The Acts of the Apostles

And the high priest said, [Tell me] then if you thus hold these things?

And he said, Men, brothers, and fathers, listen! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, being in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran,

and said to him, "Go out from your land and from your kindred," "and come into a land which I will show to you."

Then going out from [the] land of the Chaldeans, he lived in Haran. And after his father died, [God] moved him from there into this land in which you now live.

And He did not give to him an inheritance in it, not [even] a foot breadth. And [He] promised to give it to him for a possession and to his seed after him, there being no child to him.

And God spoke thus, that his seed would be a temporary resident in another land, and they would enslave it and oppress [it] four hundred years.

And God said, I will judge the nation to which you will be in bondage." And, After these things they will come out and will serve Me in this place.

And He gave to him a covenant of circumcision; and so he fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac [fathered] Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.

And being jealous of Joseph, the patriarchs sold [him] into Egypt. But God was with him,

and plucked him out from all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh [the] king of Egypt. And [Pharaoh] appointed him governor over Egypt and all his household.

But a famine came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction. And our fathers did not find food.

But hearing grain was in Egypt, Jacob sent our fathers out first.

And at the second [time], Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's race became known to Pharaoh.

And sending, Joseph called his father Jacob and all his kindred, "seventy five" "souls" "in [all]".

And Jacob went down into Egypt and expired, he and our fathers.

And they were moved into Shechem, and were put in the tomb which Abraham bought [for] a price of silver from the sons of Hamor of Shechem.

But as the time of the promise drew near, which God swore to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,

until "another king rose up" "who did not know Joseph."

Dealing slyly with our race, this one oppressed our fathers, causing their infants [to be] exposed [so as] not to be kept alive.

In which time Moses was born and was beautiful to God; who was reared three months in his father's house.

And he being exposed, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and reared him for a son to her.

And Moses was instructed in all [the] wisdom of Egyptians and was powerful in words and in works.

And when a period of forty years was fulfilled to him, it arose in his heart to look upon his brothers, the sons of Israel.

And seeing one being wronged, he defended [him], and he avenged the [one] getting the worse, striking the Egyptian.

And he thought his brothers [would] understand that God would give them deliverance by his hand. But they did not understand.

And on the following day he appeared to them [while] fighting. And he urged them to peace, saying, Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?

But the [one] wronging the neighbor thrust him away, saying, "Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us?

Do you not want to do away with me [in the] way you did away with the Egyptian yesterday?"

"And Moses fled" at this word. "And he became a tenant in Midian land," where he fathered two sons.

And forty years being fulfilled to him, [the] Angel of [the] Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire [in] a bush in the wilderness of Mount Sinai.

And seeing, Moses marveled at the sight. And he coming up to look, a voice of [the] Lord came to him:

"I [am] the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." But becoming trembly, Moses did not dare to look.

And the Lord said to him, "Loosen the sandal from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

I surely saw the affliction of My people in Egypt, and I have heard their groan, and I came down to pluck them out. And now, come, I will send you to" Egypt.

This Moses, whom they denied, saying, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge, this one God has sent as ruler and redeemer by [the] hand of [the] Angel who appeared to him in the Bush.

This one led them out, having worked wonders and miracles in [the] land of Egypt and in [the] Red Sea, and forty years in the wilderness.

This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, "[The] Lord your God will raise up a Prophet to you" "from your brothers, [One] like me." You shall hear Him.

This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him in Mount Sinai, and [with] our fathers, who received living words to give to us,

to whom our fathers did not desire to be subject, but thrust [him] away, and turned their hearts back to Egypt,

saying to Aaron, "Make for us gods which will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of [the] land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him."

And they made a calf in those days, and led a sacrifice up to the idol, and made merry in the works of their hands.

But God turned and gave them over to serve the host of the heaven, as it has been written in [the] book of the Prophets: "Did you bring slain beasts and sacrifices to Me forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

And you took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, the figures which you made" "in order to worship them. And I will remove you beyond" Babylon.

The tabernacle of the testimony was among our fathers in the wilderness, as He who spoke to Moses commanded to make it according to the pattern which he had seen,

which also was brought in, our fathers having inherited with Joshua, in the taking of possession of the nations, whom God drove out from the face of our fathers, until the days of David,

who found favor before God and asked to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob;

but Solomon built Him a house.

But the Most High does not dwell in temples made by hand, as the prophet says,

"Heaven [is] My throne, and the earth a footstool of My feet; what house will you build Me," "says [the] Lord," "or what the place of My rest?"

"Did not My hands make all these things?"

Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who before announced the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become betrayers and murderers,

who received the Law by the disposition of angels and did not keep [it].

And hearing these things, they were cut to their hearts and gnashed the teeth on him.

But being full of [the] Holy Spirit, looking intently into the heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right of God.

And [he] said, Behold, I see the heavens having been opened, and the Son of man standing at the right of God!

And crying out with a loud voice, they held their ears and rushed on him with one passion.

And throwing [him] outside the city, they stoned [him]. And the witnesses put off their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul.

And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

And placing the knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not make stand this sin to them. And saying this, he fell asleep.