The Call of Abraham

1Then said the high priest, Are these things so?

2And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,

3And said unto him, Get you out of your country, and from your kindred, and come into the land which I shall show you.

4Then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Haran: and from there, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, in which you now dwell.

5And he gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him, when as yet he had no child.

6And God spoke in this way, That his descendants should live in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and ill-treat them for four hundred years.

7And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place.

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

Dwelling in Favor in Egypt

9And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,

10And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

11Now there came a famine over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.

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

13And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.

14Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

15So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,

16And were carried over into Shechem, and laid in the sepulcher that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem.

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

Moses Becomes God's Deliverer

18Till another king arose, who knew not Joseph.

19The same dealt craftily with our kindred, and ill-treated our fathers, so that they exposed their infants, to the end that they might not live.

20In which time Moses was born, and was exceedingly fair, and was nourished in his father's house three months:

21And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up, and reared him as her own son.

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

23And when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.

24And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:

25For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.

26And the next day he showed himself unto them as they strove, and would have reconciled them again, saying, Sirs, you are brethren; why do you wrong one to another?

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

28Will you kill me, as you did the Egyptian yesterday?

29Then fled Moses at this saying, and was an exile in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons.

30And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

31When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him,

32Saying, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and dared not behold.

33Then said the Lord to him, Put off your shoes from your feet: for the place where you stand is holy ground.

34I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you into Egypt.

35This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

36He brought them out, after he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.

37This is that Moses, who said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall you hear.

38This is he, that was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received the living oracles to give unto us:

39Whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,

40Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.

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

42Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O you house of Israel, have you offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?

43Yea, you took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Rephan, figures which you made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

44Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.

Joshua, David, and Solomon

45Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Joshua into the possession of the nations, which God drove out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;

46Who found favor before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.

47But Solomon built him a house.

48Yet the most High dwells not in temples made with hands; as says the prophet,

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

50Has not my hand made all these things?

Israel Resists the Holy Spirit

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

52Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them who showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers:

53Who have received the law as delivered by angels, and have not kept it.

Stephen Is Stoned

54When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.

55But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

56And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

57Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,

58And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.

59And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

60And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.