Parallel Bible results for "Acts 7"

Acts 7

New International Reader's Version NIRV

1 Then the high priest questioned Stephen. "Is what these people are saying true?" he asked.

2 "Brothers and fathers, listen to me!" Stephen replied. "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham. At that time Abraham was still in Mesopotamia. He had not yet begun living in Haran.

3 'Leave your country and your people,' God said. 'Go to the land I will show you.'(Genesis 12:1)

4 "So Abraham left the land of Babylonia. He settled in Haran. After his father died, God sent Abraham to this land where you are now living.

5 God didn't give him any property here. He didn't give him even a foot of land. But God made a promise to him and to all his family after him. He said they would possess the land. The promise was made even though at that time Abraham had no child.

6 "Here is what God said to him. 'Your family after you will be strangers in a country that is not their own. They will be slaves and will be treated badly for 400 years.

7 But I will punish the nation that makes them slaves,' God said. 'After that, they will leave that country and worship me here.'(Genesis 15:13,14)

8 "Then God made a covenant with Abraham. God told him that circumcision would show who the members of the covenant were. Abraham became Isaac's father. He circumcised Isaac eight days after he was born. Later, Isaac became Jacob's father. Jacob had 12 sons. They became the founders of the 12 tribes of Israel.

9 "Jacob's sons were jealous of their brother Joseph. So they sold him as a slave. He was taken to Egypt. But God was with him.

10 He saved Joseph from all his troubles. God made Joseph wise. He helped him to become the friend of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made Joseph ruler over Egypt and his whole palace.

11 "There was not enough food for all Egypt and Canaan. This brought great suffering. Jacob and his sons couldn't find food.

12 But Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt. So he sent his sons on their first visit.

13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was. Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family.

14 "After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family. The total number of people was 75.

15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt. There he and his family died.

16 Some of their bodies were brought back to Shechem. They were placed in a tomb Abraham had bought. He had purchased it from Hamor's sons at Shechem for a certain amount of money.

17 "In Egypt the number of our people grew and grew. It was nearly time for God to make his promise to Abraham come true.

18 Another king became ruler of Egypt. He knew nothing about Joseph.

19 He was very evil and dishonest with our people. He beat them down. He forced them to throw out their newborn babies to die.

20 "At that time Moses was born. He was not an ordinary child. For three months he was taken care of by his family.

21 Then he was placed outside. But Pharaoh's daughter took him home. She brought him up as her own son.

22 Moses was taught all the knowledge of the people of Egypt. He became a powerful speaker and a man of action.

23 "When Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit the people of Israel. They were his own people.

24 He saw one of them being treated badly by a man of Egypt. So he went to help him. He got even by killing the man.

25 Moses thought his own people would realize that God was using him to save them. But they didn't.

26 "The next day Moses saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to make peace between them. 'Men, you are both of Israel,' he said. 'Why do you want to hurt each other?'

27 "But the man who was treating the other one badly pushed Moses to one side. He said, 'Who made you ruler and judge over us?

28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'(Exodus 2:14)

29 When Moses heard this, he escaped to Midian. He lived there as a stranger. He became the father of two sons there.

30 "Forty years passed. Then an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush. This happened in the desert near Mount Sinai.

31 When Moses saw the bush, he was amazed. He went over for a closer look. There he heard the Lord's voice.

32 'I am the God of your fathers,' the Lord said. 'I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.'(Exodus 3:6) Moses shook with fear. He didn't dare to look.

33 "Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off your sandals. The place you are standing on is holy ground.

34 I have seen my people beaten down in Egypt. I have heard their groans. I have come down to set them free. Now come. I will send you back to Egypt.'(Exodus 3:5,7,8,10)

35 "This is the same Moses the two men of Israel would not accept. They had said, 'Who made you ruler and judge?' But God himself sent Moses to rule the people of Israel and set them free. He spoke to Moses through the angel who had appeared to him in the bush.

36 So Moses led them out of Egypt. He did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for 40 years in the desert.

37 "This is the same Moses who spoke to the people of Israel. 'God will send you a prophet,' he said. 'He will be like me. He will come from your own people.'(Deuteronomy 18:15)

38 Moses was with the Israelites in the desert. He was with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai. Moses was with our people of long ago. He received living words to pass on to us.

39 "But our people refused to obey Moses. They would not accept him. In their hearts, they wished they were back in Egypt.

40 They told Aaron, 'Make us a god who will lead us. This fellow Moses led us out of Egypt. But we don't know what has happened to him!'(Exodus 32:1)

41 That was the time they made a statue to be their god. It looked like a calf. They brought sacrifices to it. They were glad because of what they had made with their own hands.

42 But God turned away from them. He left them to worship the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets. There it says, " 'People of Israel, did you bring me sacrifices and offerings for 40 years in the desert?

43 You lifted up the place where Molech was worshiped. You lifted up the star of your god Rephan. You made statues of them to worship. So I will send you away from your country.' (Amos 5:25-27) God sent them to Babylon and even farther.

44 "Long ago our people had with them in the desert the holy tent where the tablets of the covenant were kept. Moses had made the holy tent as God had commanded him. It was made like the pattern he had seen.

45 Our people received the tent from God. They brought it with them when they took the land of Canaan. God drove out the nations that were in their way. At that time Joshua was Israel's leader. "The tent remained in the land until David's time.

46 David was blessed by God. So David asked if he could build a house for the God of Jacob.

47 Instead, it was Solomon who built it for him.

48 "But the Most High God does not live in houses made by human hands. As God says through the prophet,

49 " 'Heaven is my throne. The earth is under my control. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Where will my resting place be?

50 Didn't my hand make all these things?' (Isaiah 66:1,2)

51 "You people! You won't obey! You are stubborn! You won't listen! You are just like your people of long ago! You always oppose the Holy Spirit!

52 Was there ever a prophet your people didn't try to hurt? They even killed those who told about the coming of the Blameless One. And now you have handed him over to his enemies. You have murdered him.

53 The law you received was brought by angels. But you haven't obeyed it."

54 When the Sanhedrin heard this, they became very angry. They ground their teeth at Stephen.

55 But he was full of the Holy Spirit. He looked up to heaven and saw God's glory. He saw Jesus standing at God's right hand.

56 "Look!" he said. "I see heaven open. The Son of Man is standing at God's right hand."

57 When the Sanhedrin heard this, they covered their ears. They yelled at the top of their voices. They all rushed at him.

58 They dragged him out of the city. They began to throw stones at him to kill him. The witnesses took off their coats. They placed them at the feet of a young man named Saul.

59 While the members of the Sanhedrin were throwing stones at Stephen, he prayed. "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," he said.

60 Then he fell on his knees. He cried out, "Lord! Don't hold this sin against them!" When he had said this, he died.

New International Version NIV

1 Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”

2 To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran.

3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’

4 “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living.

5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child.

6 God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated.

7 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’

8 Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

9 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him

10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.

11 “Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food.

12 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit.

13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family.

14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all.

15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died.

16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.

17 “As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased.

18 Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’

19 He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.

20 “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for by his family.

21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.

22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.

23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites.

24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian.

25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.

26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’

27 “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?

28 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’

29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and 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 When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say:

32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.

33 “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

34 I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’

35 “This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

36 He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness.

37 “This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’

38 He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.

39 “But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.

40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’

41 That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made.

42 But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets: “ ‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?

43 You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon.

44 “Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.

45 After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David,

46 who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

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

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

49 “ ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be?

50 Has not my hand made all these things?’

51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!

52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him—

53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.

55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him,

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

59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.