Acts 7

The high priest said to Stephen, “Are these things true?”

2Stephen said, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The God1 of glory appeared to our father Ibrahim, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3and said to him,

‘Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.’ 2

4Then he came out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and lived in Haran. From there, when his father was dead, God moved him into this land, where you are now living. 5He 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 for a possession, and to his seed after him, when he still had no child3. 6God 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 worship me in this place.’ 4

8He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Ibrahim became the father of Ishaq, and circumcised him the eighth day. Ishaq became the father of Yaqub, and Yaqub became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

9“The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Yusuf, sold him into Egypt. God was with him, 10and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom before Firaun, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food. 12But when Yaqub heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time. 13On the second time Yusuf was made known to his brothers, and Yusuf’s race was revealed to Firaun. 14Yusuf sent, and summoned Yaqub, his father, and all his relatives, seventy-five souls. 15Yaqub went down into Egypt, and he died, himself and our fathers, 16and they were brought back to Shechem, and laid in the tomb that Ibrahim bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.

17“But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Ibrahim, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, 18until,

there arose a different king, who didn’t know Yusuf. 5

19The same took advantage of our race, and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to throw out their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive. 20At that time Musa was born, and was very handsome. He was nourished three months in his father’s house. 21When he was thrown out, Firaun’s daughter took him up, and reared him as her own son. 22Musa was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works. 23But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, Bani-Israel. 24Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian. 25He 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 peace again, saying, ‘Sirs, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’ 27But he who did his neighbour wrong pushed him away, saying,

‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 6

29Musa fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Madyan, 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. 31When Musa 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 Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub.’ 7

Musa trembled, and dared not look. 33The Lord said to him,

‘Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 8 34I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. 9 Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’

35“This Musa, whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. 37This is that Musa, who said to Bani-Israel,

‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a PROPHET like me from among your brothers.’ 10

38This 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, 39to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, 40saying to Harun,

‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Musa, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 11

41They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. 42But God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of the sky, as it is written in the Book of the Prophets,

‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43You took up the tent of Molech, the star of your god Rephan, the idols which you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’ 12

44“Our fathers had the tent of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Musa commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen; 45which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Yusha when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of Dawud, 46who found favour in the sight of God, and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Yaqub. 47But Sulayman built him a house. 48However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,

49‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build me?’ says the LORD; ‘Where will my resting place be? 50Has not my hand made all these things?’ 13

51“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do. 52Which 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. 53You received the Taurat14 as it was ordained by angels, and didn’t keep it!”

54Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. 55But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and ‘ISA15 standing on the right hand of God, 56and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the SON OF MAN16 standing at the right hand of God!”

57But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed at him with one accord. 58They threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord ‘ISA, receive my spirit!” 60He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

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  1. 7:2 God, English translation of theos. It is the Greek equivalent of elohim and eloah (Hebrew) which are related to allah (Arabic) and alaha (Syriac), all of which translate as “God,” and refer to the one true God. ↩︎
  2. 7:3 Quoting from the Taurat, Genesis 12:1 which says: Now YAHWEH said to Ibram, “Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.” ↩︎
  3. 7:5 The promise to give the land was given before Prophet Ibrahim had any children in the Taurat, Genesis 12:7, which says: YAHWEH appeared to Ibram, and said, “I will give this land to your seed.” ↩︎
  4. 7:6,7 Citing two places in the Taurat. First, in Genesis 15:13-14 which says: He said to Ibram, “Know for sure that your seed will live as aliens in a land not their own, and will be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. 14I will also judge the nation to which they will be in bondage. After that they will come out with great substance.”
    Second, in Exodus 3:12 which says: He [God] said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you. After you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain. ↩︎
  5. 7:18 Quoting the Taurat, Exodus 1:8 which says: “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn’t know Yusuf.”  ↩︎
  6. 7:27,28 Quoting the Taurat, Exodus 2:14 which says: He said, “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?” ↩︎
  7. 7:32 Quoting the Taurat, Exodus 3:6 which says: Moreover he [God] said, “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub. Musa hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God.” ↩︎
  8. 7:33 Quoting the Taurat, Exodus 3:5 which says: God said, “Do not come close. Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” ↩︎
  9. 7:34 Quoting the Taurat, Exodus 3:7,8 which says: YAHWEH said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.” ↩︎
  10. 7:37 Quoting the Taurat, Deuteronomy 18:15 which says: “YAHWEH your God will raise up for you a PROPHET like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him.” ↩︎
  11. 7:40 Quoting the Taurat, Exodus 32:1 which says: When the people saw that Musa delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Harun, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Musa, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” ↩︎
  12. 7:42-43 Quoting the Taurat, Amos 5:25-27 which says: “Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You took up the tent of your king and the shrine of your idols, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves. Therefore will I send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says YAHWEH God All-Powerful—that is his Name. ↩︎
  13. 7:49-50 Quoting the Taurat, Shaya 66:1-2 which says: Thus says YAHWEH, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what kind of house will you build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being,” says YAHWEH? “But to this man will I look, even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my Word.” ↩︎
  14. 7:53 Taurat, this Arabic word is derived from Torah (Hebrew) which literally means “instruction” or “teaching.” Depending on context, Taurat can refer to, 
    1. The whole Hebrew Bible contained here under the title Taurat, equivalent to what Jews today call Tanakh, and what Christians call the Old Testament. 
    2. The book of Prophet Musa, which is also called the Law (of Moses), or the Pentateuch. Pentateuch is a Greek word meaning “five books” and includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
    3. Taurat can refer to divine instruction and teaching in general without reference to a particular book.  ↩︎
  15. 7:55 ‘ISA – The names ‘ISA (Arabic), ISHO (Syriac) and JESUS (Greek, IESOUS) are all derived from the Hebrew name YEHOSHUA, which means “YAHWEH saves.” (YAHWEH is God’s personal name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”) ↩︎
  16. 7:56 SON OF MAN, a title for the Messiah, ‘ISA AL-MASIH, derived from the prophecy of Daniel 7:13-14, “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like a SON OF MAN coming with the clouds of the sky, and he came to the ANCIENT OF DAYS, and they brought him near before him. There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” The title SON OF MAN was Prophet ‘ISA Ibn Maryam’s most common way of referring to himself. ↩︎