Actuum Apostolorum 7
1 Dixit autem princeps sacerdotum: Si haec ita se haberent?
The high priest said, “Are these things so?”
2 Qui ait: Viri fratres, et patres audite: Deus gloriae apparuit patri nostro Abrahae cum esset in Mesopotamia, prius quam moraretur in Charan.
He said, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,
3 et dixit ad illum: Exi de terra tua, et de cognatione tua, et veni in terram, quam monstravero tibi.
and said to him, ‘Get out of your land and away from your relatives, and come into a land which I will show you.’
4 Tunc exiit de terra Chaldaeorum, et habitavit in Charan. Et inde, postquam mortuus est pater eius, transtulit illum in terram istam, in qua nunc vos habitatis.
Then 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.
5 Et non dedit illi hereditatem in ea, nec passum pedis: sed repromisit dare illi eam in possessionem, et semini eius post ipsum, cum non haberet filium.
He 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 offspring after him, when he still had no child.
6 Locutus est autem ei Deus: Quia erit semen tuum accola in terra aliena, et servituti eos subiicient, et male tractabunt eos annis quadringentis:
God spoke in this way: that his offspring would live as aliens in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.
7 et gentem cui servierint, iudicabo ego, dixit Dominus. et post haec exibunt, et servient mihi in loco isto.
‘I will judge the nation to which they will be in bondage,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve me in this place.’
8 Et dedit illi testamentum circumcisionis: et sic genuit Isaac, et circumcidit eum die octavo: et Isaac, et Iacob: et Iacob, duodecim Patriarchas.
He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
9 Et Patriarchae aemulantes, Ioseph vendiderunt in Aegyptum. et erat Deus cum eo:
“The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him
10 et eripuit eum ex omnibus tribulationibus eius: et dedit ei gratiam, et sapientiam in conspectu Pharaonis regis Aegypti, et constituit eum praepositum super Aegyptum, et super omnem domum suam.
and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
11 Venit autem fames in universam Aegyptum, et Chanaan, et tribulatio magna: et non inveniebant cibos patres nostri.
Now a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. Our fathers found no food.
12 Cum audisset autem Iacob esse frumentum in Aegypto: misit patres nostros primum:
But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time.
13 et in secundo cognitus est Ioseph a fratribus suis, et manifestatum est Pharaoni genus eius.
On the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh.
14 Mittens autem Ioseph accersivit Iacob patrem suum, et omnem cognationem suam in animabus septuagintaquinque.
Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his relatives, seventy-five souls.
15 Et descendit Iacob in Aegyptum, et defunctus est ipse, et patres nostri.
Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, himself and our fathers;
16 Et translati sunt in Sichem, et positi sunt in sepulchro, quod emit Abraham pretio argenti a filiis Hemor filii Sichem.
and they were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price in silver from the children of Hamor of Shechem.
17 Cum autem appropinquaret tempus promissionis, quam confessus erat Deus Abrahae, crevit populus, et multiplicatus est in Aegypto,
“But as the time of the promise came close which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
18 quoadusque surrexit alius rex in Aegypto, qui non sciebat Ioseph.
until there arose a different king who didn’t know Joseph.
19 Hic circumveniens genus nostrum, afflixit patres nostros ut exponerent infantes suos ne vivificarentur.
The same took advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers, and forced them to abandon their babies, so that they wouldn’t stay alive.
20 Eodem tempore natus est Moyses et fuit gratus Deo, qui nutritus est tribus mensibus in domo patris sui.
At that time Moses was born, and was exceedingly handsome to God. He was nourished three months in his father’s house.
21 Exposito autem illo, sustulit eum filia Pharaonis, et nutrivit eum sibi in filium.
When he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and reared him as her own son.
22 Et eruditus est Moyses omni sapientia Aegyptiorum, et erat potens in verbis, et in operibus suis.
Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in his words and works.
23 Cum autem impleretur ei quadraginta annorum tempus, ascendit in cor eius ut visitaret fratres suos filios Israel.
But when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.
24 Et cum vidisset quendam iniuriam patientem, vindicavit illum: et fecit ultionem ei, qui iniuriam sustinebat, percusso Aegyptio.
Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian.
25 Existimabat autem intelligere fratres, quoniam Deus per manum ipsius daret salutem illis: at illi non intellexerunt.
He supposed that his brothers understood that God, by his hand, was giving them deliverance; but they didn’t understand.
26 Sequenti vero die apparuit illis litigantibus: et reconciliabat eos in pace, dicens: Viri, fratres estis, ut quid nocetis alterutrum?
“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?’
27 Qui autem iniuriam faciebat proximo, repulit eum, dicens: Quis te constituit principem, et iudicem super nos?
But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
28 numquid interficere me tu vis, quemadmodum interfecisti heri Aegyptium?
Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
29 Fugit autem Moyses in verbo isto: et factus est advena in terra Madian, ubi generavit filios duos.
Moses fled at this saying, and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30 Et expletis annis quadraginta, apparuit illi in deserto montis Sina Angelus in igne flammae rubi.
