Acts 7
1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are the things that [these people are saying about you(sg)] true?”
2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,
Stephen replied, “Fellow Jews and respected leaders, [please] listen to me! The glorious God [whom we(inc) worship] appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was still [living] in Mesopotamia [region], before he moved to Haran [town].
3 And said to him, Depart from thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee.
God said to him, ‘Leave this land where you [(sg)] and your relatives [are living], and go into the land to which I will lead you.’
4 Then he came from 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 ye now dwell.
So Abraham left that land, [which was also called] Chaldea, and he arrived in Haran and lived there. After his father died, God told him to move to this land in which you [and I] are now living.”
5 And 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 offspring after him, when as yet he had no child.
“[At that time] God did not give Abraham any [land here], not even a small plot of [this] land that would belong to him. God promised that he would [later] give this land to him and his descendants, and that it would [always] belong [to them. However], at that time Abraham did not have any children [who would] ([inherit it/receive it after he died]).”
6 And God spoke in this way, That his offspring should sojourn in a foreign land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and oppress them four hundred years.
“[Later] God told Abraham, ‘Your descendants will go and live in a foreign country. They [will live there] for 400 years, and [during that time their leaders] will mistreat your descendants and force them to work as slaves.’
7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that they shall come forth, and serve me in this place.
But God [also] said, ‘I will punish the people who make them work as slaves. Then, after that, your descendants will leave [that land] and they will [come and] worship me in this land.’”
8 And 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.
“Then God commanded Abraham that [every male in his household and all of his male descendants] should be circumcised [to show that they all belonged to God] and that they would obey what he had told Abraham to do. Later Abraham’s son, Isaac, was born, and when Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him. [Later] Isaac’s son, Jacob, was born, and Isaac [similarly circumcised] him. And Jacob [similarly circumcised] his twelve sons. They are the twelve men [from whom we(inc) Jews have all descended].”
9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,
“[You know that] Jacob’s [older] sons became jealous [because their father favored their younger brother] Joseph. So they sold him [to merchants/traders who took him] [MTY] to Egypt. There he became a slave [of an official who lived there]. But God [helped] Joseph.
10 And delivered him from all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
He protected him whenever people caused him to suffer. He enabled Joseph to be wise; and he caused Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to think well of Joseph. So Pharaoh appointed him to rule [over] Egypt and to look after all of Pharaoh’s property [MTY].”
11 Now there came a famine over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance.
“[While Joseph was doing that work], there was a time (when there was very little food/of famine) throughout Egypt and also throughout Canaan. People did not have enough food to eat. People were suffering. [At that time] Jacob and his sons [in Canaan] also could not find [enough] food.
12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.
When Jacob heard [people report that] there was grain/food [that people could buy] in Egypt, he sent Joseph’s older brothers [to go there to buy grain. They went and bought grain from Joseph, but they did not recognize him. Then they returned home].
13 And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s kindred was made known to Pharaoh.
When Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt the second time, [they again bought grain from Joseph]. But this time [he] told them who he was. [And] people told Pharaoh that Joseph’s people were Hebrews [and that those men who had come from Canaan were his brothers].
14 Then Joseph sent, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, seventy and five souls.
Then after Joseph sent [his brothers back home, they] told their father Jacob [that Joseph wanted] him and his entire family to come [to Egypt. At that time] ([Jacob’s family consisted of] 75 people/there were 75 people in Jacob’s family) [SYN].
15 So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers,
[So when] Jacob [heard that, he and all his family] went to [live in] Egypt.” Acts 7:15b-16 “[Later on], Jacob died [there], and our [other] ancestors, [his sons, also died there].
16 And were carried over into Shechem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Shechem.
[But] the bodies [of Jacob and Joseph] were brought {[they] brought the bodies [of Jacob and Joseph]} [back to our land], and [Jacob’s body] was buried {they buried [Jacob’s body]} [in the tomb that Abraham had bought, and they buried Joseph’s body] in Shechem in the ground that [Jacob] had bought from Hamor’s sons.”
17 But when the time of the promise drew near, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
“Our ancestors had become very numerous when it was almost time for [God to rescue them] from Egypt, [as] he had promised Abraham that he would do.
18 Till another king arose, who knew not Joseph.
Another king had begun to rule in Egypt. He did not know that Joseph, [long before that time, had greatly helped the people of Egypt] [MTY].
