Parallel Bible results for "acts 7"

Acts 7

Hebrew Names Version HNV

1 The Kohen Gadol said, "Are these things so?"

2 He said, "Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Avraham, when he was in Aram-Naharayim, before he lived in Haran,

3 and said to him, 'Get out of your land, and from your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.'

4 Then he came out of the land of the Kasdim, and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land, where you are now living.

5 He gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on. He promised that he would give it to him in possession, and to his seed after him, when he still had no child.

6 God spoke in this way: that his seed would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.

7 'I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,' said God, 'and after that will they come out, and serve me in this place.'

8 He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Avraham became the father of Yitzchak, and circumcised him the eighth day. Yitzchak became the father of Ya`akov, and Ya`akov became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

9 "The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Yosef, sold him into Mitzrayim. God was with him,

10 and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Par`oh, king of Mitzrayim. He made him governor over Mitzrayim and all his house.

11 Now a famine came over all the land of Mitzrayim and Kana`an, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food.

12 But when Ya`akov heard that there was grain in Mitzrayim, he sent forth our fathers the first time.

13 On the second time Yosef was made known to his brothers, and Yosef's race was revealed to Par`oh.

14 Yosef sent, and summoned Ya`akov, his father, and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.

15 Ya`akov went down into Mitzrayim, and he died, himself and our fathers,

16 and they were brought back to Shekhem, and laid in the tomb that Avraham bought for a price in silver from the sons of Hamor of Shekhem.

17 "But as the time of the promise came close which God swore to Avraham, the people grew and multiplied in Mitzrayim,

18 until there arose a different king, who didn't know Yosef.

19 The same dealt slyly with our race, and mistreated our fathers, that they should throw out their babies, so that they wouldn't stay alive.

20 At that time Moshe was born, and was exceedingly handsome. He was nourished three months in his father's house.

21 When he was thrown out, Par`oh's daughter took him up, and reared him as her own son.

22 Moshe was instructed in all the wisdom of the Mitzrim. He was mighty in his words and works.

23 But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Yisra'el.

24 Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Mitzrian.

25 He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn't understand.

26 "The day following, he appeared to them as they fought, and urged them to be at shalom again, saying, 'Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one to another?'

27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

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

29 Moshe fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midyan, where he became the father of two sons.

30 "When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

31 When Moshe saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a voice of the Lord came to him,

32 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, the God of Yitzchak, and the God of Ya`akov.' Moshe trembled, and dared not look.

33 The Lord said to him, 'Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people that is in Mitzrayim, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Mitzrayim.'

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

36 This man led them forth, having worked wonders and signs in Mitzrayim, in the Sea of Suf, and in the wilderness forty years.

37 This is that Moshe, who said to the children of Yisra'el, 'The Lord God will raise up a prophet to you from among your brothers, like me.'

38 This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living oracles to give to us,

39 to whom our fathers wouldn't be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Mitzrayim,

40 saying to Aharon, 'Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moshe, who led us forth out of the land of Mitzrayim, we don't know what has become of him.'

41 They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.

42 But God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, 'Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices Forty years in the wilderness, O house of Yisra'el?

43 You took up the tent of Molekh, The star of your god Reifan, The figures which you made to worship. I will carry you away beyond Bavel.'

44 "Our fathers had the tent of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moshe appointed, that he should make it according to the pattern that he had seen;

45 which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Yehoshua when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David,

46 who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Ya`akov.

47 But Shlomo built him a house.

48 However, Ha`Elyon doesn't dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

49 'heaven is my throne, And the eretz the footstool of my feet. What kind of house will you build me?' says the Lord; 'Or what is the place of my rest?

50 Didn't my hand make all these things?'

51 "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Ruach HaKodesh! As your fathers did, so you do.

52 Which of the prophets didn't your fathers persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers.

53 You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and didn't keep it!"

54 Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.

55 But he, being full of the Ruach HaKodesh, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Yeshua standing on the right hand of God,

56 and said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God!"

57 But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed at him with one accord.

58 They threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Sha'ul.

59 They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, "Lord Yeshua, receive my Spirit!"

60 He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, "Lord, don't hold this sin against them!" When he had said this, he fell asleep.

The Message Bible MSG

1 Then the Chief Priest said, "What do you have to say for yourself?"

2 Stephen replied, "Friends, fathers, and brothers, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was still in Mesopotamia, before the move to Haran,

3 and told him, 'Leave your country and family and go to the land I'll show you.'

4 "So he left the country of the Chaldees and moved to Haran. After the death of his father, he immigrated to this country where you now live,

5 but God gave him nothing, not so much as a foothold. He did promise to give the country to him and his son later on, even though Abraham had no son at the time.

6 God let him know that his offspring would move to an alien country where they would be enslaved and brutalized for four hundred years.

7 'But,' God said, 'I will step in and take care of those slaveholders and bring my people out so they can worship me in this place.'

8 "Then he made a covenant with him and signed it in Abraham's flesh by circumcision. When Abraham had his son Isaac, within eight days he reproduced the sign of circumcision in him. Isaac became father of Jacob, and Jacob father of twelve 'fathers,' each faithfully passing on the covenant sign.