“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.
31 Moyses autem videns, admiratus est visum. et accedente illo ut consideraret, facta est ad eum vox Domini, dicens:
When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, the voice of the Lord came to him,
32 Ego sum Deus patrum tuorum, Deus Abraham, Deus Isaac, et Deus Iacob. Tremefactus autem Moyses, non audebat considerare.
‘I am the God of your fathers: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled and dared not look.
33 Dixit autem illi Dominus: Solve calceamentum pedum tuorum: locus enim in quo stas, terra sancta est.
The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground.
34 Videns vidi afflictionem populi mei, qui est in Aegypto, et gemitum eorum audivi, et descendi liberare eos. Et nunc veni, et mittam te in Aegyptum.
I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’
35 Hunc Moysen, quem negaverunt, dicentes: Quis te constituit principem et iudicem? hunc Deus principem et redemptorem misit, cum manu Angeli, qui apparuit illi in rubo.
“This Moses whom they refused, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—God has sent him as both a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36 Hic eduxit illos faciens prodigia, et signa in terra Aegypti, et in rubro mari, et in deserto annis quadraginta.
This man led them out, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.
37 Hic est Moyses, qui dixit filiis Israel: Prophetam suscitabit vobis Deus de fratribus vestris, tamquam meipsum audietis.
This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.’
38 Hic est, qui fuit in Ecclesia in solitudine cum Angelo, qui loquebatur ei in monte Sina, et cum patribus nostris: qui accepit verba vitae dare nobis.
This 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 revelations to give to us,
39 Cui noluerunt obedire patres nostri: sed repulerunt, et aversi sunt cordibus suis in Aegyptum,
to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,
40 dicentes ad Aaron: Fac nobis deos, qui praecedant nos: Moysi enim huic, qui eduxit nos de terra Aegypti, nescimus quid factum sit ei.
saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’
41 Et vitulum fecerunt in diebus illis, et obtulerunt hostiam simulachro, et laetabantur in operibus manuum suarum.
They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands.
42 Convertit autem Deus, et tradidit eos servire militiae caeli, sicut scriptum est in Libro Prophetarum: Numquid victimas, aut hostias obtulistis mihi annis quadraginta in deserto, domus Israel?
But God turned away and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43 Et suscepistis tabernaculum Moloch, et sidus Dei vestri Rempham, figuras, quas fecistis, adorare eas. Et transferam vos in Babylonem.
You took up the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, the figures which you made to worship, so I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’
44 Tabernaculum testimonii fuit cum patribus nostris in deserto, sicut disposuit illis Deus, loquens ad Moysen, ut faceret illud secundum formam, quam viderat.
“Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen;
45 Quod et induxerunt, suscipientes patres nostri cum Iesu in possessionem Gentium, quas expulit Deus a facie patrum nostrorum, usque in diebus David,
which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered into the possession of the nations whom God drove out before the face of our fathers to the days of David,
46 qui invenit gratiam ante Deum, et petiit ut inveniret tabernaculum Deo Iacob.
who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find a habitation for the God of Jacob.
47 Salomon autem aedificavit illi domum.
But Solomon built him a house.
48 Sed non excelsus in manufactis habitat, sicut per Prophetam dicit:
However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,
49 Caelum mihi sedes est: terra autem scabellum pedum meorum. Quam domum aedificabitis mihi, dicit Dominus? aut quis locus requietionis meae est?
‘heaven is my throne, and the earth a footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build me?’ says the Lord. ‘Or what is the place of my rest?
50 Nonne manus mea fecit haec omnia?
Didn’t my hand make all these things?’
51 Dura cervice, et incircumcisis cordibus, et auribus, vos semper Spiritui sancto resistitis, sicut Patres vestri, ita et vos.
“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
52 Quem Prophetarum non sunt persecuti patres vestri? Et occiderunt eos, qui praenunciabant de adventu Iusti, cuius vos nunc proditores, et homicidae fuistis:
Which 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.
53 qui accepistis legem in dispositione Angelorum, et non custodistis.
You received the law as it was ordained by angels, and didn’t keep it!”
54 Audientes autem haec dissecabantur cordibus suis, et stridebant dentibus in eum.
Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.
55 Cum autem esset plenus Spiritu sancto, intendens in caelum, vidit gloriam Dei, et Iesum stantem a dextris virtutis Dei.
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,
56 Et ait: Ecce video caelos apertos, et filium hominis stantem a dextris Dei.
and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
57 Exclamantes autem voce magna continuerunt aures suas, et impetum fecerunt unanimiter in eum.
But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears, then rushed at him with one accord.
58 Et eiicientes eum extra civitatem lapidabant: et testes deposuerunt vestimenta sua secus pedes adolescentis, qui vocabatur Saulus.
They threw him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 Et lapidabant Stephanum invocantem, et dicentem: Domine Iesu suscipe spiritum meum.
They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
60 Positis autem genibus, clamavit voce magna, dicens: Domine ne statuas illis hoc peccatum. Et cum hoc dixisset, obdormivit in Domino.
He kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
