 He won God's favor and asked God to allow him to provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
47 But it was Solomon who built him a house.
48 "But the Most High God does not live in houses built by human hands; as the prophet says,
49 "Heaven is my throne, says the Lord, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house would you build for me? Where is the place for me to live in?
50 Did not I myself make all these things?'
51 "How stubborn you are!" Stephen went on to say. "How heathen your hearts, how deaf you are to God's message! You are just like your ancestors: you too have always resisted the Holy Spirit!
52 Was there any prophet that your ancestors did not persecute? They killed God's messengers, who long ago announced the coming of his righteous Servant. And now you have betrayed and murdered him.
53 You are the ones who received God's law, that was handed down by angels - yet you have not obeyed it!"
54 As the members of the Council listened to Stephen, they became furious and ground their teeth at him in anger.
55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw God's glory and Jesus standing at the right side of God.
56 "Look!" he said. "I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!"
57 With a loud cry the Council members covered their ears with their hands. Then they all rushed at him at once,
58 threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses left their cloaks in the care of a young man named Saul.
59 They kept on stoning Stephen as he called out to the Lord, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"
60 He knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord! Do not remember this sin against them!" He said this and died.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.