9 "But then those 'fathers,' burning up with jealousy, sent Joseph off to Egypt as a slave. God was right there with him, though -

10 he not only rescued him from all his troubles but brought him to the attention of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He was so impressed with Joseph that he put him in charge of the whole country, including his own personal affairs.

11 "Later a famine descended on that entire region, stretching from Egypt to Canaan, bringing terrific hardship. Our hungry fathers looked high and low for food, but the cupboard was bare.

12 Jacob heard there was food in Egypt and sent our fathers to scout it out.

13 Having confirmed the report, they went back to Egypt a second time to get food. On that visit, Joseph revealed his true identity to his brothers and introduced the Jacob family to Pharaoh.

14 Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and everyone else in the family, seventy-five in all.

15 That's how the Jacob family got to Egypt.

16 They were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb for which Abraham paid a good price to the sons of Hamor.

17 "When the four hundred years were nearly up, the time God promised Abraham for deliverance, the population of our people in Egypt had become very large.

18 And there was now a king over Egypt who had never heard of Joseph.

19 He exploited our race mercilessly. He went so far as forcing us to abandon our newborn infants, exposing them to the elements to die a cruel death.

20 "In just such a time Moses was born, a most beautiful baby. He was hidden at home for three months.

21 When he could be hidden no longer, he was put outside - and immediately rescued by Pharaoh's daughter, who mothered him as her own son.

22 Moses was educated in the best schools in Egypt. He was equally impressive as a thinker and an athlete.

23 "When he was forty years old, he wondered how everything was going with his Hebrew kin and went out to look things over.

24 He saw an Egyptian abusing one of them and stepped in, avenging his underdog brother by knocking the Egyptian flat.

25 He thought his brothers would be glad that he was on their side, and even see him as an instrument of God to deliver them. But they didn't see it that way.

26 The next day two of them were fighting and he tried to break it up, told them to shake hands and get along with each other: 'Friends, you are brothers, why are you beating up on each other?'

27 "The one who had started the fight said, 'Who put you in charge of us?

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

29 When Moses heard that, realizing that the word was out, he ran for his life and lived in exile over in Midian. During the years of exile, two sons were born to him.

30 "Forty years later, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to him in the guise of flames of a burning bush.

31 Moses, not believing his eyes, went up to take a closer look. He heard God's voice:

32 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Frightened nearly out of his skin, Moses shut his eyes and turned away.

33 "God said, 'Kneel and pray. You are in a holy place, on holy ground.

34 I've seen the agony of my people in Egypt. I've heard their groans. I've come to help them. So get yourself ready; I'm sending you back to Egypt.'

35 "This is the same Moses whom they earlier rejected, saying, 'Who put you in charge of us?' This is the Moses that God, using the angel flaming in the burning bush, sent back as ruler and redeemer.

36 He led them out of their slavery. He did wonderful things, setting up God-signs all through Egypt, down at the Red Sea, and out in the wilderness for forty years.

37 This is the Moses who said to his congregation, 'God will raise up a prophet just like me from your descendants.'

38 This is the Moses who stood between the angel speaking at Sinai and your fathers assembled in the wilderness and took the life-giving words given to him and handed them over to us,

39 words our fathers would have nothing to do with.

40 whining to Aaron, 'Make us gods we can see and follow. This Moses who got us out here miles from nowhere - who knows what's happened to him!'

41 That was the time when they made a calf-idol, brought sacrifices to it, and congratulated each other on the wonderful religious program they had put together.

42 "God wasn't at all pleased; but he let them do it their way, worship every new god that came down the pike - and live with the consequences, consequences described by the prophet Amos: Did you bring me offerings of animals and grains those forty wilderness years, O Israel?

43 Hardly. You were too busy building shrines to war gods, to sex goddesses, Worshiping them with all your might. That's why I put you in exile in Babylon.

44 "And all this time our ancestors had a tent shrine for true worship, made to the exact specifications God provided Moses.

45 They had it with them as they followed Joshua, when God cleared the land of pagans, and still had it right down to the time of David.

46 David asked God for a permanent place for worship.

47 But Solomon built it.

48 "Yet that doesn't mean that Most High God lives in a building made by carpenters and masons. The prophet Isaiah put it well when he wrote,

49 "Heaven is my throne room; I rest my feet on earth. So what kind of house will you build me?" says God. "Where I can get away and relax?

50 It's already built, and I built it."

51 "And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, you're just like your ancestors.

52 Was there ever a prophet who didn't get the same treatment? Your ancestors killed anyone who dared talk about the coming of the Just One. And you've kept up the family tradition - traitors and murderers, all of you.

53 You had God's Law handed to you by angels - gift-wrapped! - and you squandered it!"

54 At that point they went wild, a rioting mob of catcalls and whistles and invective.

55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, hardly noticed - he only had eyes for God, whom he saw in all his glory with Jesus standing at his side.

56 He said, "Oh! I see heaven wide open and the Son of Man standing at God's side!"

57 Yelling and hissing, the mob drowned him out. Now in full stampede,

58 they dragged him out of town and pelted him with rocks. The ringleaders took off their coats and asked a young man named Saul to watch them.

59 As the rocks rained down, Stephen prayed, "Master Jesus, take my life."

60 Then he knelt down, praying loud enough for everyone to hear, "Master, don't blame them for this sin" - his last words. Then he died. Saul was right there, congratulating the killers.