Parallel Bible results for "acts 6"

Acts 6

The Bible in Basic English BBE

1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was increasing, protests were made by the Greek Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were not taken care of in the distribution of food every day.

2 And the Apostles sent for all the disciples and said, It is not right for us to give up preaching the word of God in order to make distribution of food.

3 Take then from among you seven men of good name, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, to whom we may give control of this business.

4 Then we will give all our time to prayer and the teaching of the word.

5 And this saying was pleasing to all of them: and they made selection of Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip and Prochorus and Nicanor and Timon and Parmenas and Nicolas of Antioch, who had become a Jew:

6 These they took to the Apostles, who, after prayer, put their hands on them.

7 And the word of God was increasing in power; and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem became very great, and a great number of priests were in agreement with the faith.

8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

9 But some of those who were of the Synagogue named that of the Libertines, and some of the men of Cyrene and of Alexandria and those from Cilicia and Asia, had arguments with Stephen.

10 But they were not able to get the better of him, for his words were full of wisdom and of the Spirit.

11 Then they got men to say, He has said evil against Moses and against God, in our hearing.

12 And the people, with the rulers and the scribes, were moved against him, and they came and took him before the Sanhedrin,

13 And they got false witnesses who said, This man is for ever saying things against this holy place and against the law:

14 For he has said in our hearing that this Jesus of Nazareth will put this place to destruction and make changes in the rules which were handed down to us by Moses.

15 And all those who were in the Sanhedrin, looking at him, saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Good News Translation GNT

1 Some time later, as the number of disciples kept growing, there was a quarrel between the Greek-speaking Jews and the native Jews. The Greek-speaking Jews claimed that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of funds.

2 So the twelve apostles called the whole group of believers together and said, "It is not right for us to neglect the preaching of God's word in order to handle finances.

3 So then, friends, choose seven men among you who are known to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, and we will put them in charge of this matter.

4 We ourselves, then, will give our full time to prayer and the work of preaching."

5 The whole group was pleased with the apostles' proposal, so they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a Gentile from Antioch who had earlier been converted to Judaism.

6 The group presented them to the apostles, who prayed and placed their hands on them.

7 And so the word of God continued to spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem grew larger and larger, and a great number of priests accepted the faith.

8 Stephen, a man richly blessed by God and full of power, performed great miracles and wonders among the people.

9 But he was opposed by some men who were members of the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), which had Jews from Cyrene and Alexandria. They and other Jews from the provinces of Cilicia and Asia started arguing with Stephen.

10 But the Spirit gave Stephen such wisdom that when he spoke, they could not refute him.

11 So they bribed some men to say, "We heard him speaking against Moses and against God!"

12 In this way they stirred up the people, the elders, and the teachers of the Law. They seized Stephen and took him before the Council.

13 Then they brought in some men to tell lies about him. "This man," they said, "is always talking against our sacred Temple and the Law of Moses.

14 We heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will tear down the Temple and change all the customs which have come down to us from Moses!"

15 All those sitting in the Council fixed their eyes on Stephen and saw that his face looked like the face of an angel.