Acts 7:1

Stephen’s Address: The Call of Abraham

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

Acts 7:1 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 7:1

Then said the high priest
The Ethiopic version adds, "to him"; that is, to Stephen; for to him he addressed himself: or he "asked him", as the Syriac version renders it; he put the following question to him:

are these things so?
is it true what they say, that thou hast spoken blasphemous words against the temple, and the law, and hast said that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the one, and change the other? what hast thou to say for thyself, and in thine own defence? this high priest was either Annas, or rather Caiaphas; (See Gill on Acts 4:6).

Acts 7:1 In-Context

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

2 And Stephen declared: “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 Haran,

3 and told him, ‘Leave your country and your kindred and go to the land I will show you.’

4 So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God brought him out of that place and into this land where you are now living.

5 He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised to give possession of the land to Abraham and his descendants, even though he did not yet have a child.

Cross References

• 1. (Genesis 12:1–9)