| 1 | Then said the high priest , Are these things so ? |
| 2 | And 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 Charran , |
| 3 | And said unto him , Get thee out of thy country , and from thy kindred , and come into the land which I shall shew thee . |
| 4 | Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans , and dwelt in Charran : and from thence , when his father was dead , he removed him into this land , wherein ye now dwell . |
| 5 | And he gave him none 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 seed after him , when [as yet] he had no child . |
| 6 | And God spake on this wise , That his seed should sojourn in a strange land ; and that they should bring them into bondage , and entreat [them] evil four hundred years . |
| 7 | And 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 . |
| 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 . |
| 9 | And the patriarchs , moved with envy , sold Joseph into Egypt : but God was with him , |
| 10 | And delivered him out of 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 . |
| 11 | Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan , and great affliction : and our fathers found no sustenance . |
| 12 | But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt , he sent out our fathers first . |
| 13 | And at the second [time] Joseph was made known to his brethren ; and Joseph's kindred was made known unto Pharaoh . |
| 14 | Then sent Joseph , and called his father Jacob to [him], and all his kindred , threescore and fifteen souls . |
| 15 | So Jacob went down into Egypt , and died , he , and our fathers , |
| 16 | And were carried over into Sychem , and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor [the father ] of Sychem . |
| 17 | But when the time of the promise drew nigh , which God had sworn to Abraham , the people grew and multiplied in Egypt , |
| 18 | Till another king arose , which knew not Joseph . |
| 19 | The same dealt subtilly with our kindred , and evil entreated our fathers , so that they cast out their young children , to the end they might not live . |
| 20 | In which time Moses was born , and was exceeding fair , and nourished up in his father's house three months : |
| 21 | And when he was cast out , Pharaoh's daughter took him up , and nourished him for her own son . |
| 22 | And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians , and was mighty in words and in deeds . |
| 23 | And when he was full forty years old , it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel . |
| 24 | And seeing one [of them] suffer wrong , he defended [him], and avenged him that was oppressed , and smote the Egyptian : |
| 25 | For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them : but they understood not . |
| 26 | And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove , and would have set them at one again , saying , Sirs , ye are brethren ; why do ye wrong one to another ? |
| 27 | But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away , saying , Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us ? |
| 28 | Wilt thou kill me , as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday ? |
| 29 | Then fled Moses at this saying , and was a stranger in the land of Madian , where he begat two sons . |
| 30 | And when forty years were expired , there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush . |
| 31 | When Moses saw [it], he wondered at the sight : and as he drew near to behold [it], the voice of the Lord came unto 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 durst not behold . |
| 33 | Then said the Lord to him , Put off thy shoes from thy feet : for the place where thou standest is holy ground . |
| 34 | I have seen , I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt , and I have heard their groaning , and am come down to deliver them . And now come , I will send thee into Egypt . |
| 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 which appeared to him in the bush . |
| 36 | He brought them out , after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt , and in the Red sea , and in the wilderness forty years . |
| 37 | This is that Moses , which 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 ye hear . |
| 38 | This is he , that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina , and [with] our fathers : who received the lively oracles to give unto us : |
| 39 | To whom our fathers would not obey , but thrust [him] from them , and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt , |
| 40 | Saying unto Aaron , Make us gods to go before us : for [as for] this Moses , which brought us out of the land of Egypt , we wot not what is become of him . |
| 41 | And they made a calf in those days , and offered sacrifice unto the idol , and rejoiced in the works of their own hands . |
| 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 [by the space of] forty years in the wilderness ? |
| 43 | Yea , ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch , and the star of your god Remphan , figures which ye made to worship them : and I will carry you away beyond Babylon . |
| 44 | Our 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 . |
| 45 | Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles , whom God drave out before the face of our fathers , unto the days of David ; |
| 46 | Who found favour before God , and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob . |
| 47 | But Solomon built him an house . |
| 48 | Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands ; as saith the prophet , |
| 49 | Heaven [is] my throne , and earth [is] my footstool : what house will ye build me ? saith the Lord : or what [is] the place of my rest ? |
| 50 | Hath not my hand made all these things ? |
| 51 | Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears , ye do always resist the Holy Ghost : as your fathers [did], so [do] ye . |
| 52 | Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted ? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One ; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers : |
| 53 | Who have received the law by the disposition of angels , and have not kept [it]. |
| 54 | When they heard these things , they were cut to the heart , and they gnashed on him with [their] teeth . |
| 55 | But he, being full of the Holy Ghost , looked up stedfastly into heaven , and saw the glory of God , and Jesus standing on the right hand of God , |
| 56 | And said , Behold , I see the heavens opened , and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God . |
| 57 | Then they cried out with a loud voice , and stopped their ears , and ran upon him with one accord , |
| 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 . |
| 59 | And they stoned Stephen , calling upon [God], and saying , 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 . |
