Parallel Bible results for "acts 7"

Acts 7

Common English Bible CEB

1 The high priest asked, "Are these accusations true?"

2 Stephen responded, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran.

3 God told him, ‘Leave your homeland and kin, and go to the land that I will show you.'

4 So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After Abraham's father died, God had him resettle in this land where you now live.

5 God didn't give him an inheritance here, not even a square foot of land. However, God did promise to give the land as his possession to him and to his descendants, even though Abraham had no child.

6 God put it this way: His descendants will be strangers in a land that belongs to others, who will enslave them and abuse them for four hundred years.

7 And I will condemn the nation they serve as slaves, God said, and afterward they will leave that land and serve me in this place.

8 God gave him the covenant confirmed through circumcision. Accordingly, eight days after Isaac's birth, Abraham circumcised him. Isaac did the same with Jacob, and Jacob with the twelve patriarchs.

9 “Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him into slavery in Egypt. God was with him, however,

10 and rescued him from all his troubles. The grace and wisdom he gave Joseph were recognized by Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole palace.

11 A famine came upon all Egypt and Canaan, and great hardship came with it. Our ancestors had nothing to eat.

12 When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there for the first time.

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

14 Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives—seventy-five in all—and invited them to live with him.

15 So 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 purchased for a certain sum of money from Hamor's children, who lived in Shechem.

17 “When it was time for God to keep the promise he made to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly expanded.

18 But then another king rose to power over Egypt who didn't know anything about Joseph.

19 He exploited our people and abused our ancestors. He even forced them to abandon their newly born babies so they would die.

20 That's when Moses was born. He was highly favored by God, and for three months his parents cared for him in their home.

21 After he was abandoned, Pharaoh's daughter adopted and cared for him as though he were her own son.

22 Moses learned everything Egyptian wisdom had to offer, and he was a man of powerful words and deeds.

23 “When Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit his family, the Israelites.

24 He saw one of them being wronged so he came to his rescue and evened the score by killing the Egyptian.

25 He expected his own kin to understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn't.

26 The next day he came upon some Israelites who were caught up in an argument. He tried to make peace between them by saying, ‘You are brothers! Why are you harming each other?'

27 The one who started the fight against his neighbor pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who appointed you as our leader and judge?

28 Are you planning to kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday?'

29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he lived as an immigrant and had two sons.

30 “Forty years later, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush in the wilderness near Mount Sinai.

31 Enthralled by the sight, Moses approached to get a closer look and he heard the Lord's voice:

32 ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Trembling with fear, Moses didn't dare to investigate any further.

33 The Lord continued, ‘Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

34 I have clearly seen the oppression my people have experienced in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning. I have come down to rescue them. Come! I am sending you to Egypt.'

35 “This is the same Moses whom they rejected when they asked, ‘Who appointed you as our leader and judge?' This is the Moses whom God sent as leader and deliverer. God did this with the help of the angel who appeared before him in the bush.

36 This man led them out after he 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 This is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai. He is the one who received life-giving words to give to us.

39 He's also the one whom our ancestors refused to obey. Instead, they pushed him aside and, in their thoughts and desires, returned to Egypt.

40 They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will lead us. As for this Moses who led us out of Egypt, we don't know what's happened to him!'

41 That's when they made an idol in the shape of a calf, offered a sacrifice to it, and began to celebrate what they had made with their own hands.

42 So God turned away from them and handed them over to worship the stars in the sky, just as it is written in the scroll of the Prophets: Did you bring sacrifices and offerings to me for forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel?

43 No! Instead, you took the tent of Moloch with you, and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made in order to worship them. Therefore, I will send you far away, farther than Babylon.

44 “The tent of testimony was with our ancestors in the wilderness. Moses built it just as he had been instructed by the one who spoke to him and according to the pattern he had seen.

45 In time, when they had received the tent, our ancestors carried it with them when, under Joshua's leadership, they took possession of the land from the nations whom God expelled. This tent remained in the land until the time of David.

46 God approved of David, who asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

47 But it was Solomon who actually built a house for God.

48 However, the Most High doesn't live in houses built 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 is my resting place?

50 Didn't I make all these things with my own hand?'

51 "You stubborn people! In your thoughts and hearing, you are like those who have had no part in God's covenant! You continuously set yourself against the Holy Spirit, just like your ancestors did.

52 Was there a single prophet your ancestors didn't harass? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one, and you've betrayed and murdered him!

53 You received the Law given by angels, but you haven't kept it."

54 Once the council members heard these words, they were enraged and began to grind their teeth at Stephen.

55 But Stephen, enabled by the Holy Spirit, stared into heaven and saw God's majesty and Jesus standing at God's right side.

56 He exclaimed, "Look! I can see heaven on display and the Human One standing at God's right side!"

57 At this, they shrieked and covered their ears. Together, they charged at him,

58 threw him out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses placed their coats in the care of a young man named Saul.

59 As they battered him with stones, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, accept my life!"

60 Falling to his knees, he shouted, "Lord, don't hold this sin against them!" Then he died.

Revised Standard Version RSV

1 And the high priest said, "Is this so?"

2 And Stephen said: "Brethren and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopota'mia, before he lived in Haran,

3 and said to him, 'Depart from your land and from your kindred and go into the land which I will show you.'

4 Then he departed from the land of the Chalde'ans, and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living;

5 yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him in possession and to his posterity after him, though he had no child.

6 And God spoke to this effect, that his posterity would be aliens in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and ill-treat them four hundred years.

7 'But I will judge the nation which they serve,' said God, 'and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.'

8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

9 "And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him,

10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him governor over Egypt and over all his household.

11 Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food.

12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent forth our fathers the first time.

13 And at the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh.

14 And Joseph sent and called to him Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five souls;

15 and Jacob went down into Egypt. And he died, himself and our fathers,

16 and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

17 "But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt

18 till there arose over Egypt another king who had not known Joseph.

19 He dealt craftily with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, that they might not be kept alive.

20 At this time Moses was born, and was beautiful before God. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house;

21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.

22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

23 "When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel.

24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking the Egyptian.

25 He supposed that his brethren understood that God was giving them deliverance by his hand, but they did not understand.

26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and would have reconciled them, saying, 'Men, you are brethren, why do you wrong each other?'

27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'

29 At this retort Moses fled, and became an exile in the land of Mid'ian, where he became the father of two sons.

30 "Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

31 When Moses saw it he wondered at the sight; and as he drew near to look, the voice of the Lord came,

32 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.' And Moses trembled and did not dare to look.

33 And the Lord said to him, 'Take off the shoes from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

34 I have surely seen the ill-treatment of my people that are in Egypt and heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.'

35 "This Moses whom they refused, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?' God sent as both ruler and deliverer by the hand of the angel that appeared to him in the bush.

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

37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, 'God will raise up for you a prophet from your brethren as he raised me up.'

38 This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living oracles to give to us.

39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt,

40 saying to Aaron, 'Make for us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

42 But God turned and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: 'Did you offer to me slain beasts and sacrifices, forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

43 And you took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of the god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship; and I will remove you beyond Babylon.'

44 "Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen.

45 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations which God thrust out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David,

46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked leave to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.

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

48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands; as the prophet says,

49 'Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?

50 Did not my hand make all these things?'

51 "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

52 Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,

53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it."

54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth against him.

55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;

56 and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God."

57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him.

58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

60 And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.