19 The same dealt treacherously with our kindred, and oppressed our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live.
That king cruelly tried to get rid of our ancestors. He oppressed them and caused them to suffer greatly. He [even commanded] them to leave their baby [boys] outside [their homes] so that they would die.”
20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished in his father’s house three months:
“During that time Moses was born, and he was a very beautiful [LIT] [child]. So his parents [secretly] cared for him in their house for three months.
21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.
Then they had to put him outside [the house, but] Pharaoh’s daughter [found him and] adopted him and cared for him as [though he were] her own son.
22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.
Moses was taught {[The Egyptian teachers] taught Moses} many kinds of wise things [HYP] that the people in Egypt knew, and [when he grew up], he spoke powerfully and did things powerfully.”
23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.
“[One day] when Moses was about 40 years old, he decided that he would [go and] see his fellow Israelis. [So he went to the place where they worked].
24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
He saw an Egyptian beating one of the Israelis. So he went over to help [MTY] the Israeli man who was being hurt/beat {whom [the Egyptian] was hurting/beating}, and he (got revenge on/paid back) the Israeli man by killing the Egyptian [who was hurting/beating him].
25 For he supposed his brethren to understand that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
Moses was thinking that his fellow Israelis would understand that God had sent him to free them [from being slaves]. But they did not understand that.
26 And the next day he showed himself to them as they were fighting, and would have constrained them to be at peace again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?
The next day, Moses saw two Israeli men fighting [each other]. He tried to make them stop fighting by saying to them, ‘Men, you two are fellow [Israelis! So] (stop hurting each other!/why are you hurting each other?) [RHQ]’
27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
But the man who was injuring the other man pushed Moses away and said to him, ‘(No one appointed you [(sg)] to rule and judge us [(exc)]!/Do you [(sg)] think someone appointed you [(sg)] to rule and judge us [(exc)]?) [RHQ]
28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday?
Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
29 Then Moses fled at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons.
When Moses heard that, [he thought to himself, ‘Obviously, people know what I have done, and someone will kill me.’ He was afraid, so] he fled [from Egypt] to Midian land. He lived there [for some years]. He [got married, and he and his wife] had two sons.”
30 And when forty years had passed, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
“[One day] 40 years later, [the Lord God appeared as] an angel to Moses. He appeared in a bush that was burning in the desert near Sinai Mountain.
31 When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came to him,
When Moses saw that, he was greatly surprised, [because the bush was not burning up]. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord [God] say [to him],
32 Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and dared not behold.
‘I [am] the God [whom] your ancestors [worshipped]. I [am] the God that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob [worship].’ Moses [was so afraid that he] began to shake. He was afraid to look [at the bush any longer].
33 Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground.
Then the Lord [God] said to him, ‘Take your sandals off [to show that you(sg) revere me]. Because I [am here], the place where you are standing is holy/sacred.
34 I 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 thee into Egypt.
I have surely seen how the people of Egypt are continually causing my people to suffer. I have heard my people when they groan [because those people continually oppress them]. So I have come down to rescue them [from Egypt]. Now get ready, because I am going to send you [back] to Egypt [to do that].’”
35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee 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.
“This Moses [is the one who had tried to help our Israeli people, but] whom they rejected [by saying], ‘No one [RHQ] appointed you to rule and judge [us!’] Moses [is the one whom] God [himself] sent to rule them and to free them [from being slaves. He is the one whom] an angel in the bush [commanded to do that].
36 He 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.
Moses [is the one who] led our ancestors out [from Egypt]. He did many kinds of miracles in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and during the 40 years [that the Israelite people lived] in the desert.
37 This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you of your brethren, like me; him shall ye hear.
This Moses is the one who said to the Israelite people, ‘God will appoint a prophet for you from among your own people. [He will speak words from God], just like I [speak his words to you].’
38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on the mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received the living oracles to give to us:
This man [Moses] was [our people’s leader] when they gathered together in the desert. It is Moses to whom [God sent] the angel on Sinai Mountain to [give him our laws], and [he was the one who told] our [other] ancestors [what the angel had said]. He was the one who received [from God] words that tell us how to live [eternally, and Moses] passed [them] on to us.”
