Acts 7:1

Stephen Speaks to the Sanhedrin

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

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 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.