1Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
2And he said, “Men, brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,
3and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred, and come into the land that I will show you.’
4Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God moved him into this land in which you now live.
5And he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foothold, but he promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.
6And God spoke in this way: that his offspring would be sojourners in a foreign land, and they would enslave and mistreat them for four hundred years.
7‘And the nation that they serve, I will judge,’ said God, ‘and after these things they will come out and worship me in this place.’
8And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so he fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.
9And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him,
10and rescued him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.
11Now a famine came upon all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could not find provisions.
12But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit.
13And on the second visit, Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh.
14And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all.
15And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, as did our fathers.
16And they were carried to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a price in silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17But as the time of the promise that God had declared to Abraham drew near, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt,
18until another king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
19This man dealt shrewdly with our people and mistreated our fathers, making them expose their infants so that they would not be kept alive.
20At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. He was brought up for three months in his father’s house.
21And when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up and raised him as her own son.
22And Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in his words and deeds.
23When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel.
24And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended him and carried out vengeance for the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian.
25He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.
26And on the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong one another?’
27But the one who was wronging his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us?’
28‘Do you want to kill me, just as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
29At this reply, Moses fled and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he fathered two sons.
30And when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush.
31When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he was approaching to look closer, the voice of the Lord came:
32‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’ And Moses, becoming terrified, did not dare to look closer.
33And the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’
34‘I have surely seen the affliction of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’
35This Moses, whom they had rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this is the one God sent as both a ruler and a redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.
37This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’
38This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to you.
39Our fathers were not willing to be obedient to him, but rejected him and turned in their hearts back to Egypt,
40saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who 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.’
41And they made a calf in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idol, and they were rejoicing in the works of their own hands.
42But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: ‘Did you offer to me slain beasts and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43And you took up the tent of Moloch and the star of the god Rephan, the images that you made to worship? And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’
44Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as the one who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen.
45Our fathers, in turn, received it and brought it in with Joshua when they took possession of the land of the nations that God drove out from before our fathers. It remained until the days of David,
46who found grace in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob.
47But it was Solomon who built a house for him.
48Yet the Most High does not dwell in places made by hands, as the prophet says:
49‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is a footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?
50Did not my hand make all these things?’
51You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
52Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers,
53you who received the law as ordained by angels and did not keep it.
54Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and began to grind their teeth at him.
55But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
56And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57But they cried out with a loud voice and covered their ears and rushed at him with one accord.
58And they cast him out of the city and began to stone him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
60And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
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