39 Whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt,
“[However], our ancestors did not want to obey [Moses]. Instead, [while he was still on the mountain], they rejected him [as their leader] and decided that they wanted to return to Egypt.
40 Saying to 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.
So they told [his older brother] Aaron, ‘Make idols for us who will be our gods to lead us [back to Egypt]! As for that fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt we [(exc)] do not know what has happened to him!’
41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
So, they made [out of gold] an image [that looked like] a calf. Then they sacrificed [animals and offered other things] to [honor] that idol, and they sang and danced to honor the idol that they themselves had made.
42 Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness?
So God rejected them. He abandoned them to worship the sun, moon and stars in the sky. This agrees with the words that one of the prophets wrote that God said, You Israelite [people] [MTY], when you [repeatedly] killed animals and offered them as sacrifices during those 40 years [that you were] in the desert, (you [most certainly] were not offering them to me!/what makes you think that you were offering them to me?) [RHQ]
43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Molech, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
[On the contrary], you carried [with you from place to place] the tent [that contained the idol] representing [the god] Molech [that you worshipped]. You also [carried with you] the image of the star [called] Rephan. [Those] were idols that you had made, [and you] worshipped [them instead of me]. So I will [cause you to] be taken away {[people to] take you} [from your own country. You will be taken] {[They will take you]} [far from your homes to regions] even farther than Babylon [Country].”
44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking to Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.
“While our ancestors were in the desert, they worshipped God at the tent that showed [that he was there with them]. They had made the tent exactly like God had commanded Moses [to make it. It was] exactly like the model that Moses had seen [when he was up on the mountain].
45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Joshua into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, to the days of David;
[Later on], other ancestors of ours carried that tent with them when Joshua led them [into this land]. That was during the time that they took this land for themselves, when God forced the people [who previously lived here] to leave. So the Israelis were able to possess this land. [The tent remained in this land and was still here] when [King] David ruled.
46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
David pleased God, and he asked God to let him build a house where [he and] all of our Israeli people could worship God.
47 But Solomon built for him an house.
But [instead, God let David’s son] Solomon build a house [where people could worship] God.”
48 Yet the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
“However, [we(inc) know that] God is greater than everything, and he does not live in [houses that] people [SYN] have made. It is like the prophet [Isaiah] wrote. He wrote [these words that God had spoken: ]
49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build for me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
Heaven is (my throne/the place from which I rule the entire universe), and the earth is (my footstool/[merely like] a stool on which I may rest my feet). I myself [SYN] have made everything [both in heaven and on the earth]. So you [human beings], ([you] really cannot build a house that would be [adequate] for me!/do you think you can build a house that would be [appropriate] for me?) [RHQ] You cannot [RHQ] make a place good enough for me [to live in]!”
50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
51 Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do ye.
“You people are extremely stubborn [MET], not wanting to obey God or listen [MTY] [to him!] You are exactly like your ancestors! You always resist the Holy Spirit [as they did]!
52 Which 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 ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
Your ancestors caused [RHQ] every prophet to suffer, [including Moses]. They even killed those who long ago announced [that the Messiah] would come, the one who always did what pleased God. [And the Messiah has come! He is the one whom] you [recently] turned over [to his enemies] and [insisted that] they kill him!
53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
You [are the people] who have received God’s laws. [Those were laws] that God caused angels to give [to our ancestors]. However, [incredibly], you have not obeyed them!”
54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
When the Jewish Council members [and others there] heard all that [Stephen said], they became very angry. They were grinding their teeth [together because they were so angry] at him!
55 But 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,
But the Holy Spirit completely controlled Stephen. He looked up into heaven and saw a dazzling light from God, and [he saw] Jesus standing at God’s right side.
56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
“Look,” he said, “I see heaven open, and I [see] the one who came from heaven standing at God’s right side!”
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
[When the Jewish Council members and others heard that], they shouted loudly. They put their hands over their ears [so that they could not hear Stephen, and immediately] they all rushed at him.
58 And 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.
They dragged him outside the city [of Jerusalem] and started to throw stones at him. The people who were accusing him [took off] their outer garments [in order to throw stones more easily, and] they put their clothes [on the ground] next to a young man whose name was Saul, [so that he could guard them].
59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
While they continued to throw stones at Stephen, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
60 And 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.
Then Stephen fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not punish them (OR, forgive them) [LIT] for this sin!” After he had said that, he died.
