rsv Acts:7-8 SEEK
Seeker Overlay ON
*
And the high priest said , "
Is this so ?"
*
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 ,
*
and said to him , `
Depart from your land and from your kindred and go into the land which I will show you .'
*
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 ;
*
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 .
*
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 .
* `
But I will judge the nation which they serve ,'
said God , `
and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place .'
*
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 .
* "
And the patriarchs ,
jealous of Joseph ,
sold him into Egypt ;
but God was with him ,
*
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 .
*
Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan ,
and great affliction ,
and our fathers could find no food .
*
But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt ,
he sent forth our fathers the first time .
*
And at the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers ,
and Joseph '
s family became known to Pharaoh .
*
And Joseph sent and called to him Jacob his father and all his kindred ,
seventy-five souls ;
*
and Jacob went down into Egypt .
And he died ,
himself and our fathers ,
*
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 .
* "
But as the time of the promise drew near ,
which God had granted to Abraham ,
the people grew and multiplied in Egypt
*
till there arose over Egypt another king who had not known Joseph .
*
He dealt craftily with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants ,
that they might not be kept alive .
*
At this time Moses was born ,
and was beautiful before God .
And he was brought up for three months in his father '
s house ;
*
and when he was exposed ,
Pharaoh '
s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son .
*
And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians ,
and he was mighty in his words and deeds .
* "
When he was forty years old ,
it came into his heart to visit his brethren ,
the sons of Israel .
*
And seeing one of them being wronged ,
he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking the Egyptian .
*
He supposed that his brethren understood that God was giving them deliverance by his hand ,
but they did not understand .
*
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 ?'
*
But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside ,
saying , `
Who made you a ruler and a judge over us ?
*
Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday ?'
*
At this retort Moses fled ,
and became an exile in the land of Mid '
ian ,
where he became the father of two sons .
* "
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 .
*
When Moses saw it he wondered at the sight ;
and as he drew near to look ,
the voice of the Lord came ,
* `
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 .
*
And the Lord said to him , `
Take off the shoes from your feet ,
for the place where you are standing is holy ground .
*
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 .'
* "
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 .
*
He led them out ,
having performed wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea ,
and in the wilderness for forty years .
*
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 .'
*
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 .
*
Our fathers refused to obey him ,
but thrust him aside ,
and in their hearts they turned to Egypt ,
*
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 .'
*
And they made a calf in those days ,
and offered a sacrifice to the idol and rejoiced in the works of their hands .
*
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 ?
*
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 .'
* "
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 .
*
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 ,
*
who found favor in the sight of God and asked leave to find a habitation for the God of Jacob .
*
But it was Solomon who built a house for him .
*
Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands ;
as the prophet says ,
* `
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 ?
*
Did not my hand make all these things ?'
* "
You stiff-necked people ,
uncircumcised in heart and ears ,
you always resist the Holy Spirit .
As your fathers did ,
so do you .
*
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 ,
*
you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it ."
*
Now when they heard these things they were enraged ,
and they ground their teeth against him .
*
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 ;
*
and he said , "
Behold ,
I see the heavens opened ,
and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God ."
*
But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him .
*
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 .
*
And as they were stoning Stephen ,
he prayed , "
Lord Jesus ,
receive my spirit ."
*
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 .
*
And Saul was consenting to his death .
And on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem ;
and they were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Sama '
ria ,
except the apostles .
*
Devout men buried Stephen ,
and made great lamentation over him .
*
But Saul was ravaging the church ,
and entering house after house ,
he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison .
*
Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word .
*
Philip went down to a city of Sama '
ria ,
and proclaimed to them the Christ .
*
And the multitudes with one accord gave heed to what was said by Philip ,
when they heard him and saw the signs which he did .
*
For unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed ,
crying with a loud voice ;
and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed .
*
So there was much joy in that city .
*
But there was a man named Simon who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the nation of Sama '
ria ,
saying that he himself was somebody great .
*
They all gave heed to him ,
from the least to the greatest ,
saying , "
This man is that power of God which is called Great ."
*
And they gave heed to him ,
because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic .
*
But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ ,
they were baptized ,
both men and women .
*
Even Simon himself believed ,
and after being baptized he continued with Philip .
And seeing signs and great miracles performed ,
he was amazed .
*
Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Sama '
ria had received the word of God ,
they sent to them Peter and John ,
*
who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit ;
*
for it had not yet fallen on any of them ,
but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus .
*
Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit .
*
Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles '
hands ,
he offered them money ,
*
saying , "
Give me also this power ,
that any one on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit ."
*
But Peter said to him , "
Your silver perish with you ,
because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money !
*
You have neither part nor lot in this matter ,
for your heart is not right before God .
*
Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours ,
and pray to the Lord that ,
if possible ,
the intent of your heart may be forgiven you .
*
For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity ."
*
And Simon answered , "
Pray for me to the Lord ,
that nothing of what you have said may come upon me ."
*
Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord ,
they returned to Jerusalem ,
preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans .
*
But an angel of the Lord said to Philip , "
Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza ."
This is a desert road .
*
And he rose and went .
And behold ,
an Ethiopian ,
a eunuch ,
a minister of the Can '
dace ,
queen of the Ethiopians ,
in charge of all her treasure ,
had come to Jerusalem to worship
*
and was returning ;
seated in his chariot ,
he was reading the prophet Isaiah .
*
And the Spirit said to Philip , "
Go up and join this chariot ."
*
So Philip ran to him ,
and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet ,
and asked , "
Do you understand what you are reading ?"
*
And he said , "
How can I ,
unless some one guides me ?"
And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him .
*
Now the passage of the scripture which he was reading was this : "
As a sheep led to the slaughter or a lamb before its shearer is dumb ,
so he opens not his mouth .
*
In his humiliation justice was denied him .
Who can describe his generation ?
For his life is taken up from the earth ."
*
And the eunuch said to Philip , "
About whom ,
pray ,
does the prophet say this ,
about himself or about some one else ?"
*
Then Philip opened his mouth ,
and beginning with this scripture he told him the good news of Jesus .
*
And as they went along the road they came to some water ,
and the eunuch said , "
See ,
here is water !
What is to prevent my being baptized ?"
*
And he commanded the chariot to stop ,
and they both went down into the water ,
Philip and the eunuch ,
and he baptized him .
*
And when they came up out of the water ,
the Spirit of the Lord caught up Philip ;
and the eunuch saw him no more ,
and went on his way rejoicing .
*
But Philip was found at Azo '
tus ,
and passing on he preached the gospel to all the towns till he came to Caesare '
a .
*
But Saul ,
still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord ,
went to the high priest