Acts:7

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* Then the high priest said , "Are these things so ?" * And he said , "Men , brothers and fathers , listen : The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia , before he dwelt in Haran , * and said to him , 'Go out from your land and from your relatives , and come to a land which I will show you .' * Then he went forth from the land of the Chaldeans and settled down in Haran . And from there , after his father was dead , He moved him to this land in which you now dwell . * And He gave him no inheritance in it , not even a place to put his foot on , and He promised to give it to him for a possession , and to his descendants after him , though he had no child . * But God spoke in this way : that his offspring would dwell in a foreign land , and that they would enslave them , and they would treat them badly four hundred years . * 'And the nation which they will serve , I will judge ,' said God , 'and after these things they will come out and serve Me in this place .' * Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision ; and so Abraham fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day ; and Isaac fathered Jacob , and Jacob fathered the twelve patriarchs . * "And the patriarchs , being jealous of Joseph , sold him into Egypt ; and God was with him , * and delivered him out of all his afflictions , and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh , king of Egypt ; and he made him ruler over Egypt and all his house . * And a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan , and great affliction , and our fathers could find no provisions . * And Jacob , hearing that there was grain in Egypt , he sent out our fathers first . * And the second [visit ] Joseph was made known to his brothers , and Joseph 's family became known to Pharaoh . * Then Joseph sent and summoned his father Jacob and all his relatives , seventy-five people . * So Jacob went down to Egypt ; and he died , he and our fathers . * And they were brought back to Shechem , and were placed in the tomb which Abraham bought for a price of silver from the sons of Hamor , the father of Shechem . * Now when the time of the promise drew near which God swore to Abraham , the people increased and multiplied in Egypt , * until there arose a different king , who did not know Joseph . * This [king ] took advantage of our race , and oppressed our fathers , to make their babies exposed , in order that they might not preserve their lives . * At this time Moses was born , and he was well pleasing to God ; who was brought up in his father 's house for three months . * But when he was exposed , the daughter of Pharaoh took him up , and brought him up for herself as a son . * And Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians , and he was mighty in words and deeds . * Now when he had turned forty years old , it came into his heart to look upon his brothers , the sons of Israel . * And seeing someone being wronged , he retaliated , and avenged him who was being oppressed , and struck the Egyptian . * For he supposed that his brothers understood that God was giving to them deliverance by his hand , but they did not understand . * And on the next day he appeared to them as they were fighting , and [tried to ] reconcile them to peace , saying , 'Men , you are brothers ; why do you wrong one another ?' * "But the one wronging his neighbor pushed him away , saying , 'Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us ? * 'Do you desire to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday ?' * Now Moses , at this saying , fled and became a stranger in the land of Midian , where he fathered two sons . * And forty years having been fulfilled , an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush , in the wilderness of Mount Sinai . * And Moses , seeing it , marveled at the sight ; and as he approached it to observe closely , the voice of the Lord came to him , * saying , 'I am the God of your fathers-the God of Abraham , and the God of Isaac , and the God of Jacob .' And Moses was trembling and was not bold enough to look closely . * 'Then the LORD said to him , "Remove your sandals from your feet , for the place where you stand is holy ground . * "I have certainly seen the mistreatment of My people in Egypt ; I have heard their groaning and I have come down to deliver them . And now come , I will send you to Egypt ."' * This Moses whom they denied , saying , 'Who appointed you a ruler and a judge ?' This man God sent as a ruler and redeemer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush . * He led them out , and did wonders and signs in the land of Egypt , and at the Red Sea , and in the wilderness forty years . * "This is that Moses who said to the sons of Israel , 'The LORD our God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brothers . * This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai , and [with ] our fathers , the one who received the living oracles to give to us , * whom our fathers did not desire to be obedient , but they rejected [him ] and returned in their heart back to Egypt , * saying to Aaron , 'Make for us gods who will go before us ; as for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt , we do not know what has happened to him .' * And they made a calf in those days , offered a sacrifice to the idol , and were rejoicing in the works of their hands . * But God turned away and gave them over to serve the host of heaven , just as it is written in the book of the Prophets : 'Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness , O house of Israel ? * Indeed you carried up the tabernacle of Moloch , and the star of your god Remphan , the images which you made to worship them ; and I will relocate you beyond Babylon .' * "The tabernacle of the testimony was with our fathers in the wilderness , just as the One speaking to Moses commanded him , to make it according to the pattern that he had seen , * which also our fathers , having received in turn , also brought in with Joshua into the possession of the Gentiles , whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David , * who found favor before God and asked [opportunity ]to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob . * But Solomon built Him a house . * However , the Most High does not dwell in hand-made sanctuaries , just as the prophet says : * 'Heaven is My throne , and [the ]earth is My footstool . What kind of house will you build for Me ? says the LORD , or what is the place of My rest ? * Did not My hand make all these things ?' * "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ! You always resist the Holy Spirit ; as your fathers did , you also do . * Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute ? And they killed those who foretold about the coming of the Righteous One , of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers , * who have received the law as [the ]ordinances of angels and you did not keep it ." * Now hearing these things they were infuriated in their hearts , and were gnashing their teeth at him . * But being full of the Holy Spirit , looking intently into heaven , he saw the glory of God , and Jesus standing at the right hand of God , * and he said , "Behold ! I see the heavens opened , and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God !" * Then they cried out with a loud voice , covered their ears , and ran at him with one purpose ; * and casting him outside the city , they stoned him . And the witnesses laid down their clothes beside the feet of a young man named Saul . * And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying , "Lord Jesus , receive my spirit ." * Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice , "Lord , do not charge them with this sin ."And having said this , he fell asleep ."

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